December 12, 2008 by admin.

Defense launches personal health record application test

By Bob Brewin, bbrewin@nextgov.com 12/08/2008The Defense Department began testing an application on Friday that allows soldiers, veterans and their families to manage their personal health records online using programs provided by Google and Microsoft.The department’s Military Health System launched the feature, called MiCare, at the Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., where patients there can use either the patient-controlled health records application developed by Google, called Google Health, or Microsoft’s health records application, Microsoft HealthVault, MHS said.Both the health-records software tools provide online access to a variety of information for patients, including a list of their medications; allergies, lab and radiology results; data on past visits; upcoming appointments; and inpatient/outpatient documentation. The tools pull much of the information from the military health records stored in the Armed Forces Health Technology Longitudinal Application.Patients at Madigan also will be able to store records managed by civilian health care providers, insurers and pharmacies. HealthVault allows patients to download data from health and fitness devices, such as pedometers (which measure how far an individual walks), peak flow meters (which measure how well air flows from lungs), blood pressure monitors and blood glucose monitors.S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, said he is a “strong advocate” for personal health records because they “allow patients to take more responsibility for their health care needs and make patients and providers interactive partners in the health care encounter. I believe MiCare will empower our beneficiaries and significantly enhance both the quality and continuity of health care we provide.”Using the Internet to access health records will provide an advantage to military families who frequently move, said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s health solutions group. “Providing one location to store and manage health data can make a significant impact on military families on the move, for retirees seeking care, and for family health managers left behind as a parent is called to duty,” he said.Sameer Samat, director of product management for Google Health, said, “Helping military service members organize all their personal health information in one secure and central location will ultimately help them better coordinate their care as they move locations.”The health information of beneficiaries will be protected under new guidelines developed by the Markle Foundation with the aid of Microsoft, Google and other vendors to establish the standards for keeping sensitive information private, MHS officials said. MHS said patients have complete control over who looks at the data and what information they see.The Madigan project follows other pilot programs announced this fall by MHS and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to jump-start an effort to move all Americans to electronic personal health records.This October, TRICARE, the nationwide health plan operated by MHS for 9.2 million active-duty and retired military personnel and their families for care provided outside military hospitals, and CMS signed an interagency agreement to test a personal health recordin South Carolina using a system provided by HealthTrio.The pilot will allow Medicare beneficiaries, who also belong to TRICARE, to pull information from CMS and TRICARE systems into an online personal health record. CMS acting Administrator Kerry Weems called it a “major step forward” for the service and MHS because it will allow patients to combine information from multiple sources for more complete records.Last month CMS tapped Google Health, HealthTrio, NoMoreClipboard.com and PassPortMD for a personal health record trial in Arizona and Utah, which is scheduled to start in early 2009.Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, said the Arizona and Utah pilots “will provide information and tools that will empower consumers to manage their health better . . . and provides beneficiaries with a choice of products to meet their individual needs.”

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December 8, 2008 by admin.

Dear JWV GWOT Readers,

Yesterday, President-elect Obama announced General Eric Shinseki as his nominee to be the new Secretary of the VA.General Shinseki is a decorated Vietnam veteran who was wounded in combat, and he is the first Asian American in US history to become a four-star general. As a former Army chief of staff, he is an experienced and respected leader with a history of courage and honesty, but he faces enormous challenges that will require his immediate attention, and bold leadership.The Jewish War Veterans is looking forward to work with General Shinseki to continue improvements to the VA system for all veterans.Nelson L. MellitzColonel, USAF, retJWV GWOT Outreach Chairperson 

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December 5, 2008 by admin.

Requirements identical for Defense, VA health record systemBY BOB BREWIN, BBREWIN@GOVEXEC.COM

• Development of a joint inpatient electronic health records system will satisfy almost all the requirements of the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments, according to a long sequestered report obtained by Nextgov.Comment on this article in The Forum.The report, prepared by Booz Allen Hamilton in January, said Defense and VA share a common definition of an inpatient electronic health record and both share similar functional requirements to manage patient care. Booz Allen analyzed more than 1,800 functional requirements and determined that 97 percent of them were similar and only 3 percent were specific to each department. The differences primarily involved admission, discharge and transfer capabilities.”This overwhelming level of jointness confirms the main hypothesis of this study that DoD and VA care for patients in a similar manner and thus have similar functional requirements,” the report concluded.

  Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081203_5767.php?zone=NGpopularAgency to assess value of electronic health networksBY JILL R. AITORO, JAITORO@GOVEXEC.COM

• A research group within the Health and Human Services Department plans to determine the value doctors derive from electronic records by distributing questionnaires and conducting focus groups in Colorado.Comment on this article in The Forum.The two-year project is expected to cost nearly $34,000 if approved by the Office of Management and Budget, and is designed to gather clinicians’ feedback on a soon-to-be-launched online portal that will allow Colorado health care providers to find and organize patients’ medical histories from multiple sources. Colorado is one of six states under contract with the HHS Healthcare Research Quality Agency to build such portals.”While many have hailed the development of [health information exchanges], only a handful have been developed, few have survived, and even fewer have clearly proved beneficial to their stakeholders, making each case study worthy of investigation,” the agency stated in a November 2008 document making the case for the evaluation.

  Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081202_3133.php?zone=NGpopularState Department unveils social networking siteBY KELLIE LUNNEY, KLUNNEY@GOVEXEC.COM

• The State Department has launched a social networking site to promote international exchanges and enhance the United States’ image abroad, particularly among young people.Comment on this article in The Forum.ExchangesConnect, administered by the department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, includes blog postings, photos and videos from users across the world interested in trading information on culture, language and global education programs. A newly designed Web site, exchanges.state.gov, is a portal to the social network and the agency’s Facebook page. ExchangesConnect is free, but requires users to fill out a brief online registration.”It’s a natural expansion of our exchange programs,” said Goli Ameri, outgoing assistant secretary of education and cultural affairs, in an interview with Government Executive.

  Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081201_3236.php?zone=NGpopular

• Key tech players aid Obama transition behind the scenesBY DAVID HATCH, CONGRESSDAILY

• President-elect Obama’s review of likely changes at the FCC has been delegated publicly to two respected professors, but there are plenty of communications executives working behind the scenes to influence decisions about the agency and the incoming administration’s approach to tech policy.Comment on this article in The Forum.Several hold official titles with the transition, but many others are relying on informal ties to have their voices heard on policy matters while staying out of the spotlight. For the transition team, the result is a tightrope walk with the watchdog community on one side of the balance rod and corporate interests on the other.Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach, professors at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively, are heading up the FCC review. They sit on the advisory board of Public Knowledge, best known for advocating unfettered access to Internet content and less-restrictive copyright laws. “We’re not going to be a government that’s run by corporate lobbyists. That’s the message,” said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of the group.

  Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081201_2456.php?zone=NGpopularRETURN TO TOP

• Air Force CIO says cybersecurity federal “Achilles’ heel”BY JILL R. AITORO, JAITORO@GOVEXEC.COMUntil best practices in information security become pervasive across all aspects of the enterprise, agencies’ networks remain at risk, said a top technology chief with the Air Force at a conference Wednesday, calling cybersecurity one of the federal government’s most overlooked and critical weaknesses.Comment on this article in The Forum.”There’s too much fighting about cyber — how big [a concern] it is, who owns it,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Peterson, chief information officer at the Air Force, during a keynote at Air Force IT Day, sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association of Northern Virginia.”This is our Achilles’ heel,” he said. “It’s not about a denial-of-service attack; it’s about the information on the network — ensuring it’s accurate, protected, and available. [But] we’re still fighting over what patch to put on.”

  Full story: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081203_1212.php?zone=NGpopularSenators consider their options for health IT overhaulBY ANDREW NOYES, CONGRESSDAILY

• The GOP co-sponsor of Senate legislation to facilitate the nationwide adoption of electronic medical records would consider supporting attaching health information-technology language to an economic stimulus package that lawmakers expect to roll out early next year.Comment on this article in The Forum.An aide to Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Michael Enzi said today that the senator has not seen sufficient details of an economic proposal to know whether adding health IT to the mix would “blow the budget.” HELP Chairman Edward Kennedy and Enzi introduced legislation more than a year ago aimed at reducing health providers’ administrative costs and minimizing the sometimes fatal errors caused by a lack of patient information. Privacy issues and funding concerns prevented the measure from reaching the floor.A Kennedy spokeswoman would not comment on the proposed stimulus package but said the senator backs “quick action on the investments in health IT that President-elect Obama has called for.”

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