Government Technology - February 2008 - (Page 34)

“We believe that patients should control and own their own health information, and should be able to do so easily,” wrote Adam Bosworth, former vice president of engineering for Google. “Today it is much too difficult to get access to one’s health records, for example, because of the substantial administrative obstacles people have to go through and the many places they have to go to collect it all. Compare this to financial information, which is much more available from the various institutions that help manage your financial ‘health.’ We believe our industry should help solve this problem.” According to an Aug. 14, 2007, New York Times article, Google has demonstrated a prototype of Google Health to a select number of health-care industry professionals. Since then, the company has offered few details regarding when, or if, the product will go live. Microsoft, on the other hand, already rolled out its HealthVault PHR application. Microsoft’s online health records management tool is free to use, and the company says, meets Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) security requirements. Nate McLemore, director of business development for the Microsoft Health Solutions Group, explained why the software giant is getting involved in the healthcare industry: “Microsoft, about two and a half years ago, created what we call the Health Solutions Group to create very specific solutions for the health-care industry,” McLemore said. “One of the things that struck us was just the level of data fragmentation that is out there for individuals. You’ve probably seen a handful of doctors over the years, and if you’ve moved around a little bit, some of that data is in different states. “Some data rests at a health plant, some in a doctor’s office, and at the pharmacy, or at the lab. You can just imagine there is kind of a complete health-care picture that rests in hundreds of different places around the world. It’s very hard for any individual to pull that all together.” Typically a PHR is described as being in a single location — a Web site, for example — where a person can securely upload and FEB_08 “ WE DO KNOW THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE CONCERNED THAT THE EMPLOYER WILL SOMEHOW HAVE ACCESS TO THEIR MEDICAL INFORMATION.THAT’S A SCARY THING FOR PEOPLE. Ann Boynton, undersecretary, California Health and Human Services ” store health history data, including Xrays, and current and past prescriptions. HealthVault works like an electronic file cabinet; it’s a single Web site that aggregates data contained in disparate systems like a doctor’s EHR system, an insurance provider’s database and a pharmacy. Microsoft hopes health-care providers will integrate HealthVault into their business processes, allowing patients — and other physicians — to receive and store test results, upload and download health documents, and store prescription information. It’s a third-party solution to the problem of incompatible EHR systems. As more providers work with HealthVault, a patient who uses it will be able, in theory, to provide practitioners with a more complete health history. For Microsoft, the more patients and providers that use HealthVault, the better — though at present, the service is free. “This is a different model that really places the consumer at control,” McLemore said. “That’s what people want when it comes to security and privacy: the ability to be in control. What makes people nervous is when they feel like they aren’t in control, and they don’t know who’s looking at their data and how it’s being used.” When it was launched in late 2007, HealthVault interoperated with 45 health information storage applications in use by various hospitals. Additionally HealthVault works with organizations such as the American Heart Association to allow users to share several categories of data: blood pressure readings, weight, exercise routines, among others. HealthVault also permits users to input data from devices such as pedometers, blood glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, and peak-flow meters for asthmatics. Implementing electronic health records may be even harder for government-sponsored health care than it is for the private sector, McLemore said, adding that HealthVault could help ease the pain. “If you think about government-sponsored health care, you can imagine the challenges around data fragmentation are even more acute,” McLemore said. For example, the Medicaid population may come in and out of being covered by Medicaid. So a Medicaid plan may only have fundamental pieces of one’s data — the same with Medicare plans — and individuals may be paying for some services out of pocket. If people are moving in and out of Medicaid eligibility or choosing to pay for some of their services in cash, McLemore stressed that data fragmentation is a challenge. “Often, those are the populations dealing with some of the most chronic and serious conditions.” At press time, however, a relationship between government health-care programs and HealthVault had not been established. McLemore said “high-level discussions” are ongoing but so far, nothing concrete has been agreed upon. 34 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - February 2008

Government Technology - February 2008 Contents Point of View Big Picture The Last Mile On the Screen Products Four Questions for... CSI Effect Bad Medicine Making Health Care Personal Cashing In GIS for Less Nabbing Speedsters First Person: Records Management Chatter Box Oregon Data Centers Go Green Products Two Cents Spectrum Up Close Personal Computing signal:noise Government Solutions - Spring 2008 Power Play Double Duty Cleaning House Twice Prepared Smart Move The Path to Success Foundation for Service

Government Technology - February 2008

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