Description

This issue of Vital Signs, released on 20 June 2011, provides on overview of the challenges hospitals and physicians are facing with the need to connect and aggregate electronic health data from a variety of dispersed care settings. This 10-page article discusses why the need for effective technology solutions for data integration is growing as a result of structural changes in the health care payer and provider landscape, growing use of EHRs driven by HITECH stimulus funds, and the need to provide an infrastructure for new coordinated care models like Patient Centered Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations. An innovative new data integration/aggregation solution from athenahealth and Microsoft called the athenaNet-Amalga Connector is profiled. A customer case study from the Cook Children’s Health Care System in Texas is included and describes how this provider is using the athenaNet-Amalga Connector to help them prepare for health system change, including potentially forming an Accountable Care Organization and engaging patients in the use of personal health records with the Microsoft HealthVault solution. Additionally, company spotlights are provided for athenahealth, Inc (ATHN) and Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group (MSFT). Reimbursement and regulatory news from the FDA is also provided for week of 23 May 2011.