ONC

By  Neil Versel 04:35 am March 28, 2013
In the run-up to and in the wake of last week's congressional hearings on potential Food and Drug Adminstration regulation of mobile health and medical apps, we have heard numerous alternatives to the existing FDA regulatory framework proposed. Congress should give the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) the power to regulate not only apps, but also...
By  Brian Dolan 02:05 pm March 21, 2013
As expected, the third and final (for now, at least) congressional hearing focused on the FDA's regulation of mobile medical apps was the only one that provided new information for those already well-versed in mobile health. While the past two days of testimonies likely helped members of Congress better understand the concerns of those working or lobbying for the healthcare and technology...
By  Brian Dolan 05:06 am March 21, 2013
We are live blogging old school today: Hit the refresh button every few minutes for updates! (Liveblogging is now concluded!) 10:26AM: The hearing is now adjourned! Apparently they cut it short to vote. 10:25AM: Final question goes to Mostashari from Burgess around why the ONC doesn't just make interoperability happen. 10:23AM: Rep Griffith is now asking about the diagnostic device that was...
By  Brian Dolan 04:01 am March 21, 2013
This week the US House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Committee is hosting a three-day series of hearings focused mostly on the FDA regulation of mobile medical apps. As of this writing two hearings have taken place, one held by the Communications and Technology subcommittee on Tuesday and another held by the Health subcommittee on Wednesday, but what could be the main event is set to...
By  Brian Dolan 05:15 am March 14, 2013
There has been a painfully slow chess game playing out in Washington DC these past two years over the fate of FDA regulation of mobile medical apps. Last July I wrote about the largely failed attempt by some members of Congress and companies like Aetna, UnitedHealth, and Verizon Communications to insert language into the The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) to slow...
By  Neil Versel 03:02 am March 14, 2013
Humetrix iBlueButton app won the ONC's Blue Button Mashup Challenge. Humetrix, the Del Mar, Calif.-based maker of mobile health information exchange app iBlueButton, is demonstrating its technology for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) this week. Like so many healthcare entities around the world, the NHS has been struggling to make electronic health records available and accessible to...
By  Jonah Comstock 01:54 am January 17, 2013
Humetrix iBlueButton app won the ONC's Blue Button Mashup Challenge. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is working to promote more patient engagement and access with their own records. One avenue of this work is with the Meaningful Use Stage 2 guidelines, but the office is also working with data holders and app developers to encourage the development...
By  Neil Versel 01:55 am December 13, 2012
While hospital CIOs and privacy officers sweat over the proliferation of smartphones, tablets and the BYOD phenomenon, federal health IT officials are trying to put their minds at ease with a series of resources to help providers safeguard patients' protected health information. Wednesday at its annual meeting in Washington, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology...
By  Brian Dolan 03:23 am September 25, 2012
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held a public briefing this week with its mHealth Task Force, which formed just this past June to work with various other healthcare professionals and technologists to create a report full of "concrete" next steps that the FCC (and other agencies) can take to facilitate the adoption and acceleration of mHealth in the United States. The task force co-...
By  Brian Dolan 04:00 am August 28, 2012
Just a week after the ONC published the final version of Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements, AirStrip Technologies announced a new addition to its mobile health platform -- a meaningful use tracker. In June San Antonio-based AirStrip Technologies announced that it was expanding its suite of mobile patient monitoring applications to enable physicians to more easily access information housed in...