Mary Mosquera
Innovative tools and data that federal health agencies have released to the public can help healthcare providers meet meaningful use of electronic health records, says Todd, Park, chief technology officer for the Department of Heath and Human Services. Speaking to an audience at the Government Health IT Conference on June 15, Park offered several examples.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded a contract to enable providers to share elements of a patient's electronic health record on mobile devices in addition to three other contracts under its latest VA Innovation Initiative (VAi2) competition. The VA's goal is to use new technologies to improve the quality of veterans' patient care.
The Health Resources and Services Administration has made available for free a mobile version of its "Find a Health Center" application for iPhones through iTunes. The online version of the health center locator can be accessed at HRSA's website.Each day, an average of 3,200 people use the app to find healthcare services at HRSA supported community health centers, HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield said in an announcement Oct. 29.
The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are working on consent management tools that would let patients control access to their personal health information - including medication lists, lab test results and diagnoses - during health information exchanges between the two agencies.Kaiser Permanente, a partner with VA and DOD in the Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER) Community data-sharing project now underway in the San Diego area, will also deploy consent tools next year as a part of the multi-organization health information exchange pilot.
The Department of Health and Human Services will share its community and population health data with technology innovators and public health officials in the hope that they will use it to create new applications and tools to improve the health of Americans. HHS will also develop a "one-stop shop" Web site where the public can access community health data, including Medicare performance data and a variety of health indicators from across geographic regions.