Conmergence

IBM Opens New 3D Virtual Healthcare Island on Second Life

Interactive environment displays IBM’s vision for consumer-driven healthcare

ORLANDO, FL - 24 Feb 2008: IBM (NYSE: IBM) debuted at HIMSS®08 its newest island in Second Life: IBM Virtual Healthcare Island.  The island is a unique, three-dimensional representation of the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry and the role information technology will play in transforming global healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs. 

The island supports the strategic healthcare vision that IBM released in October 2006, entitled, Healthcare 2015: Win-Win or Lose-Lose, A Portrait and a Path to Successful Transformation.  The paper paints a picture of a Healthcare Industry in crisis – of health systems in the United States and many other countries that will become unsustainable by the year 2015.  To avoid “lose-lose” scenarios in which global healthcare systems “hit the wall” and require immediate and forced restructuring, IBM calls for what it defines as a “win-win” option: new levels of accountability, tough decisions, hard work and focus on the consumer.

The IBM Virtual Healthcare Island is designed with a futuristic atmosphere and provides visitors with an interactive demonstration of IBM’s open-standards-based Health Information Exchange (HIE) architecture.  Working with project leads in the U.S., the island was designed and built by an all-IBM-India team.

Starting from the patient’s home, they create their own Personal Health Records (PHRs) in a secure and private environment and watch as it is incorporated into an array of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems that can be used at various medical facilities.  As they move from one island station to the next, they experience how the development of a totally integrated and interoperable longitudinal Electronic Health Record (EHR) is used within a highly secured network that allows access only by patient-authorized providers and family members.

Patient avatars arrive and are welcomed at the Central Park and then visit a Central Information Hub, where IBM’s view of the healthcare industry and the power of information technology to transform it are presented.  An amphitheater on the Hub’s second floor provides an area that can support virtual meetings, complete with a large video screen and accompanying slide presentation on IBM’s HIE architecture and the positive impact that this technology can have in the transformation of the Healthcare Industry.

Visitors can then walk, fly or use transporters to visit the various island stations:

• The Patient’s Home:  In the secure environment of a private home, patient avatars can initiate a PHR and populate it with their personal health characteristics and clinical history, accessed and downloaded from physician EMR data.  They can also establish privacy and security preferences as well as health directives.  The ground floor demonstrates secure messaging with providers and activates the initial PHR.  Using a transporter to move upstairs, patients use home health devices to take weight, blood pressure and blood sugar readings in the privacy of a bedroom, further incorporating this information into the PHR, which is shown on presentation screens. 
• The Laboratory: This stop offers laboratory and radiology suites to help avatars extend their understanding of the benefits of  HIE.  Here, patients can check in at a Patient Kiosk and have blood work and radiology tests performed. The use of EHRs – revealing only appropriate portions of the PHRs -- shows how consumers can also benefit through cost and time savings.
• The Clinic: Patient avatars transport or walk from the Lab to the Clinic, where a welcome from their primary-care physician awaits.  A combination of scripting and information screens supports simulation of a patient exam, after which an electronic prescription is generated, and the continued development of the EHR is explained on nearby screens. 
• The Pharmacy: Here, avatars can check in at a Patient Kiosk that simulates the verifying of drug information.  They then receive their prescriptions and update their PHRs/EHRs with new medication data.  The HIE architecture demonstrates how use of PHR/EHR technology can prevent consumers from purchasing medications that are contra-indicated given the medicines they presently require, as well as alerting them about potential drug-to-drug interactions.  The PHR/EHR is again updated.
• The Hospital: In this futuristic, three story structure, avatars arrive for a scheduled visit with a specialist.  Physicians’ offices, patient rooms and exam rooms are all simulated here. 
• The Emergency Room: Avatars can chose to experience a virtual emergency by “touching” a specially scripted control.  This engages a medical episode and a ride on a fast gurney directly into the private and secure emergency treatment area, where a special screen is programmed to reveal the full incorporation of the PHR to ensure proper treatment.

“We are pleased to offer our IBM Virtual Health Island as a tool for our healthcare customers and our worldwide sales force.  The island allows each healthcare stakeholder to envision how the total system can be affected by intercession at each juncture of the healthcare delivery process,” said Dan Pelino, General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry.  “We believe that the use of our new virtual world provides an important, next-generation Internet-based resource to show how standards; business planning; the use of a secured, extensible and expandable architecture; HIE interoperability; and data use for healthcare analytics, quality, wellness and disease management are all helping to transform our industry. “

IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Industry will continue to develop the new island in months to come.  The island can perform as a virtually “always on” demonstration tool for IBM’s sales personnel.  A video version of the island is also under production.

IBM believes in the significant promise of virtual-worlds technologies far beyond today's usage: the next evolutionary phase of the Internet. IBM is helping clients and partners to conduct business inside virtual worlds and to connect the virtual world with the real world through a richer, more immersive Web environment. 

Second Life is a 3D online world created by Linden Lab, a company founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale, to create a revolutionary new form of shared 3D experience.  Last October, IBM and Linden Lab announced their intent to jointly develop new technologies and methodologies based on open standards that will help advance the future of 3D virtual worlds.

Rex Brooks on Collaborative Expedition Workshop #62

<ed.note>Rex is ACTIVE in many healthcare IT related initiatives, one of which is the OASIS International Health Continuum Technical Committee. He posted the following summary in a recent listserv comment:</ed.note>

Hi Folks,

I've been attending and presenting at these collaboration workshops for five years now. The first presentation I gave was at #36. It seems unreal that this was #62.

Here's the url for the workshop yesterday. All of the presentations are downloadable.

Ian Ïoster's presentation on Service Oriented Science is really important for connecting the dots of how all this health-related activity can be pulled together and work together, enabling the kind of multiplier effect we are all hoping will lift Healthcare IT from the depths of paper-anchored catacombs.

Christopher Mackie's presentation on Cyberinfrastructure supports Ian's presentation on Service Oriented Science is particularly cogent in the context of not letting go of the tiger's tail. It's a very pragmatic approach to how to ensure that cyberinfrastructure, especially in academia remains strong after initial funding dwindles. It includes references to actual software development projects.

The Trans-Enterprise Service Grid presentation was given by David Ellis from Sandia Labs, with whom I work on a regular basis in the OASIS Emergency Management TC, and it highlights both the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) as a message payload, and the Emergency Data Exchange Language Distribution Element (EDXL-DE) for message routing. Since messaging is what makes web services work, whether using SOAP or REST, the concept of the Service Grid is what makes the Service Oriented (Architecture) Science and Health Grid mentioned in the other presentations work.

Michelle Warner's presentation on the Health Grid from the perspective of the National Governors Association is another dose of pragmatism. It is a wise inclusion, since the level of state cooperation basically dictates the actual viability of all national health initiatives.

Saul Rosenberg, whose presentation highlighted the concept of the Health Grid, is HQd across the SF Bay from me, and I think I will be working with him in an associated-follow-up project to support his registry-based PTSD/Head/Brain injury early diagnosis service. I met him through Marc Wine in the GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions.

This wiki page is a rich set of resources, especially down in the Resources Section toward the bottom of the page.

Cheers,

Rex Brooks
<rexb at starbourne.com> 
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: 510-898-0670

This Day in Connected Health

<ed.note>FasterCures SmartBrief pointed me here while Wireless Healthcare Weekly News pointed me here. This is, of course, serendipitous and synergistic given this, you know, if anyone in power pays attention.</ed.note>

Wireless Healthcare News on EDventures’ Adventures In Healthcare

<ed.note>The Apple iPhone, RIM's Curve, Nokia's N Series, Samsung's offerings, etc. not to mention Axiotron's ModBook and Motion Computing et al's tablets are poised to take advantage of electronic personal healthcare records. And medical banking is building out the real time payment possibilities. Ask your provider if they can provide point of service pricing if you offer to pay from your healthcare savings account. If s/he says "No" ask her/him why. There is a LinkedIn.com group which focuses on open healthcare - http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/3102/63B2164D6495 and another on wireless - https://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/2312/1D90E714F553/</ed.note>

28th June 2007 wirelesshealthcare.co.uk

Is the ehealth sector about to get the Dot Com treatment? Certainly EDventures, Esther Dyson’s investment vehicle, has been putting a lot of effort, and a substantial amount of money, into online healthcare companies recently. EDventures has been active in the high technology sector for twenty years and is currently involved with Voxiva and 23andme. Until February this year it was also part owner of Medstory, which is now part of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group. A closer look at some of these companies may provide an insight into the direction the ehealth market is moving.

SOA|UDEF Workshop, June 15 from 9.00am - 1.00pm EST

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is critical in a multi-enterprise healthcare ecosystem. Open Group has a major workgroup going on in SOA and Symantic Interoperability to address this issue. Most of our vendor/partners such as SAP, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco etc have not only become members of the Open Group but are pursuing SOA roadmaps. We are also asking all our vendors/partners to look into the UDEF Vendor Challenge for integrating the Stevens Academic Prototype on Diabetes - Remote Health/Blood Monitoring, Personalized Medicine and Electronic Medical Records with the National Health Information Network. For more details of the UDEF Vendor Challenge Click Here

The JJAPF Education Track is organizing a 1/2 day SOA workshop on Universal Data Element Framework on June 15 from 9.00am - 1.00pm EST. Webconferencing/location details are enclosed. Ron Shuldt, Chair Open Group/UDEF Project will be providing the instruction and several of our vendors/partners from the Open Group will also be attending this session.

UDEF is very similiar to the J&J meta-data stds (both have the origins in the same ISO stds). United Nations is using this and Homeland Security/Dept of Defence are looking at it. This is language/industry agnostic and can provide a consistent naming/numbering/indexing mechanism from Proforma artifacts to records/document management and can scale to the molecular level for chemicals/blood (eg could be aliased for the JNJ numbering scheme being used by ABCD in PRD)

The SOA/UDEF Training material will be presented live to allow for the students to interact with the UDEF trees that are viewable at http://www.opengroup.org/udefinfo/defs.htm . This can be currently downloaded as an Excel Spreadsheet at https://www.opengroup.org/projects/udef/protected/doc.tpl?gdid=13437

The first 90 minutes of the training will cover the key principles for selecting the correct property and the correct object. Specific examples on HR & Procurement will also be covered. The interactive session (about 90 minutes) that follows will provides the students with exercises that test some of the principles that they heard in the first 90 minutes. The UDEF mapping done during the Stevens Diabetes Prototype will be also demonstrated as an opportunity for future integration with the National Health Information Network.

We look forward to participation from our global community and especially the TOGAF/ITIL Trained/Certified members and the SOA Interest Workgroup. Please forward to others in your organization as well as your Open Group vendor/partners as appropriate.

Thank you,
JJAPF Education Track

Contactless Cards 2007 June 25th & 26th, London

SMi's Contactless Cards Conference will bring together leading industry players to discuss the latest opportunities and challenges within the market focusing on advanced transport systems, operator networks, payment applications, passports and IDs.

After the two-day event Consult Hyperion will also be holding a half-day interactive workshop - ?1+1 = 3? Contactless + Mobile = Something Special which will look at the question: Is the hype around NFC and mobile phones justified? The workshop will attempt to answer this question based on practical experiences developing NFC applications for clients in the finance, transport, telecommunications and technology sectors, while simultaneously acting as a mobile/NFC boot camp. For more information and to download the full conference programme visit:
www.smi-online.co.uk/2007contactlesscards11.asp

Companies already attending include:

Advanta National Bank USA, Alliance & Leicester, Bankalararasi Kart Merkezi, Bayern Card Services, DnB NOR, EDS, Elavon Merchant Services, ESP Systex, Euromonitor International, GMPTE, Komercní banka, MasterCard Worldwide, Tatra Banka AS, Thales Telecom Services, Trans Link Systems B.V... and many more

Places are limited so register now to secure your place. Smart Card Alliance members receive 20% discount.

To register your place contact Marta Szymaniak on tel: +44 (0) 207 827 6180or email: mszymaniak@smi-online.co.uk

Speakers include:

Dr Toni Merschen, Group Head, Chip, MasterCard Worldwide

Randy Vanderhoof, Executive Director, Smart Card Alliance

Paul Marsh, Director, Cards and Fraud Control, APACS

Shashi Verma, Director of Oyster Card, Transport for London

Brian Byrne, Chair of the Board of Managers and Vice President, EMVCo

Guido Mangiagalli, Head of New Channels, Visa Europe

Greg Garback, Executive Officer, Division of Finance, Washington (DC) Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

Dominic Peachey, Policy Adviser, Financial Services Authority

Thomas Martin, Senior Product Manager, Debit Cards, Lloyds TSB Group

James Parsons, Vice President, EMEA Cards Product Development, JPMorgan Chase

HR-XML Adds Support for Healthcare Savings Accounts

post here:

Health care spending account (HSA) support. Under the U.S. tax code, an HSA is a tax-exempt account established exclusively for the purpose of paying qualified medical expenses. A requirement for an HSA is for the account beneficary to be covered by a high-deductible health plan — a plan type supported by the USTierCoverage component of HR-XML’s enrollment schema. See the revised Enrollment documentation for details, but the HSA support involved relatively minor changes to the USTierCoverage component. Several changes also were made to the USSpendingAccountCoverage component to better handle other types of spending account enrollments (healthcare reimbursement accounts, flexible spending accounts (FSAs), dependent care spending accounts, etc.).

World Integrated Circuit Card Summit, May 28, 2007

Great Hall of the People, Beijing

30 world leaders from the global smart cards organizations meeting in Beijing

100 VIP speakers: chairman & executive directors from both the international and national smart cards organizations and well-known card vendors; the senior officials from the smart cards users authorities in China and overseas buyers

100 governmental officers and association officers: from Telecom, Banks, Public Security, Urban Transit, Social Welfare & Security, Healthcare, Tourism, Petrol-chemicals, Customs, Eduction and Securities

500 delegates: CEO/CIO/CTO of the card vendors from home and abroad; representatives from bankcard issuers, telecom operators, professors, researchers and journalists

3rd Price Winners Award Ceremony for China TOP 10 Smart Card Vendors: an industrial review of the smart cards achievements in China and presenting the national card vendors as a whole to the outside world

4 Emerging Applications Forums: NFC Asia Pacific Summit; 5th Asia RFID Conference; 4th E-passport Forum, China and 3rd Payment Terminals and EMV Forum, China

Organizers:
China National Registration Center of IC Cards of the State Golden Cards Project Office
China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing
China RFID Forum 

Produced by:
AIT Events Co,. Ltd. 
Endorsed by:   
People's Bank of China
Smart Card Forum of China 

Official Supporters:   
Ministry of Information Industry – Science & Technology Department
Ministry of Construction – Information Center
Ministry of Social Welfares & Security – Information Center
Ministry of Public Security – No. 3 Department
State Administration of Tourist – Information Center
China Urban Public Transport Association 

Overseas' Co-organizers:   
Global Platform (GP)
European Smart Card Association (Euro Smart )
International Card Manufacturers' Association (ICMA)
Asia Pacific Smart Card Association (APSCA)
Asia IC Card Forum(AICF)
Smart Card Alliance (USA)
Advanced Card Technology Society (ACT)
Korean E-payment Industry Association (KEPIA)
Korean RFID/USN Association
Japan Next Generation of IC Card Society (NICCS)
Smart Card Society of Southern Africa
Smart Card Forum of India
Information Development Agent of Singapore (IDA)
Mongolian United Smart Card Association. 

CORE Competencies

Providers, Hospitals Can Now Access Consistent Health Insurance Coverage Information in Seconds

New CAQH CORE Rules Dramatically Streamline Administrative Healthcare Data Exchange

Washington, DC – (April 3, 2007) - Healthcare providers and hospitals can now access in seconds consistent eligibility and benefits information required to verify patient health insurance coverage thanks to new standard business rules developed by the CAQH Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange (CORE).

Currently, provider practice staffs often spend hours researching and making follow-up calls at significant cost to obtain and verify insurance information. The CORE rules, which build on the HIPAA eligibility (X12 270/271) transaction, make electronic administrative data communications seamless, streamlined and predictable, regardless of the technology – in many cases eliminating the need for practice staff phone calls.

This significant improvement was made possible because nearly 20 leading health organizations have begun voluntarily exchanging patient administrative data in accordance with the CORE rules. Those organizations are ACS EDI Gateway, Inc.; Aetna, Inc.; athenahealth, Inc.; AultCare Corporation; Emdeon Business Services; Emerging Health Information Technology; Health Net; HTP, Inc.; Mayo Clinic; McKesson Provider Technologies; MedAvant Healthcare Solutions; Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc. (MIE); Montefiore Medical Center; NaviMedix, Inc.; Passport Health Communications; Siemens Medical Solutions; and WellPoint, Inc. and its 14 Blue Cross and Blue Shield-licensed subsidiaries.

All of these organizations recently completed CORE certification testing, a process ensuring that their IT systems and products comply with the CORE rules. They join The SSI Group, Inc., which was the first healthcare organization to receive CORE certification seals. More than 50 million Americans are covered by the health plans now using the CORE rules.

“Quick access to reliable patient insurance information eliminates a huge administrative headache for all healthcare providers,” said William F. Jessee, M.D., FACMPE, FACPM, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Group Management Association. “All of the CORE-certified organizations and those seeking certification are to be applauded for taking a bold step to fix an age-old problem.”

CAQH launched CORE to simplify eligibility and benefits data transactions, promote better health plan/provider interoperability and improve provider access to administrative information. CORE’s vision is provider access to eligibility and benefits information before or at the time of service using the electronic system of their choice for any patient or health plan, effectively reducing administrative burden and costs. To date, the voluntary industry-wide CAQH initiative has brought together nearly 100 industry stakeholders – health plans, providers, vendors, CMS and other government agencies, associations, regional entities, standard-setting organizations and other healthcare entities – to collaborate on the rules.

“Interoperability should be at the heart of any long-term solution for improving healthcare administration,” said Bob Greczyn, CAQH Board chairman and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina President and CEO. “The CORE rules are a revolutionary step toward that goal. They are a foundation and model for all health plan/provider electronic administrative communications.”

Several other healthcare entities, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee; GHN-Online; Health Plan of Michigan; MedData; NoMoreClipboard.com; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; and VisionShare, Inc. are committed to CORE rules compliance by no later than June 30, 2007.

“Today’s announcement is the product of a unique collaboration in healthcare administration,” added Jay Gellert, Health Net, Inc. President and CEO, and Chair of the CAQH Administrative Simplification Committee. “Adoption of the CORE rules by these pioneering organizations proves that the industry is actively contributing ground-breaking solutions. We encourage all organizations with an interest in insurance verification to pursue CORE certification as soon as possible.”

The CORE rules were recently included in the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) Consumer Empowerment Interoperability Specifications as part of a national model for populating and maintaining robust patient insurance information in patients’ personal health records. CORE’s second set of rules, expected to be announced later this year, will address additional eligibility components (X12 270/271) and claims status (X12 276/277), both of which are addressed under HIPAA.

More than 20 organizations have endorsed the CORE rules, including Accenture, the American Academy of Family Physicians; the American College of Physicians; the American Health Information Management Association; CalRHIO; Claredi, an Ingenix Division; Edifecs, Inc.; the eHealth Initiative; Foresight Corp.; the Greater New York Hospital Association; the Healthcare Financial Management Association; the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society; the Medical Group Management Association; Michigan Public Health Institute; Microsoft Corporation; MultiPlan, Inc.; NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP; the International Smart Card Alliance Council; URAC and the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange.

About CAQH
CAQH is a catalyst for healthcare industry collaboration on initiatives that simplify and streamline healthcare administration. CAQH solutions help promote quality interactions between plans, providers and other stakeholders, reduce costs and frustrations associated with healthcare administration, facilitate administrative healthcare information exchange and encourage administrative and clinical data integration. Visit www.caqh.org for more information.

The 2007 Survey of Regional Health Information Organization Finance

In 2006, fifty RHIOs responded to our first survey of RHIO finance. We invite your participation in this important second year of the national survey focusing on how RHIOs and other health information exchanges are initially funded, and then financed on an ongoing basis. Qualified respondents who complete the questionnaire will receive a copy of a report summary developed especially for RHIOs. A full-scale analysis, to be published in June, will be available for purchase, and qualified respondents will receive reduced pricing.

What the Field Will Learn from the Survey
The survey is constructed to help illuminate how RHIOs are addressing organizational, service and funding challenges at different stages of their development. For this reason, we are asking for responses from both early-phase efforts (even before an organization has been named) and mature, fully operational networks, and all stages in between. The streamlined questionnaire does not require disclosure of detailed accounting data; substantial portions can be filled out by anyone familiar with the organization's governance, service offerings and revenue, if any. We expect the data to reveal solutions to challenges shared by RHIOs across the country.

New Banking Innovations For Better Healthcare At Fifth National Medical Banking Institute

Current Registration Fee Extended to February 28, 2007

Franklin, TN (February 21, 2007) Join thought leaders from Harvard Medical School, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), the National Governors Association (NGA), the National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology (NAHIT), Booz Allen Hamilton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BearingPoint and many others at the Fifth National Medical Banking Institute, located at the beautiful Marietta Conference and Resort Center from March 5-7, 2007.

Register Today & Save:  http://www.mbproject.org/5MBI2007_registration.php

Our agenda outlines the emergence of an eHealth ecosystem and provides invaluable insight about how banks can assist in the national build-out for both administrative and clinical messaging.

The 1600 employer-strong Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) will chair a new Value In Health Educational Track after moderating a Large Employer Panel featuring Pitney Bowes, Wachovia and Sanofi-aventis (the third largest pharmaceutical manufacturing firm in the world). Through the efforts of a new MBProject/AIAG Joint Taskgroup on Value In Health, a delegate from the Board of the recently announced Dossia Project, that is implementing some 3 million PHRs for employees of Intel, Wal-Mart, Pitney Bowes, BP, Cardinal Health and others, is presenting and participating in MBProject's E/PHR Use Case working sessions at the Institute.

A new 'Medical Banking Blog' (MBlog) is capturing the 'Institute Buzz', and recently interviewed Roy Ramthun, former economic advisor to President Bush in the area of health savings accounts (see MBlog at www.mblog.mbproject.org ) or visit our home page at www.mbproject.org and click on ?MBlog?. Ramthun kicks off Day 2 (March 7th) of the Institute and is followed by national health IT strategist Scott Wallace, President/CEO of NAHIT, who will focus on what?s needed today to move the eHealth agenda forward. We?ll then hear a senior officer at Booz Allen Hamilton talk about the ?MegaCommunity Model? that has been used around the world to convene leaders around complex social issues.

The Institute, guided by a new President?s Council comprised of ACS, Mellon, PNC Bank, McKesson and Subimo/WebMD, offers seven educational tracks, five concurrent sessions, insightful plenary sessions with industry leaders, workgroups focused on the 'HSA Accumulator' and bank-driven E/PHRs. Attendees include high level executives from leading banks, financial services firms, healthcare stakeholders, privacy and consumer groups and others.

The Exante Networking Reception at Brumby Hall and Gardens provides an exceptional forum for networking with colleagues.

The National Medical Banking Institute is proud to recognize its sponsors. For more information about each firm, please click on the link provided below.

-- Educational Grantor: Exante Financial Services www.exantefinancialservices.com

-- Platinum Sponsors: Sanofi-aventis www.sanofi-aventis.com; ACS www.acs-inc.com

-- Gold Sponsors: Fifth Third Bank www.53.com; PNC Bank www.pnc.com

-- Silver Sponsor: Cerner www.cerner.com

Our Speakers:

--Ann Mond Johnson, President, Subimo/WebMD

--Bill Marvin, President, CEO & Founder, InstaMed

--Bob Nay, Director, Financial Services Convergence, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida

--B.P. Fulmer, President, Medical Banking Institute; Executive Director, Commercial EDI, ACS

--Brian R. Kelly, Director of Finance & Business Dev., University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Strategic Business Initiatives, Incline Healthcare Solutions

--Christopher Queram, President & CEO, The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality

--Dan Johnson, President & CEO, SearchAmerica

--David Harris, National Healthcare Revenue Cycle Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers

--David Hom, Human Resources ? Strategic Initiatives, Pitney Bowes, Inc.

--David McCallie Jr., MD, VP, Medical Informatics, Cerner Corporation

--Dean Mason, President, UnitedHealthcare/Exante Bank

--Devika Kumar, Associate VP, Revenue Cycle Services, QHR

--Eric Racine, Pharm.D., Associate VP, Employers & Quality Associations, US Managed Markets, Sanofi-aventis

--Isaac S. Kohane, MD, Ph.D., Assoc. Professor of Pediatrics & Health Sciences & Technology, Director, Children?s Hospital Informatics Program, Children?s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

--James Dean, Sr. Manager, Financial Services Practice, BearingPoint

--James F. Kragh, Founder, President & CEO, Good Health Network

--Joseph A. Fortuna, M.D., Medical Director, E&C and AHG Divisions, Delphi Corp/Automotive Industry Action Group

--John Casillas, BS, CT (ASCP), Chair, Medical Banking Institute; Executive Director & Founder, The Medical Banking Project (Keynote)

--John Hardin, B2B Product Manager, SOA/Business Integration, Sun Microsystems

--John Lindquist, President & CEO, Electronic Warfare Associates, Information & Infrastructure Technologies

--June St. John, CTP, Sr. VP, Treasury Services, HSA Product Manager, Wachovia

--Karen M. Bell, MD, MMS , Director, Office of Health IT Adoption, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dept. of Health & Human Services

--Katherine C. Haley, Legislative Assistant on Social Policy, US Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)

--Kathleen Nolan, Health Division Director, National Governors Association, Center for Best Practices

--Kelly Birch, VP Sales & Channels, Exante Financial Services

--Kimberly Darling, Founder & President, Competitive Health

--Lori Daugherty, President & CEO, WorkingRx

--Mark Trail, Chief, Medical Assistance Plans, Dept of Community Health, State of Georgia

--Maureen L. Turo, VP, Healthcare Market Specialist, Mellon Financial Corp.

--Michael Connors, Executive Advisor, Booz Allen Hamilton

--Dr. Michael L. Nelson, Director, Business Development, Health Market Science

--Paul G. Chicos, President & CEO, E-Duction

--Reggie Van Lee, Sr. VP, Booz Allen Hamilton

--Rex Brooks, President & CEO, Starbourne Communications Design

--Richard Flores, VP, Revenue Cycle Operations, LifePoint Hospitals

--Richard Whitmer, CEO, Insight Healthcare Financial

--Richard E. Williams, Director, Portfolio Management Group, ACS

--Roy Ramthun, President, HSA Consulting Services, former Sr. Health Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush

--Scott Fad, Corporate Director, Projects & Planning, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Delaware

--Scott Krah, VP & Healthcare Product Executive, Healthcare Solutions, Fifth Third Bank

--Scott Wallace, President & CEO, National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology, Chair, Commission on Systemic Interoperability, Dept of Health & Human Services

--Shawn A. Jenkins, President & CEO, Benefitfocus

--Thomas J. Hricik, National Director, HSA Product Distribution, ACS /Mellon HSA Solution, ACS

--Vincent Marzula, VP and Product Group Manager, Treasury Management Division, PNC Bank

--William A. Howard, Jr., Executive VP, Markets, Fiserv Health

About the Medical Banking Project
The Medical Banking Project (a.k.a. "MBProject") is a policy research, strategic advisory and Industry Action Group that is increasingly member-driven. We facilitate ?medical banking? ? a latent market development evolving from the integration of banking and healthcare systems ? through educational forums and industry initiatives that inform policy and commerce. MBProject is spearheading two related initiatives: a global, open source software platform ("C.O.M.B.A.T. - Cooperative Open-source Medical Banking Architecture & Technology") to combat rising healthcare costs using medical banking principles and technology; and, a fee-based, bank-driven community system ("Charitable Communities Network™") to coordinate safety net healthcare access for the unbanked and underserved. The initiatives demonstrate how banks can deliver substantive cost benefits to care givers, health plans, employers and consumers. For more information please go to http://www.mbproject.org. Medical Banking™ is a trademark of the Medical Banking Project (a.k.a. MBProject).

Contact: Evelyn Marquez Sanchez
615-794-2009
info@mbproject.org

Contactless Payments: Consumer Attitudes and Acceptance in the United States

Smart Card Alliance's Smart Card Talk, December 2006 • Volume 11 Number 12

Since mid-2005, leading financial issuers have put over 17 million contactless payment devices into the hands of U.S. consumers.   That number is expected to grow significantly by the end of 2006.  Financial institutions that have announced programs to provide consumers with contactless credit and debit cards or key fobs that contain a contactless chip include American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, Citizens Bank, GE Consumer Finance, HSBC Bank, JPMorgan Chase, KeyBank, US Bank and Wells Fargo. 

So far, the introduction of contactless payment has focused on markets in which transactions are typically of lower value, where consumers pay primarily with cash, and where speed and convenience are critical.  The over 35,000 merchant locations in the United States that now accept contactless payments include quick service restaurants, convenience stores, pharmacies, theaters, and sports venues.

An independent survey of consumer attitudes toward contactless payment devices, commissioned by the Smart Card Alliance and conducted by Javelin Strategy & Research in August, 2006, indicates that there is a large, untapped market for the use of these devices.  This article describes the results of the survey and the implications of these results for financial institutions contemplating adoption of a contactless payment option.

C-Suites, Czars and Cybercriminals

<ed.note>Apparently the bad guys compensate their IT talent and the good guys wish they did. If only there were some obvious, salient lesson the markets ( who decide compensation via stock ownership and pressure on boards -- active or passive ) and governments could draw from this inscrutable enigma.</ed.note>

ePassports à Go-Go

The "old" form factor  (Australia), the new, a parallel traveling development and a healthcare version. And another healthcare approach.

Federal Reserve Board Eyes New Role in Medical Banking

The Medical Banking Report, July|August Vol. 3, No. 4

As ONCHIT seeks to harmonize standards, technology and architecture to create an electronic health records system, another effort suddenly finds itself in the landscape of the possible for implementing our “medical internet”.

While related to the work of the Medical Banking Project, the new “Independent Health Record Bank” (IHRB) is far different. Yet the profile of IHRBs in medical banking was signficantly raised when a new House bill seeking to establish IHRBs appointed the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) as the governance agency.

Because IHRBs can emerge external to existing banking infrastructure, MBProject doesn’t classify it as a pure medical banking play. Core to medical banking is leveraging existing banking systems for healthcare. Yet if IHRBs gain traction banks will likely get much more involved, especially if the FRB is involved.

“Yes, the IHRB can be implemented outside of banks but it can also work within the banking community,” insists Amnon Shabo, PhD., in an email to MBR. Shabo, who did early work in creating the IHRB model, works at IBM’s Almaden Institute in Haifa, Israel. Yet offering the new service could present challenges to banks. The proposed “Independent Health Record Bank Act of 2006” suggests that IHRBs are non-profit entities only, and that they are right off the bat, a HIPAA clearinghouse.

Act SWIFTly

June 23, 2006 - "Treasury Tracks Financial Data In Secret Program", By GLENN R. SIMPSON, Page A1, The Wall Street Journal

Since 9/11, U.S. Has Used Subpoenas to Access Records From Fund-Transfer System

<ed.note>It's good to see that the fedgov is aware of xml-flavored technologies. Obviously we can expect to see them applied to the federal budget to provide transparency for taxpayers ;-)</ed.note>

Since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department has been secretly tracking suspected terrorist financing through a far-reaching program that gives it access to records from the network that handles nearly all international financial transfers.

The information comes from a Belgian firm known by its acronym, Swift, which manages much of the world's financial-message traffic. Under the program, U.S. counter-terrorism analysts query Swift's vast database of billions of financial transactions for information on activity by suspected terrorists. The program operates under a series of broad U.S. subpoenas.

U.S. officials say the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program has been highly successful both in leading to the apprehension of terrorism suspects and in thwarting terrorist operations. People familiar with the program said, for example, that it yielded useful information on the bombings last July 7 in London. The program "has helped to disrupt terrorist cells and operations and has helped save lives," Treasury said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.

Still, disclosure of its existence may be controversial in Europe and other parts of the world and within the global banking industry, which has long worried about the privacy of transactions. U.S. officials said few American citizens would have financial data that fall under the program, because they are unlikely to engage in international money transfers.

Stuart Levey, Treasury's top counter-terrorism official, said the program was initiated after department lawyers determined they had the legal authority to subpoena Swift, which keeps its data in the U.S. To his knowledge, Mr. Levey said, such broad subpoenas of Swift data had not been attempted previously.

He said the subpoenas are based on a longstanding U.S. law dealing with economic sanctions, known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Passed in 1977, it allows the president to impose economic sanctions when dealing with a national-security threat. The law has been used, among other things, to impose sanctions on rogue states.

See also NYTime's treatment.

Bills stoke debate about health records

June 16, 2006 by Rob Roberts, Staff Writer, Kansas City Business Journal

Banks say they have systems, know-how

Legislation introduced by two members of Kansas' congressional delegation is sparking debate about who should become the bankers of Americans' electronic health records -- financial institutions or independent health record banks.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican, introduced the Independent Health Record Bank Act on June 6. U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat, filed a nearly identical House version two days later.

The bills call for independent health record banks to be formed by nonprofit cooperatives that, for a fee, would maintain members' lifetime electronic health records and make them accessible through swipe cards.

Some sources, however, say it makes more sense to build a nationwide health information network on top of the banking industry's existing financial infrastructure.

"We're advancing a model that is much more bank-centric than the independent health record bank model," said John Casillas, executive director of a Franklin, Tenn., think tank called the Medical Banking Project.

Casillas said the financial industry is positioned to roll out health record banking quicker and less expensively due to its nationwide electronic networks, 55 million online customers and existing accounts with health care providers and insurers.

Banks that provide services such as cash disbursement for health plans or lockbox check-processing for health care providers already must be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

"So the next step is: What services can banks add onto these HIPAA-compliant platforms we're building?" Casillas said.

The Medical Banking Project, which plans to launch a demonstration pilot next year, envisions a day when bank-issued swipe cards will allow health care providers to verify insurance coverage, receive payment from patients' bank accounts and access their electronic health records.

The Independent Health Record Bank Act

"Brownback bill would centralize medical records", Kansas City Business Journal

<ed.note>Hmmm, doesn't this sound vaguely familiar?</ed.note>

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., introduced the Independent Health Record Bank Act on Tuesday, and a companion bill is expected to be introduced later this week in the U.S. House.

The Senate bill, which doesn't yet have a number, was previewed during Brownback's April 14 visit to Cerner Corp. in North Kansas City. Health care information companies like Cerner could profit from the bill by providing necessary technology for the independent record banks.

The Independent Record Bank Act provides legal and regulatory guidelines for establishing the banks by nonprofit cooperative institutions similar to member-owned credit unions.

H.A.T.’s Off to PNC Bank

May/June 2006  Vol. 3, No.3, The MEDICAL BANKING REPORT

Over the past two months, PNC Bank has placed a stake in the ground in the evolving medical banking industry. Besides conducting a survey that helps to lay important groundwork for establishing the value of emerging medical banking services, (Mar/Apr Issue), the bank also organized a new annual seminar featuring prominent healthcare plans and provider systems.

PNC Bank, however, was saving the best for last.

On April 19 the newswires heralded a breakthrough in the medical banking space. PNC acquired a health data clearinghouse – Healthcare Administration Technologies, Inc., (H.A.T.) of Tulsa, OK – and announced that it will now offer services that streamline the entire claims process between
the healthcare provider and the insurance company.

The new integrated platform marks a first in the industry. Other acquisitions of health data management firms by banks have folded (First American/SSI; BoNY/CSI; Nation’s/Covation).
These acquisitions didn’t, however, position the asset within the bank’s treasury management services area.

In fact, MBProject contends that it is precisely this type of alignment – linking cash management and health data management assets – that creates new value for healthcare. Getting behind this new commercial idea has taken the banking and healthcare industries some time, but today, it is now the topic of growing focus.

More here

MBP CyberWar WG Leader on Noteworthy Data Theft Information to be considered in Smart-Card based systems

Hi Folks,

I understand that some of you will already have seen this, but I am willing to bet that others have filtering mechanisms, including staff tasked with bringing such resources to your attention, but I wanted to be certain that you are aware in a more focused way on this issue, since it relates to my proposal for a Digital Harbor presentation to next month's CyberwarWG meeting. There are implications in this graphical presentation beyond the purposes of its intended use. This also points up the need for us all to read, and listen for, the implications between lines of news reports. The phenomenal rate of data theft has not been significantly reduced since it began increasing in 2002-2203.

http://www.informationweek.com/1081/data.jhtml

It is supplemented and reinforced by citing the chronology of such security breaches

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm

53,532, 940 personal information files lost or stolen. That's approximately 1/6th of the US population. Think we need to address this in personal electronic health recordkeeping practices tied to smart-card-based platforms?

Regards,
Rex
--
Rex Brooks
rexb at starbourne.com
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
http://www.starbourne.com
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison
Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: 510-849-2309

Tech Group Blasts Federal Leadership on Cyber-Security

Dec. 13, 2005 By Brian Krebs, Staff Writer, washingtonpost.com

A group of leading technology companies today chastised Congress and the Bush administration for what it characterized as a failure to support initiatives to fight online crime, saying a lack of leadership and accountability in this area is endangering U.S. economic and national security.

The Cyber Security Industry Alliance said the federal government has largely declined to act on recommendations the group outlined a year ago, goals that mirrored policies originally set forth in early 2003 by the White House in the "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace."

Cyber-security as a government priority "has been on a downward slope and we need to arrest that decline and bring the issue back to the level [of importance] it was a few years ago," said Paul Kurtz, a former Bush administration cyber-security official who serves as chief executive of the alliance. The group's members include such tech titans as Computer Associates, Entrust, McAfee, RSA Security and Symantec.

The industry-led criticism comes as the problem of computer- and Internet-based crime has reached an all-time high. A U.S. Treasury official said earlier this month that profits that online crooks are earning through computer crime now rivals that of the global trade in illegal narcotics. Earlier this year, federal investigators acknowledged that a series of computer break-ins at several government and defense technology contracting companies led to the theft of sensitive documents and intellectual property by Chinese hacker groups and other foreign governments.

Need to Develop Global Standards for Smart Card ID Applications

Palo Alto, Calif. — November 7, 2005 — In the wake of increasing security concerns, the incorporation of secure identity management systems is assuming top priority for enterprises and governments worldwide. However, tight deadlines, lack of consensus and security loopholes has created considerable confusion in crucial programs such as the e-passport project.

Smart card organizations and governments need to work together in developing global standards for ID applications. Further, open platforms, which are expected to play a key role in this segment due to their scalability and security features, will have to evolve as strong foundations for the credible execution of such vital applications.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.smartcards.frost.com), World Battle of Platforms, reveals that unit shipments for open platform cards totaled 400 million in 2004 and projects to reach to 1.15 billion by 2011.

Leading Global Advisors Join the Medical Banking Project to provide guidance for it's open source, open standards-based initiative

Franklin, TN (October 31, 2005) The Medical Banking Project has announced the ratification of an initial set of Advisory Board members related to its open source, open standards-based initiative called "C.O.M.B.A.T." for "Cooperative Open-source Medical Banking Architecture and Technology". The effort, intended to spur industry adoption of medical banking principles and technology, targets rising healthcare costs by implementing a real time administrative and clinical messaging test platform that banks can use to engage all healthcare stakeholders, including consumers.

"We are delighted that these prominent organizations have joined our membership-driven effort as advisors. We want to help banks to help their healthcare customers speed adoption of a 'medical internet'," said John Casillas, founder and executive director of MBProject.

The C.O.M.B.A.T. Advisory Board members include, by stakeholder:

* Healthcare Providers: American Hospital Association, Solutions (AHA)

* Banks: The National Clearing House (NCHA)

* Consumers: National Health Council (NHC); Consumers for Healthcare Choices (CHCChoices); Family Voices; National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) at The Urban Institute

* Healthcare IT: Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS); Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE); Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC)

* Employers: Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)

MBProject has attracted a growing list of prominent supporters that include The Walt Disney Company, Covisint, United Healthcare/Exante, Lasalle Bank/ABN AMRO, PNC Bank, ACS, Fiserv, Revolution Healthcare Group/ConnectYourCare, PricewaterhouseCoopers, BearingPoint, Duke's Fuqua School of Business and many others. Members, organized into six workgroups, provide input into a Steering Committee that in turn directs subcommittee work to build and test the platform. Use cases will focus on lockbox specialization (speeding X12N 835 remittance adoption), real-time administrative messaging (settling medical claims in real time), bank-driven Personal Healthcare Records and optimizing community safety net resources.

"The banking community can make a significant contribution to healthcare. Our initiative is as much about broadcasting this unique opportunity for all stakeholders as it is about implementing a platform," comments Casillas. "We are entering a very exciting and dynamic phase at MBProject with leading organizations. Our members, now assisted by an Advisory Board, will make a positive contribution towards implementing a digital healthcare environment that reduces costs and saves lives."