Conmergence

ONC-AHRQ RELEASE REPORT: States Advancing Common Approaches to Protecting Electronic Health Information

States Advancing Common Approaches to Protecting Electronic Health Information, Report Finds
Most states have made substantial progress in defining their privacy and security approaches for electronic health information exchange, according to a report released by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), both part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The thirty three states and Puerto Rico make up the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) formed as part of the ONC-AHRQ co-managed Privacy and Security Solutions for Interoperable Health Information Exchange contract (Privacy and Security Solutions Project).

During the past 18 months, HISPC participants have gained a greater understanding of and ability to address the variation in business practices, policies, and state laws that affect the electronic exchange of health information.

The Impact Analysis Report provides an assessment of the progress made by states since the inception of the project by comparing the current landscape for privacy and security to the baseline as reported by the state teams in early 2006. The report discusses the impact of work among and between participants in five key areas: legislation, executive orders, leadership and governance, stakeholder education and knowledge, and development of health information exchange networks. The analysis also describes the collaborative work between states in seven key areas and it provides a state-by-state discussion of recent progress.

The report is the seventh in a series of progress reports produced by the Privacy and Security Solutions Project.

"The report released is evidence of the significant role and impact that states and territories can have in advancing health information technology while preserving and promoting privacy and security protections," said Dr. Robert Kolodner, national coordinator for Health IT. "The broad participation of stakeholders at all levels in the HISPC has provided each participating state and territory with the foundation, awareness, and buy-in to develop comprehensive plans to protect health information in an electronic environment."

Progress made during the past two years includes:

• 23 states cite increased awareness of privacy and security issues among stakeholders as a key component of success in the development and sustainability of statewide Health IT and Health Information Exchange (HIE) plans;
• 14 states indicated the Privacy and Security Solutions Project has served to increase support for planned HIEs;
• 11 states reported legislative activities aimed at updating and aligning privacy and security statutes to prepare for electronic health information exchange with four states having already passed some legislation;
• Three state governors have issued executive orders formalizing support for the HISPC in their state and have provided members of their state HISPC teams with leadership roles in other initiatives; and
• Seven collaborative work groups involving 43 states and 2 territories are now focused on implementing shared privacy and security solutions.

For more information regarding the Impact Analysis Report, visit: http://healthit.ahrq.gov/privacyandsecurity. The ONC-AHRQ-sponsored report was prepared by RTI International, which is implementing the Privacy and Security Solutions Project.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Washington, D.C. 20201
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Contact: ONC Press Office
(202) 690-7385;

Office of the National Coordinator EMR|PHR Public Forum January 16, 2008

To encourage widespread industry participation in a project for the Office of the National Coordinator to define key health information technology terms, there are two public forums to gather comments. The first public forum will be held in Washington, DC on January 16. The public forums will play a vital role in the process of developing consensus-based definitions for electronic health record, electronic medical record, personal health record, health information exchange and regional health information network. Public forum participants will have the opportunity to review work-in-progress from the project's two work groups and provide feedback. The forums offer the healthcare community and other thought leaders the opportunity to comment, share concerns, and make important contributions to the project. The Washington forum will be held from 9:00 am - 12:00 p.m. at Washington Hospital, National Rehabilitation Center Auditorium. More information about the forum as well as the registration form for participants can be found at http://definitions.nahit.org/forums.php. There is no registration fee associated with this event.

U.S. Department of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles Call for Participation

We are writing to request your assistance with an important program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) known as the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). The USDOL is gathering occupational information in an effort to better define worker and work characteristics such as knowledge, skills, abilities, activities, and work context for nearly 900 occupational categories in the U.S. economy. As the data is collected and published, it will be used by millions of employers, workers, educators, and students (http://online.onetcenter.org). Much of the information already is in use by agencies and organizations across the nation (http://www.doleta.gov/programs/onet/oina.cfm).

The O*NET program is seeking experts in the occupations of Bioinformatics Scientist, Bioinformatics Technician, and Biostatistician.  The last complete update of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles was conducted by USDOL in the late 1970s. Basic criteria includes that data be provided by individuals who have performed the occupation for at least one year, have a five or more years of experience in the notedoccupation, andhave performed in that same arena duringthe past six months. This can bepracticing, consulting, teaching, instructing, supervising, etc. A short description of the occupation currently being updated is listed below. Please use the description, not the title, to decide if you may be a good match:

Bioinformatics Scientists:  Conduct research using bioinformatics theory and methods in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. May design databases and develop algorithms for processing and analyzing genomic information, or other biological information.

Bioinformatics Technicians:  Apply principles and methods of bioinformatics to assist scientists in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. Apply bioinformatics tools to visualize, analyze, manipulate or interpret molecular data. May build and maintain databases for processing and analyzing genomic or other biological information.

Biostatisticians:  Develop and apply biostatistical theory and methods to the study of life sciences.

The Bioinformatics Organization, Inc. is asking for volunteers from our membership to assist in the collection of information about these occupations.  Please be assured that your decision regarding participation in O*NET will not impact your standing as a member of the Bioinformatics Organization, Inc..

RTI International (RTI), a nonprofit research firm, is assisting USDOL with the O*NET data collection effort.  Please send an e-mail indicating your interest to participate, including your experience, title, last name, first name, address 1, address 2, City, State, ZIP code, day time Phone number, and Bioinformatics Scientist, Bioinformatics Technician, and Biostatistician area of specialty to Ron Wandscher, Business Liaison, at rwandscher@onet.rti.org.  You can also call 877-233-7348 ext. 108.

By participating, you will contribute to a key resource providing our nation with continuously updated occupational information.  Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

Vanderbilt’s Mark Frisse on Avoiding the HIT Swamp

November 13, 2007, By Cindy Atoji, Digital HealthCare & Productivity

Fashioning a definitive health information technology (HIT) solution is impossible without arriving at a clearer consensus on broader healthcare policy, says Mark Frisse of Vanderbilt Center for Better Health. Indeed some HIT efforts, such as the recent attempt by ONC (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology) to develop consensus-based definitions for key health information technology terms, may be premature in some areas, suggests Frisse.

Frisse is the director of Vanderbilt’s regional informatics programs and has helped efforts to develop a statewide health information infrastructure to support Tennessee Medicaid patients. He is also helping to spearhead a demonstration project in the Memphis area and is actively involved in activities sponsored by the Markle Foundation and the eHealth Initiative. Frisse recently spoke with Digital HealthCare & Productivity on the need to align policies and incentives for health information sharing.

Certification Commission for Healthcare IT and Mitre Launch No-Cost, Open Source EHR Interoperability Testing Software

story here at ihealthbeat.org

<ed.note>It will be interesting to see how many Open Source EHRs they end up certifying...</ed.note>

Call For Participation in HIT Definitions Work Groups

Under the direction of management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE), The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance) is working with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to engage health care stakeholders in a participatory process to define key health IT terms.

The first step is in the process is to form two works that will develop consensus-based definitions for the standard use of key health information technology (IT) terms. As part of a project, a Records Work Group will be formed to develop consensus on definitions for electronic medical record (EMR), electronic health record (EHR), and personal health record (PHR) while the Networks Work Group will develop consensus on definitions for health information exchange (HIE) and regional health information organization (RHIO).

The Alliance is accepting applications for work group membership on its web site at http://www.definitions.nahit.org from November 5 to November 16, 2007.

For the work groups, the Alliance is seeking volunteers from providers, manufacturers/vendors of healthcare IT products, payers, purchasers, employers, consumer advocacy groups, associations and professional organizations, academic institutions, government and currently operating health information exchanges and regional health information organizations. Candidates should be:

*    Leaders of national stature, able to simultaneously represent the healthcare field, their respective sector category and their organization.
*    Experts with experience in the focus area of the work group.
*    Recognized leaders within their organization, able and willing to engage their organization in this project.

The first work group meetings will be held November 30, and workgroups are expected to meet on a biweekly basis via teleconference until a final report is published at the end of March 2008.

Ignacio H. Valdes, MD, MS Opinion Piece: CCHIT Goes Back to the Future

here.

HHS Issues First Department-Wide Report on Personalized

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt today released the first department-wide report on the goal of personalized health care and said work in biomedical science, health information technology and health care delivery should be aligned to produce “the right treatment, at the right time” for each individual patient.

The report, Personalized Health Care: Opportunities, Pathways, Resources, presents a long-range plan for achieving much more individualized treatment for patients, especially by using genetic information and health information technology (IT).  Together, health information and IT can give clinicians better information about each patient and more support in choosing “best care” options for treatment.

“Health care professionals have always aimed at making medical care as individualized as possible.  But in truth, our ability to deliver the right care for each person has been limited,” Secretary Leavitt writes in a foreword to the report.

The report was produced as part of Secretary Leavitt’s priority initiative on personalized health care.  It describes how the exploding knowledge of the human genome will increase the capacity to predict, detect, preempt and treat disease, by enabling physicians to “look beneath” visible symptoms and see signs and causes of disease at the molecular level.  The report also describes how health IT can make patient information accessible securely, while maintaining confidentially, as well as how it can support high quality care.  Health IT can even help clinicians and researchers ascertain which treatments are most effective and for whom, by using broad-scale data derived from day-to-day medical practice.

The report includes descriptions of the opportunities presented by science and technology.  It also outlines pathways where work is needed.  The report presents the first inventory of some 50 related programs underway throughout HHS.

Secretary Leavitt said the combination of genomic medicine, health IT, and better use of medical evidence will make possible much more effective health care -- such as learning which medicines, at what dosages, work best for which patients.

“Personalized health care means knowing what works, knowing why it works, knowing who it works for, and applying that knowledge for patients,” he writes.  “These goals may sound elementary, but a generation of effort lies ahead of us in achieving them.”

Secretary Leavitt emphasized that personalized medicine, especially the use of genomic data, will require further attention to using information correctly, including protecting the privacy of identifiable personal health information and protection against misuse of that information.  The Secretary also noted that the Bush Administration, since 2001, has supported enactment of federal law to protect against misuse of genomic information in employment and health insurance.

Some highlights of related activities in HHS include:

• Genome-wide Association Studies, sponsored especially by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to identify genetic elements in disease.  New findings from these studies are now being reported at a rapidly accelerating pace.

• Efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to describe population-wide genomic characteristics and to help lay the groundwork for using genomic elements in health care.

• Programs under the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to improve understanding of the causes of cancer and to improve treatment through scientific advancement as well as new programs for sharing “best treatment” information.

• HHS-supported efforts in health IT to develop technical standards and provide for secure exchange of medical data, aimed at supporting the President’s goal of electronic health records for most Americans by 2014.

• New guidance and planning by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lay the groundwork for rapid development of useful new products, and for integrating genomic information into drug prescribing and disease diagnosis.

• Efforts by NIH, CDC, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries and “best practice” information into clinical practice.

The report is available on the HHS Web site at http://www.hhs.gov/myhealthcare/.

David Brailer and Brian Robinson GHIT Newsmaker Webcast

When David Brailer headed the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT) he was the federal government’s principal voice for how technology could influence health care. After leaving that policy post last year, he founded Health Evolution Partners, an investment firm looking to back companies producing innovative technology solutions for health care delivery.

In this GHIT Newsmaker Webcast, Brailer talks about the balance of government and industry influence on the future of health care, why companies such as Health Evolution Partners are needed and how 2007 will be seen as the beginning of a shakeout in the health IT markets.

Smart Phone Electronic Medical Record / Mobile Contactless Payment / Remote Monitoring, Developments Toward...

<ed.note>Since vendors are looking at remote monitoring for disease management I should list those as well. I'll also be on the look out for sensors which are car-based now that wi-fi is available in automobiles. There are some parallel developments which I guess I should mention: Major League Baseball and other event vendors as well as transportation providers and social networks are putting the cell phone closer to the center of their business models. ( Robert Neelbauer on social graphs here -- cells will eventually be tracked by them. ) Of course, on the other end of the spectrum is home automation.</ed.note>

Phillips (still using POTS lines)
Qualcomm
Nokia's Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco

Shout out to http://www.wirelesshealthcare.co.uk who usually gets these stories before anyone else.

The Tech Scene: Banking by Cell Phone - This Time It's for Real?,
Use of Mobile and Wireless Technology Jumps in Hospitals,

iPhone ? ? ? ( Remember Osirix ), icefirst, liferecord, Access, aKos, ARANZ Medical, Asia eHealth presentations, Banco do Brasil, Blackberry [2], Diebold, Docobo, ebay VOIP (Skype), Gemalto, Google [2][3][4], INSIDE Contactless, J/Speedy, mBlox, mFoundry, Microsoft, m-Wallet, Obopay, payWave, Mayo Clinic InTouch, NTT DoCoMo, PayPal Credit Card, Privium, Samsung, telSpace, Telzuit's Bio-Patch PDA,
Telemedicine & eHealth Directory 2005, Verisign, ViVOtech, FeliCa, [2], Mifare [2], NFC Forum, Blackberry, Ubuntu mobile, Globe Telecom and Smart Communications

Third Annual Government Open Source Conference, October 15-16, 2007, Portland, Oregon

Built for the Public Sector by the Public Sector GOSCON provides senior public sector decision-makers outstanding access to industry leaders as well as agency peers. GOSCON covers a range of interests, from the basics to strategy to projects taken on by their peers. The focus for 2007: Open Standards and Interoperability.

This one and one-half day non-profit conference, designed for public sector IT management and key technology staff, is filled with real world examples, practical information and strategies for anyone considering how Open Source Software might fit into their software acquisition or development strategies.

GOSCON 2007's core program include the tracks:

* Open Source 101 for Management

* Strategy; Standards, Architecture and Organization

* Real World Open Source: Public Agencies' Experience

* Technology

This year's keynotes include:

• Andrea DiMaio, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner Research
• Jim Zemlin, Executive Director, Linux Foundation
• Skip McGaughey, Director of Eclipse Ecosystem, Eclipse Foundation

Connecting California to Improve Patient Care Presentations

here.

Lori Hack, MBA   Program Manager, Estrada Consulting
    BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF TRUST -- HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE IN CALIFORNIA

David Lansky*, PhD   Senior Director, Health Program, Markle Foundation
    CONNECTING ALL THE DOTS

Carl Henning, MD   President, Redwood MedNet
    CLINICAL MESSAGING IN MENDOCINO

Laura Landry   Project Director, Long Beach Network for Health
    LONG BEACH NETWORK FOR HEALTH

Bill Beighe   CIO, Santa Cruz Health Information Exchange
    SANTA CRUZ HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE

Wes Rishel   Research VP, Gartner, Inc.
    SOLVING THE NHIN CONUNDRUM WITH A SERVICE BASED APPROACH

Jamie Ferguson   Executive Director, Health Policy, Kaiser Permanente
    STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY IN FEDERAL HEALTH I.T. PROGRAMS

Michael Stearns, MD   Chief Medical Officer, e-MD's, Inc.
    STANDARDS IN HEALTH CARE -- THE ROLE OF TERMINOLOGY

Peter Cho, MD   Family Practice Physician, Mendocino Family Care
    EMR IN ACTUAL PRACTICE

Alan Glaseroff, MD   Executive Director, Humboldt Del Norte IPA
    THE CHRONIC CARE MODEL -- A CHANGE PACKAGE FOR DIABETES

*David Lansky presented in place of Carol Diamond, who was unable to attend.

If You'd Like To Advocate For FOSS in Healthcare

as Ignacio H. Valdes, MD, MS suggests, you might want to call in on the AHIC Successor Public Technical Assistance Meeting to be held 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Eastern on September 5, 2007, to ask detailed questions related to a Notice of Funding Availability (NoFA) to resource an entity designated to design and establish the AHIC successor by Spring 2008 and the role FOSS will play. 

Here's the current vision.

Recommended Requirements for Enhancing Data Quality in Electronic Health Records

A report prepared for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology by RTI International for a project involving three tasks:

(1) develop recommendations for functional requirements for EHR-S that would enhance data by reducing the incidence of improper payment and assisting in fraud management,

(2) validate the recommendations through public comment, and

(3) work with appropriate HIT organizations to encourage adoption of the recommendations.

First Annual Partnership Summit: Charting the Future of Long-Term Care Insurance

The First Annual Partnership Summit -- cosponsored by George Mason University's Long-Term Care Education Foundation and the Center for Health Care Strategies  -- will engage state and industry leaders to understand the practical and political issues underlying the development of Long-Term Care Partnership Programs. Register for this August 1-2, 2007 meeting, held at George Mason University's Arlington Virginia Campus, and gain new insight on how to deliver benefit options to protect consumers from catastrophic long-term care costs.

Who's Got the Cure? Four Options for Achieving Universal Coverage, Tuesday, July 17, 2007

A Brookings Institution/Hamilton Project Forum - Part Two of Health Care Reconsidered: Options for Change

9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Ballroom, 13th Floor, The National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20045

On July 17, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution will host a forum on health-care reform and release four alternative policy proposals for achieving the goal of universal health care coverage for all Americans. This forum builds on an April release of Hamilton Project papers examining policy options for making health care more affordable while also improving its effectiveness.

Following opening remarks by former Treasury Secretary and Hamilton Project Advisory Council member Robert E. Rubin, the first panel will highlight four new discussion papers on achieving universal coverage. A paper by Gerard Anderson and Hugh Waters of Johns Hopkins University proposes Medicare Part E(veryone), which would allow people to keep their current employer-sponsored health care coverage while at the same time offering coverage to all individuals and employers through expansion of the Medicare program (with subsidies for low income individuals). A proposal by Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation would move beyond the traditional model of employer-sponsored health insurance by creating state-chartered insurance exchanges to offer portable health plans and by reforming the tax treatment of health care. Ezekiel Emanuel of the National Institutes of Health and Victor Fuchs of Stanford University offer a plan to give vouchers to every American to pay for basic health insurance. They argue the vouchers, which would be funded by a value-added tax, would provide portability and promote greater cost-effectiveness. Finally, Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will examine the feasibility, costs, and benefits of extending nationwide the "Massachusetts model," which provides universal coverage through a combination of individual mandates, subsidies to low-and moderate-income households, and alternative risk pools to purchase insurance. Brookings Senior Fellow and Hamilton Project Director Jason Furman will moderate.

A second panel of experts from the business, labor and policy communities will explore the merits and challenges of the various proposals for achieving universal coverage. Confirmed panelists include former Treasury Secretary and Hamilton Project Advisory Council member Lawrence H. Summers; Brookings Senior Fellow and former Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Mark B. McClellan; Chairman and CEO of General Mills Stephen W. Sanger and AFSCME International President Gerald W. McEntee.

After each panel discussion, participants will take audience questions.

Health Information Communication and Data Exchange Taskforce Conference Meeting, July 9-10, 2007

Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H Street, NW, Washington, DC

9:00am Opening Remarks

• Welcome

• Roll call

• Review of agenda

9:15 Recommendations for Medicaid/SCHIP and State-Level Electronic Health Information Exchange (eHIE)

Taskforce members will hear from Lynn Dierker regarding the American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) recommendations for Medicaid/SCHIP and state-level electronic health information exchange.

• Lynn Dierker, AHIMA

10:45 Update on Medicaid/ SCHIP Portion of the Work Product

Subcontractor with the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Health Policy and Research (CHPR) will update the taskforce on the status of the Medicaid/SCHIP portion of the Work Product, “Opportunities for Facilitating Electronic Health Information Exchange in Publicly Funded Programs”.

• Shaun Alfreds, Muskie School of Public Service, Institute for Health Policy

11:15 Discussion on Next Steps with Medicaid/SCHIP

Taskforce members will discuss some possible recommendations concerning Medicaid/ SCHIP and state-level eHIE.

12:00pm Lunch

1:00 Landscape of Public Health and State-Level eHIE

A representative from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) will provide an overview of the current landscape of public health and state-level eHIE.

• Paul Jarris, Executive Director, ASTHO (tentative)

2:00 Break

2:15 Federal Public Health Activities in State-Level eHIE

Panelists will share with taskforce members federal public health activities in state-level eHIE, as well as the current activities of the American Health Information Community’s (AHIC) Population Health and Clinical Care Connections Work Group.

• Dr. Bob Martin, Acting Director, National Center for Public Health Informatics

• Representative from HHS/Office of the National Coordinator (TBD)

3:55 Closing

4:00 Adjourn

July 10, 2007

8:00am Opening Remarks

• Welcome

• Roll call

• Review of agenda

8:15 Public Health and State-Level eHIE (Involvement in State-wide eHIE)

Panelists will share with taskforce members Indiana’s activities surrounding public health and state-level eHIE.

• Roland Gamache, Director, State Health Data Center, Indiana Department of Health

• Thomas Penno, Chief Operating Officer, Indiana Health Information Exchange

9:30 Public Health and State-Level eHIE (Quality)

Panelists will share with taskforce members South Carolina’s activities surrounding quality and public health informatics.

• Pete Bailey Chief Health and Demographics, South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics

• Dave Patterson, Deputy Chief, Health and Demographics, South Carolina Office of Research and Statistics

10:30 Public Health and State-Level eHIE (Disease Surveillance and Reporting of Notifiable Diseases)

Dr. Raul Ratard will share with taskforce members Louisiana’s activities surrounding disease surveillance and the reporting of notifiable diseases.

• Dr. Raul Ratard, Louisiana State Epidemiologist

11:30 Lunch

12:30pm Landscape of State Employee Health Benefits Programs and State-Level
eHIE

Lynn Dierker will share with taskforce members the current landscape of state employee health benefits programs and state-level eHIE. Members will also hear from Dan Green, concerning the health nformation technology activities underway within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

• Lynn Dierker, AHIMA

• Dan Green, US Office of Personnel and Management

Health Information Communication and Data Exchange Taskforce Conference Meeting

1:30 State Employee Health Benefits Programs and State-Level eHIE Commissioner Pat Anderson will share with taskforce members Minnesota’s ePrescribing initiative for the state employee health plan.

• Pat Anderson, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Employee Relations

2:30 Discussion on Next Steps with Public Health and State Employee Health Benefits Programs and State-level eHIE and the Public Health and State Employee Health Benefits Programs Portion of the Work Product

Taskforce members will discuss their next steps with public health and state employee health benefits programs and state-level eHIE. Subcontractor with the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Health Policy and Research (CHPR) will also discuss the public health and state employee health benefits programs portion of the Work Product, “Opportunities for Facilitating Electronic Health Information Exchange in Publicly Funded Programs”, with taskforce members.

• Shaun Alfreds, Muskie School of Public Service, Institute for Health Policy

3:50 Public Comment

4:00 Adjourn

U.S. National Health Information Network (NHIN) and Open Source Health Information Exchange (HIE) Solutions

<ed.note>I saw this article via Roger A. Maduro's June/July 2007 issue of VistA® & Open Healthcare News.</ed.note>

By Douglas Goldstein and Peter Groen, Virtual Medical Worlds

In the United States, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) have clearly stated that the long-range strategy for a National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) requires a national health information network (NHIN) that can provide low-cost, secure data movement. They have stated that an NHIN is needed, along with a public-private oversight or management function to ensure adherence to public policy objectives. Development of this infrastructure is considered a vital national priority. The rapid formation and activities of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO) across the country represent major public and private sector collaborative efforts aimed at putting in place key components of the planned NHIN. Several of the health information exchange (HIE) systems proposed by the RHIOs make use of open source or "public domain" solutions.

Advancing Virtual Organizing: Potentials and Realities from Scientific Grid to Citizen-Service Communities - June 20, 2007

The purpose of the workshop is to envision greater possibilities for distributed citizen service communities, in light of grid-based, research and design communities. How can emerging public service communities learn "build to share" principles from distributed research communities already benefiting from cyberinfrastructures they have built? What are the implications for accelerating Service Oriented Architecture in public service communities?

By discovering how different fields of business, science and healthcare are using grid computing, participants will share in lessons learned and best practices to provide a common foundation for establishing next steps in planning projects that leverage all the advances associated with grid communities.

"...Grids are the integrated platforms for all network-distributed applications or services whether they are computationally or transactionally intensive." Paul Strong, Grid Today, Sept.11, 2006

In addition, the workshop includes a focus on the U.S. HealthGrid. Current priorities as seen through the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for example call for advancing collaboration in biomedical research and using biomedical data and information to improve the quality and outcomes of health care delivery.

The President's goal to make an electronic health record available for most Americans by 2014 and the development of the Nationwide Health Information Network under the leadership of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, present a timely opportunity to share and collaborate advanced HealthGrid projects, systems, data and knowledge. Through collaboration, open solutions and innovation, the grid community can contribute to advancing quality, electronic health records, population and bio-surveillance and personal health records to achieve higher levels of performance and interoperability.

Wired for Health Quality Act

here. <ed.note>Note: Sec. 403. Facilitating the Provision of Telehealth Services Across State Lines</ed.note>

Joint Meeting Of The Health Information Protection Taskforce And States Participating In The Health Information Security And Privacy Collaboration

What: The Health Information Protection Taskforce of the State Alliance for e-Health and states participating in the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) will meet to discuss common issues faced by states in the areas of privacy and security in e-Health.  The Health Information Protection Taskforce will discuss preliminary recommendations it is considering advancing to the State Alliance for e-Health and seek the input of the states participating in HISPC.

When: June 18 and 19, 2007
June 18th: 8:30 am – 5:15 pm
June 19th: 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Where: GRAND HYATT
1000 H Street, NW
Washington, DC
Tel: 202-582-1234

The agenda is attached to this meeting announcement.  Meeting materials and additional information may be provided on the State Alliance for e-Health’s (State Alliance) web site (www.nga.org/center/ehealth) during the week of the taskforce meeting. Taskforce meetings are open to the public, but seating is limited to up to 75 audience observers. Seating is on a first-come-first-served basis. There is no registration required to attend the meeting. A photo I.D. is required to attend the meeting. The public will have the opportunity to provide comments at the end of the meeting. The taskforce meeting will not be web cast. However, the National Governors Association (NGA) will make meeting transcripts and other relevant meeting materials available on the State Alliance web site. If you have special needs for the meeting, please contact (202) 624-5371.

The National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation's governors and one of Washington, D.C.'s most respected public policy organizations. NGA provides governors with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the administration, to developing policy reports on innovative state programs and hosting networking seminars for state government executive branch officials. The NGA Center for Best Practices focuses on state innovations and best practices on issues that range from education and health to technology, welfare reform, and the environment. For more information about NGA and the Center for Best Practices, please visit http://www.nga.org.

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

Can Medical Banking Connect the Healthcare IT Dots for Politicians?

<ed.note>John Casillas testified today before the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) American Health Information Community concerning the medical banking vision of a unified view and unified platform to connect EHR|PHR, real-time adjudication, Healthcare Savings Accounts, High Deductible Health Plans, Consumer Driven Healthcare. AHIC decided at its November 29, 2005 meeting to form workgroups in the following areas: biosurveillance, consumer empowerment, chronic care, and electronic health records. Subsequently, at the May 16, 2006 Community meeting, two additional groups were formed: the Biosurveillance Data Steering Group as a sub-workgroup within the Biosurveillance Workgroup (renamed Population Health and Clinical Care Connections Workgroup), and the Confidentiality, Privacy & Security Workgroup, which was created as a cross-cutting workgroup responsible for an issue relevant to all the workgroups. More recent, at the August 1, 2006, meeting, the Community formed the Quality Workgroup to address the need for the development of quality measures; and at the October 31, 2006, meeting, the Personalized Healthcare Workgroup was formed to develop and make recommendations on standards for interoperable integration of genomic test information into personal e-health records.</ed.note>

LinkedIn OpenHealthCare Group Launched

<ed.note>In order to better network between the various OS efforts touching healthcare I asked LinkedIn to set up a group. If you're a biz dev, booster, coder, contributor, venture-type, the invite is here.</ed.note>

Un-Cover-ed Tennessee [ Repost: was Faces of Tenncare - Portrait Project ]

<ed.note>Apparently, things semantically delicious are all the rage within fedgovworld -- stories about intellipedia and even various campaign sites using RSS. I bet Donna, who recently left a comment on this 2006 post I've just gotten around to publishing, wished there were a push for tools for transparency in tennessee politics -- semantic sunshine, if you will. Hint: Donna, you can start here and here and here. A thematically similar post to the following can also be found here.</ed.note>

Aired January 3, 2006, WPLN's Kim Green reports on "a young Nashville photojournalist has spent half a year quietly documenting the people affected by TennCare cuts. Now she's collaborating with a local filmmaker to harness the emotional impact of these photos and distribute them nationally."

Lifeblood

Mar 1, 2007 By Mary Rose Roberts, Mobile Radio Technology

In his January 2004 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush pitched a plan that called for the implementation of electronic error prevention systems at all U.S. hospitals to reduce incidents of patients being improperly treated. As Congress continues to grapple with the proposal, medical centers nationwide are skipping the debate and embracing wireless technology like never before, in order to ensure sound patient/physician interactions.

Health-care systems' foray into wireless actually began with implantable cardiac telemetry devices in the early 1960s. During the early years of adoption, medical practitioners learned that electromagnetic interference, or EMI, could negatively affect the performance of such devices.

The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Device and Radiological Health (CDRH) working group began studying the issue in the late 1960s when concerns surfaced over EMI's effect on cardiac pacemakers. It wasn't until decades later, in June 2000, that the FCC established the Wireless Medical Telemetry Service, which allocated the 608 MHz to 614 MHz, 1395 MHz to 1400 MHz and 1429 MHz to 1432 MHz frequencies primarily for use by medical telemetry devices.

FedGov ( USDA ) Distance Ed and Telemedicine Funds

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 5, 2007 - Agriculture Under Secretary for Rural Development Thomas C. Dorr today announced that USDA is making available $62.9 million in distance learning and telemedicine loans, $75 million in loan and grant combinations, and $15 million in grants.

"Telemedicine and distance learning are the foundation on which the quality of education and health care in rural America can and will improve," Dorr said via a video teleconference with health care providers in five states over a USDA-financed telemedicine network. "With these systems in place, rural residents will be able to take advantage of the wide variety of health care services and education programs available now and into the future."

Since 2002, USDA has invested more than $166 million in its Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Program, allowing 3,796 rural educational facilities to expand their access to modern telecommunications technology, and 2,226 health care institutions to develop technologies needed to enhance local medical care. The Administration proposes additional funding for improvements to both rural Critical Access Hospitals and key community facilities improvements, including DLT linkages.

Telemedicine technology makes it possible for doctors to examine and direct the treatment of patients from remote treatment centers. The technology gives rural residents access to medical specialists not often available in remote areas. The distance learning program finances equipment to expand educational resources to students and educational institutions in isolated rural areas.

Applications for the $15 million in distance learning and telemedicine grants must be received by June 11, 2007 and will compete nationally for funding. Applications for loans and loan and grant combinations will be accepted year round. Interested parties should contact their Rural Development state office. A list of state offices is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov. View the Rural Development DLT website ( http://www.usda.gov/rus/telecom/dlt/dlt.htm ) for additional information on the distance learning and telemedicine program.

Our People Are Our Greatest Asset - If Only We Could Trust Them

Updates: Senators Push for More Telecommuting, Telework Exchange Study Reveals Majority of Federal Telework Coordinators Spend 25 Percent or Less of Their Time on Telework, World Needs 4 Million Healthcare Workers, American Telemedicine Association in Nashville, May 13-15, 2007

PR via http://www.govtech.net/

"Forty-four percent of federal employee respondents to the survey, conducted by CDW Government Inc., indicate that they have the option to telework -- up 6 percent from 2006 -- while just 15 percent of private-sector employee respondents have that option. During the past year, telework growth in the federal government also outpaced the private sector: 35 percent of federal teleworkers started teleworking, compared to 10 percent of private-sector teleworkers."

Please see also "New Technology, Old Habits", by Moon Ihlwan and Kenji Hall, BusinessWeek - "Despite world-class IT networks, Japanese and Korean workers are still chained to their desks"

<ed.note>In addition to greater telework ( isn't it time to adopt "Work Over IP" or some such - does anyone really still use dial up? ) adoption, one of the areas I've anticipated from the "hr-xml-ish" world has been the idea of objective competency measurement, especially of the type that could be integrated into professional services human resource management tools. Tom Schmidt of Resumefit suggested that by completing the Workplace Big Five ProFile ( assessment at no cost, and review the results ) that this process can accurately measure 54 competencies. They also provide a digital signature to benefit HR which guarantees that the resume hasn't been tinkered with afterward.</ed.note>

Next Meeting of Members of the State Alliance for e-Health Webcast

When: Friday, March 30, 2007, 8:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

What: Meeting of the State Alliance, a state-led effort to develop real-world solutions and model practices for addressing state-level barriers to widespread adoption of health information technology and challenges to interoperable health information exchange. The general public is invited to “listen in” on the discussions in person or via the Internet. Please note that there will be limited seating for in person attendance at the meeting, up to 120 public attendees on a first come fist serve basis. A photo I.D. is required to attend the meeting in person. The public will have the opportunity to provide comments at the end of the meeting.

Webcast: A webcast of the meeting will be available on and after March 30, 2007 at: http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/nga/070330/.

Where: Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Regency AB, Ballroom Level, 2799 Jefferson Highway, Arlington, VA 22202

How: 703.418.1234 If you have special needs for the meeting, please contact (202) 624-5347. Please visit http://www.nga.org/center/ehealth for additional information on the State Alliance.

State Alliance for e-Health Meeting Announcement - March 19, 2007 12:30 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time

What: Web Conference Call of the State Alliance for e-Health’s Health Information Protection Taskforce

When:  March 19, 2007 12:30 – 3:30 pm Eastern Time

Where: Via Web Conference Call
                                                                                          
More information pertaining to the meeting will be available on the State Alliance for e-Health’s (State Alliance) web site (www.nga.org/center/ehealth). The web conference call is open to the public on a first come first serve basis to up to 75 individuals. Transcripts from the call will be available at a later date on the State Alliance for e-Health’s web site.

UDEF and Electronic Health Records

Ron Schuldt writes:

For those who have not read the President’s Health Information Technology Plan, I recommend that you see the following 

I offer the following based on my assumption that an individual’s electronic health record will include topics such as:

Electronic Health Record Information (identification)

Patient Information (identification, address, phone number, date of birth, gender)

Primary Care Doctor Information (identification, address, phone number)

Insurance Coverage Information (identification, address, phone number)

Medical Conditions (identification and time period)

Medical Treatment Process (identification and time period)

Medical Treatment Substances (identification and time period)

Assuming the above topics and probably others are expected to be an integral part of an individual’s electronic health record, I offer the following UDEF names and IDs for each topic. Note: Proposed UDEF extensions are in italics

The State Alliance for e-Health's Health Care Practice Taskforce Meetings

Meeting Announcements:
Health Care Practice Taskforce: February 21-22, 2007 Meeting

Farragut/Lafayette Room of the Grand Hyatt Washington | Washington, DC
Contact: Meredith Pumphrey
Health Division
February 21, 2007 | 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
February 22, 2007 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

The State Alliance for e-Health's Health Care Practice Taskforce will hold its first meeting on February 21st and 22nd, 2007.  During the meeting, members will examine state licensure laws and liability issues pertaining to electronic health information exchange and set taskforce priorities for 2007.

Health Information Protection Taskforce: February 22-23, 2007 Meeting

Farragut/Lafayette Room of the Grand Hyatt Washington | Washington, DC
Contact: Michelle Lim Warner

Health Division
February 22, 2007 | 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
February 23, 2007 | 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

The State Alliance for e-Health's Health Information Protection Taskforce will hold its first meeting on February 22nd and 23rd, 2007.

During the meeting, members will examine health information protections that impact provide exchange of health data, patient access to health information, and privacy and security protections in public health reporting. Members will also set taskforce priorities for 2007.

Taskforce meetings are open to the public, but seating is limited to up to 75 audience observers. Seating is on a first-come-first-served basis. There is no registration required to attend the meeting. A photo I.D. is required to attend the meeting. Audience observers will have a limited opportunity for public comment at the conclusion of the meeting. Sign-up for public comment is available the day of the meeting.

Under the Kolodnescope [ or "We are the Knights that say 'NHIN'!" ]

3rd Nationwide Health Information Network Forum: Prototype Demonstrations and Business Models - January 25-26, 2007

ASC X12 WEDI Real-Time Adjudication Conference – Schedule Overview

DAY 1, Tuesday, February 13, 2007

7:30 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.: Conference Registration

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.: Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.: Welcome Presentation & Conference Overview

Dan Kazzaz, ASC X12 Chair

Jim Whicker, WEDI Chair

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.: Current State of Batch Claim Processing

J Robert Barbour, VP Finance for MD Services & Tech Development, Montefiore

Medical Center

Rick Click, CIO, Molina Healthcare

Brian Cutler, President, Mercury Data Exchange

10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.: Networking Break

10:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.: Spurring Healthcare into “Real-Time” Through

Collaboration

Jim Lacy, CFO & General Counsel, ZirMed

Fran Watkins, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Kenneth Willman, Director of Provider Interface, Humana

Ginger Wright, HIPAA Compliance Manager, The Availity Health Information

Network

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Conference Luncheon

1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.: Roadblocks to Real-Time Adjudication

Lynne Gilbertson, Director of Standards Development, NCPDP

Gwendolyn Lohse, Project Director, CAQH

Maggie Ohara or Tara Mondock, IVANS

Fred Richards, CTO, HTP, Inc.

2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Really Real Time Implementations of Real-Time Adjudication

David Boucher, AVP of Healthcare Service, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

Allen DeGraw, Founder & CEO, Post-N-Track Corporation

Barnet Dreistadt, Director, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Amy Hinrichs, Director, Provider Portal, UnitedHealthGroup

3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Networking Break

American Health Information Community News

Monya's "Federal Workgroup Releases Guidelines for Verifying Patient Identities" here. Health Management Technology reports in "AHIC Forms Group to Consider Standards for Incorporating Genetic Data in EMRs" that at "the behest of HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, the American Health Information Community formed a work group to consider standards by which genomic data could be included in EMRs. "

NASCIO State Health IT Initiatives November 2006 Report: PROFILES OF PROGRESS

here.

A National Summit: Moving Toward Interoperability - Technologies for Accessible, Affordable Healthcare October 18-19, 2006 [ Updated ]

Presentations available online here.

NIST Administration Building, Gaithersburg, MD

Keynote Address:

Michael O. Leavitt (confirmed)
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Carlos M. Gutierrez (invited)
Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce

Craig R. Barrett (confirmed)
Chairman of the Board, Intel Corporation

Just Announced...

Keynote Address (Day Two):
Mike Magee, MD, Director, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative and Vice President, Science and Medical Advocacy, Pfizer Inc. (confirmed)

This is a unique opportunity where government and industry will come together to chart a path toward a far-reaching vision for connected, home-based health technologies through public-private partnerships.

Five session topics will cover today's interoperability issues, such as:

• Market Drivers and Societal Issues
• Technology Gaps and Barriers Networked, Interoperable Solutions
• Device Standardization and Interoperability of Equipment
• EHR and PHR Standards as a Foundation for Future Digital Healthcare Systems

Register Today!
Register online now. The registration fee is $195 and includes meals, summit materials, and transportation to and from the NIST facilities to the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn.

Hotel and Travel
Reserve a hotel room at the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn. A limited number of rooms are available for the rate of $104 per night. Book online or call (301) 948-8900 to make your reservation . Please refer to the "NIST/Moving Toward Interoperability Workshop" room block. The group booking code is MTI.

Posters and Case Studies
Interact with researchers at universities, companies and government on technologies to support our aging population during our poster networking session.

Questions?
Contact Rebecca Scritchfield
E-mail: rscritchfield@agingtech.org
Tel: (202) 508-9416
Official Event Web site: http://www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare%20Summit/intro.htm

Who Should Attend
Technology Researchers and Developers
Healthcare and Aging Services Providers
Government Agency Representatives
Healthcare Product Vendors
Company Executives
Standards Development Organizations
Associations
Consumer Organizations

Companies, government, and consumers are developing partnerships to address the challenges of the coming "age wave". Through the application of consumer-directed technologies, opportunities exist to empower individuals to take charge of their own health care and maintain independence.

To achieve this vision, our country must advance the development of new technologies and ensure the interoperability of these devices. To help explore the best way to enable the vision of connected home-based health delivery, Center for Aging Services Technologies, the Department of Commerce's Technology Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology have come together as partners to host a National Summit to identify issues around the needs and challenges to make interoperability a reality. Recommendations from the Summit will drive needed public and private sector action.

Co-Sponsored by:
Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST)
U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration (TA)

For more information about this Summit, visit the official website at http://www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare%20Summit/intro.htm

Semantic interoperability aims to ease data sharing among disparate health systems

Nov. 13, 2006 BY John Moore, govhealthit.com

Semantic interoperability isn’t a phrase that rolls off the tongue, but health informatics experts believe the concept has the potential to significantly improve communication among health information systems.

The task of harmonizing disparate applications has been around for years, but semantic interoperability aims to make the job easier. The goal is to eliminate the language bottlenecks that arise when systems that were never intended to talk to each other attempt to do so.

Those barriers arise when one term has multiple meanings or two or more terms refer to the same thing. A search query that generates too many or too few responses is one familiar consequence of a semantic breakdown.

Human intervention can hammer out differences in meaning. But semantic interoperability would have machines handling those negotiations.

Recent moves to commercialize semantic technologies have increased interest in the topic. At least two broad-based projects specifically target health care: the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group and the federally oriented Health Information Technology Ontology Project (HITOP). Both were launched in 2005.

Those groups have spent the past few months raising awareness about semantic interoperability and its health care implications.

“The challenge has been bringing the health care field to a level of awareness regarding the need for semantic interoperability,” said Marc Wine, chairman of HITOP. But he said the field now understands that it “should become an integral part of the mission for making electronic communication in health care accurate, efficient, reliable and secure.”

“It has enormous potential,” said Robert Coyne, executive partner at TopQuadrant, a company that makes tools to support semantic interoperability projects.

The semantic challenge
An essential problem with data sharing stems from every system having its own way of representing data. Relational databases, for example, each have their own schema for defining tables and fields.

“It’s very difficult to share data in relational databases,” said Susie Stephens, principal product manager for life sciences at Oracle. “It’s hard to merge relational schema and hard to understand someone else’s schema.”

Even Extensible Markup Language (XML), a technology designed to ease the exchange of data, has limitations, Stephens said. “The semantics aren’t explicit within XML,” she said. XML imposes a certain grammar, or syntax, but machines may still stumble on semantics.

For example, a physician knows that dropsy and congestive heart failure could refer to the same ailment, said Charles Mead, a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton. But a computer wouldn’t know if the terms are similar or different.

Mead cited another example: A common lab test — serum sodium — may be represented by serum NA or serum NA++. It may also be embedded within a larger test under a different name.

A hospital’s laboratory system, however, will recognize only one of those variations.

It’s those kinds of problems that semantic interoperability seeks to address.

“Semantic interoperability is trying to bring together the meaning of data in multiple systems in a way you can pull it together and make use of it for an application,” said Les Westberg, senior software architect and engineer at Northrop Grumman IT.

Westberg said he views semantic interoperability as focusing on the interoperability of systems within a certain domain. He differentiates semantic interoperability from the Semantic Web initiative, the goal of which is to extend the concept to the entire World Wide Web.

The Semantic Web aims to achieve a “common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise and community boundaries,” according to W3C, the group the leads the Semantic Web effort with help from academia and industry.

The Semantic Web’s global scope makes the task much more difficult than smaller-scale semantic interoperability, Westberg said. “If I’m trying to get semantic interoperability…across 20 systems, I know something about those 20 systems,” he said. “On the Web, I don’t know what I’ve got out there.”

Frisse, Barrett, Bredesen, NGA.org

<ed.note>Now that Governor Bredesen has won his race there will be a little press about the new NGA.org State Alliance for e-Health. I hope that Mark Frisse is given a good listen to. Recently he posted on some comments of Craig Barrett, chair of Intel. If you have opportunity read both Mark's summary and commentary and Barrett's original remarks.</ed.note>

Mobilising the Clinician 2006

One thing is for sure…the use of mobile technology in Healthcare IT is growing at a phenomenal rate. There are many estimates as to how fast mobile technology solutions are developing at present. Juniper Research stated in May 2006 that spending on mobile health care in North America and Europe will reach $2.7bn by 2010. Furthermore the rise in wireless investment in healthcare services is by no means restricted to patient management. Juniper forecasts an increase in use of wireless technology and applications across the board, from prescribing to EPR.

Everybody recognises that new advances in ICT and mobile/wireless technology will drive national Healthcare ICT spending and push the UK’s Connecting for Health Programme beyond its current implementation phases. It is becoming ever important to devote resources to better devices, training and strategic planning.

Top Speakers include:
Amanda O’Neil, , IT Co-Ordinator, Cancer Services, Addenbrooke’s Hospital
Daniel C. Baumgart, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Charité Medical Center - Virchow Hospital Medical School of the Humboldt-University
Dr Michael Lim, North Thames Paediatrics Specialist Registrar
Dunecan Massey, Assistant Director of Studies for Undergraduate Medicine Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University
Jon Holmes, Informing Healthcare Project Manager, Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust
David Morgan, ENT Consultant, Heartlands Hospital
Omer Aziz, Clinical Research Fellow, Department of Biosurgery & Surgical Technology, Imperial College
Andrew Choong, Research Fellow in Vascular Surgery, Division of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics, Imperial College
Prof. Francesco Sicurello, President, Italian Association of Medical Informatics and Telemedicine
Colin Jervis, Director, Kinetic Consulting
Derek Gallen, Postgraduate Dean, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland Healthcare Workforce Deanery
Professor Bryan Woodward, Centre for Mobile Communications Research, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University
Professor Robert S. H. Istepanian, Director, Mobile Information and Network Technologies Research Centre (MINT)
Torsten Eymann, Vice Chairman, Mocomed (Mobiles Computing in der Medizin)
Mohammad Al-Ubadyli, Author, "Handheld Computers for Doctors"
Jon Kerridge, School of Computing, Napier University
Jim Briggs, Co-ordinator, Southern Institute for Health Informatics
Takis Kotis, Senior Management Consultant & EU Projects Director, The Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust
Professor Esko Alasaarela, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Oulu
Peter George, Director, Wheatstone Consulting
Dr Susan Clamp, Director, Yorkshire Centre for Health Informatics
Dr Neil Bacon, Founder and Chief Executive, Doctors.net
Mobilising the Clinician will bring together a top selection of healthcare specialists and experienced professionals to share their knowledge, to share their views and present on the hottest topics in the mobile healthcare industry. The following topics will be covered at our unique conference:

CLINICAL BUY-IN:

Develop a system that the clinician really wants

BEST PRACTISE:

How to utilise mobile devices successfully in healthcare

CASE STUDIES:

Learn how to correctly invest in the move towards a 'wireless ward' to improve communication and your IT infrastructure

FUTURE INNOVATION:

Determine the exciting future uses of enwly available technology and boost productivity

PRIVACY

Ensure privacy is not compromised in this new mobile world

SECURITY:

Learn how different technologies (e.g. biometrics, VPNs) can keep the system secure

INCREASE FLEXIBILITY

Powerful ways to make your doctors more mobile and do what matters most - treating patients

Facts:

21 of the most Innovative Industry Speakers 
12 hours of Superb Networking 
6 Interactive & Brainstorming Roundtables 
100 Senior-level delegates 

Register Today : Be a Healthcare Innovator not a Chaser

This high-level industry conference is a must-attend for senior healthare IT executives, industry analysts and experts. Speakers from across Europe will explore the opportunities, and potential gains when implementing a wireless network and how mobile solutions can aid healthcare management. You are assured to leave with an action plan designed to capture all that potential for improving efficiency in today's ever-restrictive IT market. Plus many more!

Click here to download the conference brochure.

If you would like to participate in the event, view the conference program for the event or would like to recommend topics or speakers, please contact me:

Paul Napper– Conference Director
Email: pnapper@eyeforhealthcare.com
Telephone: +44 (0)20 73 75 7229

A Call for Applications: Improving Outcomes for Children Involved in Child Welfare

Physical and behavioral health problems are critical issues in the child welfare population. As many as two-thirds of children entering foster care have behavioral or emotional problems. Access to physical and behavioral health services for children in foster care varies drastically across the country, with some youth receiving too much and disjointed care and others receiving too little care. Furthermore, Medicaid's costs for physical and behavioral health services for these high-needs children are disproportionately large relative to the population's share of Medicaid enrollment.

The Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is seeking to improve the delivery of physical and mental health care for children in child welfare through a Best Clinical and Administrative Practices workgroup for Improving Outcomes for Children Involved in Child Welfare. This 24-month national collaborative invites up to 15 managed care organizations to develop and pilot promising approaches to meet the health and behavioral care needs of children and youth in the child welfare system.

Participating organizations will receive:

• Expert technical assistance provided by CHCS staff and consultants
• Access to a peer-learning network through the workgroup process
• A travel stipend covering transportation, acc