Industry agrees standardised interface for EPRs
After one year of negotiations – faster than expected – more than 30 health IT companies have agreed on a new standardised interface for electronic patient records (EPR). The agreement will make it easier for EPR-solutions of different vendors to share personal medical data. The new interface was being developed under the umbrella of the […]
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3G Doctor launches videophone consultations
Patients in the UK and Ireland can now access a self-created medical record on their mobile phone, and also have a video consultation with a doctor using a 3G smartphone. The service, launched by 3G Doctor, allows registered individuals to create a web-based health record and video consult with a doctor using a 3G video […]
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German insurance firms merge IT departments
In January 2008 over 200 German health insurance companies will combine their IT departments to form one company. This is a significant consolidation on the customer side of the German health IT market. “The step will lead to a new company with a turnover of €300 million and around 1000 employees”, said Wolfgang Schmeinck, head […]
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Evolution, not revolution
Jens Naumann, head of the German industrial association of health IT companies, talks to Philipp Gratzel about the forthcoming roll out of electronic health cards.
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Health insurers offer smartcard access to websites
The biggest IT organisation of German health insurance companies, ISKV, has begun to offer a smartcard-based access solution to the websites of insurance companies. Patients can use the smartcards to access the insurance companies’ website to securely access services such as medical advice, together with accessing financial details of treatments received. The solution is presented […]
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Patients need assurance on online health records
Patients need to be convinced that electronic personal health records (ePHRs) are safe and will benefit them, a group of leading academics have warned. The academics argue that although ePHRs, such as the UK’s HealthSpace, have huge potential patients have not yet been convinced and the business case is still to be established. They say […]
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Germany’s Barmer begins PHR trial
Barmer, Germany’s largest insurance company, is to begin a national evaluation of the effects personal health records (PHR) have on patient self-care and health service delivery. The trial is believed to be one of the biggest yet patient-controlled PHRs. During the course of the study Barmer will offer the system to all of its seven […]
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Information Governance will be ongoing challenge
Connecting for Health have told the House of Commons Health Select Committee that addressing the information governance challenge for shared records and use of patient data in an electronic NHS would be an ongoing challenge for the coming decade, in the same way that getting clinical governance right had been the challenge of the previous decade. Quizzed about privacy […]
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Personal health records high on HIMSS agenda
Personal health records, patient identification, interoperability and, of course, quality were high on the agenda at the annual Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), in the recovering US city of New Orleans, Neil Versel writes. An Accenture study released at the start of last week’s meeting suggested that two-thirds of Americans consider electronic health […]
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Patients can carry records on secure smartcard
Patients in London can now have their medical histories handy wherever they are, by uploading them onto a new USB plug-in smartcard called the Health eCard. Buying the card should enable patients to show their records to any medical professional, saving time and improving consultations when their notes are not available. Jul Kornbluth, managing director […]
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