News

Not many health information exchanges can say they handled a papal visit, but that's exactly what HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania did.

Although the majority of organizations have made health IT a priority, integration and interoperability are still major hurdles for accountable care organizations, according to a Premier survey released Wednesday.

Barely a month after its launch, the Carequality Interoperability Framework devised by The Sequoia Project has already signed up five health IT heavy-hitters to be the first to implement its data exchange principles: athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Epic, NextGen Healthcare and Surescripts.

More than two-thirds of non-academic health institutions say precision medicine will play an "average, small or non-existent" role in their plans over the next several years, according to a recent Health Catalyst survey. But it's already making big waves in academic medical centers, which are fast adopting new technologies and integrating genomics into their therapies.

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital are pressing for the healthcare industry to give patients control of their data.

OhioHealth hospitals are among the first users of Epic's MyChart Bedside to enable patients to view their health information, lab results, review videos, exchange messages with their medical team, and generally and plan for the day.

The problem with many health apps often comes down to design, creating "a mismatch between what the app is trying to do and what the end users are trying to do," said Lorraine Chapman, director of healthcare user experience for the global software and design firm Macadamian.

A new study by the Scripps Translational Science Institute has found no short-term benefit in health costs or outcomes for patients who monitored their health with connected devices, whcih comes as a blow to the booming mobile health market. 

CHIME on Tuesday, through a partnership with SpaceX-affiliated crowdfunding site HeroX, launched a $1 million patient identification contest in the hope that private industry can fix the safety risks posed by patient matching.

IHE North American Connectathon Week begins next Monday at the Cleveland Convention Center and HIMSS Innovation Center. The event runs from January 25 to 29 and will bring together more than 500 software engineers and developers for the testing event, with another 1,000 attendees for the conference and other sessions.