The Western Health Information Network (WHIN), a regional health information organization serving Southern California, has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio for a pilot project to test how unique patient identifiers can increase patient control over their clinical information and improve the quality of medical records.

Sixty-seven percent of regional health information organizations (RHIOs) surveyed did not meet the criteria for financial viability, according to a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

As health information exchanges (HIEs) tap data from more sources, personal health records (PHRs) present both compelling potential and a raft of challenges. HIE access to and use of PHR data was a topic of interest at recent a Beacon Community panel discussion. The participants suggested that PHRs could be vehicles for patient accountability in future care delivery models, but were not there yet for a variety of reasons.

Children's Hospital of Orange County has struck an agreement with MobileMD that will enable the Orange, Calif.-based pediatric facility to provide health information exchange (HIE) services to more than 800 physicians and 1,000 referring physicians.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General has released two reports that question HHS agencies' efforts to secure electronic protected health information. An OIG audit cited the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT for its lackluster efforts in ensuring that patients' individually identifiable health information is secure and adequately protected for nationwide implementation of interoperable health IT. A second report criticized the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lax enforcement of the HIPAA security rule prior to June 2009.

Fast 4G wireless technologies will be a good fit for rural and developing parts of the world where landline internet service is scarce, claimed experts from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

WORCESTER, Mass.Go attest to meaningful use Stage 1 now, suggested John Halamka, MD, CIO and a professor at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, during his opening remarks on a panel at the Massachusetts Governors 2011 Health IT Conference May 9.

WORCESTER, Mass.Section 3021 of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act "is going to change the world," proclaimed Sachin Jain, MD, senior advisor to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) during the 2011 Massachusetts Governors Health IT Conference May 9 and 10. Are there any nerds out there who know Section 3021?