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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.

Microsoft Bing and Google have launched separate health maps that aim at making community healthcare data more transparent for consumers so they can make healthier decisions. Microsoft Bing announced on June 1 that in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Institute of Medicine its health team would be participating in the Community Health Data Initiative, a national initiative to help consumers and communities get more value out of the nation's wealth of health data.

Intuit Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, will acquire Medfusion, of Cary, N.C., which makes front-office and back-office software designed to improve patient-to-provider communications. The deal is valued at about $91 million.

Technology is always promising something and the iPad is no exception with some seeing it as a "game changer" for healthcare, and physicians in particular.Connecticut physician Steven A. R. Murphy proposes that every doctor should use one. "The iPad is going to crush laptops in this healthcare space," he said.Murphy, the managing partner of The Personalized Medicine Group of Connecticut, said he was purchasing one of Apple's 3G iPads to test it for any bugs.