Health information exchange (HIE) continues its onward march, despite the occasional setback. For every step forward, it seems we take one or two back due to slow physician adoption of health IT and other challenges.

A new application (app) for Android devices allows nine million Kaiser Permanente patients to access their own medical information on mobile devices through a mobile-optimized website. Mobile device users can get full access to their information from the Kaiser Permanente health record system with the mobile-optimized version of kp.org.

Healthcare consulting firm Beacon Partners surveyed more than 200 healthcare executives to determine the value of and interest in health information exchanges (HIEs). Despite concerns, the survey concluded that there was an overall positive opinion regarding the benefits of HIEs with 70 percent of executives reporting that they felt positively about HIEs.

Internet use among adults has skyrocketed over the past several years and the time may seem ripe for developing web-based tools to help patients manage their health, but research published online Jan. 4 by the Journal of Health Communication suggested that such tools will receive underwhelming attention from patients.

GE Healthcare has reported a 1 percent increase in fourth quarter revenues to $5.16 billion, and a slight drop5 percentin quarter profits to $953 million. However, the yearly revenue in 2011 rose 7 percent in 2011 over 2010$18.08 billion versus $16.9 billion. Likewise, the healthcare units yearly profits rose 2 percent from $2.74 billion in 2010 to $2.8 billion in 2011.

Bone mineral density (BMD) screening for osteoporosis should be necessary only every 15 years for postmenopausal women with normal bone density on an initial test, though the screening interval for women with advanced osteopenia should be reduced to one year, according to a study published in the Jan. 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Source: www.scottwalker.orgEmbattled Republican governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, is planning to turn down $37 million from the federal government that had been awarded to help implement healthcare insurance exchange. The announcement comes after Walker declared last month that Wisconsin would not pursue implementing the exchange until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Patients are demanding access to their health information now more than ever, but the healthcare industry has failed to produce products with a function that live up to consumers expectationsuntil now, according to the presenters of a Jan. 17 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) webinar. They believe that the Blue Button, an online tool that allows patients to easily access and download their health information, is different.