BOSTON—Connected health is experiencing the delay in acceptance phenomenon, said Matthew Harting, MD, MS, of the University of Texas Medical School and UT Health Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, speaking at mHealth + Telehealth World.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors has approved nearly $142.5 million to support the ongoing development and expansion of its resource for health research known as PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network.

athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based services and mobile applications for medical groups and health systems, today announced athenaText®, a secure text messaging service that is fully integrated with athenahealth’s cloud-based EHR (electronic health record) platform, and accessible through the standalone athenaText and Epocrates mobile apps.

BOSTON—Telehealth expands the concept of reimbursement, said Nathaniel Lacktman, JD, partner at Foley & Lardner, speaking at a panel discussion at mHealth + Telehealth World on July 21.

BOSTON—The focus on value-based compensation “turns our business model upside down and opens the door for all kinds of virtual care options,” said Joseph Kvedar, MD, vice president of connected health for Partners HealthCare, speaking at the mHealth + Telehealth World Congress on July 21.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced a new model that offers Medicare beneficiaries greater flexibility in end-of-life care choices.

In collaboration with Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) unveiled a roadmap for the development of standards to support information governance (IG) in healthcare including national and international efforts to ensure interoperability among health information systems.

UMass Memorial Health Care is introducing virtual physician visits for diagnosis and treatment of common health concerns. The central Massachusetts health care leader has partnered with Zipnosis, a Minneapolis-based company, to provide an online diagnosis and treatment service that will connect patients to UMass Memorial clinicians online to receive prompt, high-quality virtual care for common medical conditions, such as sinus infections, colds and flu, female bladder infections and pink eye.