Mike Miliard

As the push toward accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes gathers steam, health IT clearly has huge roles to play in the transition. But one capability is perhaps more crucial than any other: business intelligence (BI).

More and more, payers and providers are finding new and innovative ways in which video games can foster better health.

"Historically, telehealth hasn't received the attention that it's deserved from the federal government," says Neal Neuberger, executive director of the Institute for e-Health Policy and president of Health Tech Strategies. A case in point is the government's meaningful use program.

– "I see healthcare as in many ways the torture test for networking," said Kiren Sekar, director of marketing at San Francisco-based wireless firm Meraki.

In a new addition to its Centricity portfolio, GE Healthcare is taking aim at clinical research studies, seeking to drive better management of treatment processes and protocols while also supporting improved research billing compliance.

A lot of talk these days has focused on transparency in government. Transparency in healthcare is important, too.

This much is known about the health information exchange marketplace: It's probably the most fast-changing and unpredictable sector in health IT.

TRICARE, the Department of Defense healthcare program, has contracted with San Mateo, Calif.-based Epocrates to offer physicians mobile access to the TRICARE formulary list.

Inventor of the modern mobile phone, Dr. Martin Cooper, says during a panel discussion that "the industry is still in its infancy."

At the ATA 2011 opening plenary Sunday afternoon, American Telemedicine Association President Dale Alverson, MD, gave a powerful opening speech that emphasized how a "perfect storm" of factors has set the stage for fundamental transformation of care healthcare delivery. "This is a time for telemedicine," he said.