Your patients WANT meaningful use now.  It’s not just for physicians anymore.

As part of the latest stage of meaningful use, portals must be a part of the system so that patients can actively participate in electronic health record systems…and they want it!

 

Public participation was a topic visited at the Digital Health Summit, as part of the 2014 International CES in Las Vegas.

 

The CEO of MD Revolution points out

“It’s not about the physician (any more) – it’s about everybody but the physician”

In other words, in dealing with EHR systems, the public has said “Let’s take the show on the road”.  Both Abbe Don, from Epocrates and Lygeia Ricciardi, the director of consumer eHealth for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, spoke about this issue in their keynote talks stressing that the public wants control over not only their health data but also active interaction with solutions and devices that will enable them to do this. If health technology is not accessible in their doctors’ offices, they will seek their healthcare elsewhere according to Christopher Wasden, managing director for Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

The panel in the workshop at the Project HealthDesign Workshop delved into wearable sensors, which function to:

• Provide biometric feedback in realtime
• Monitor blood pressure readings for hypertensives
• Follow glucose levels for diabetics controlling insulin
• Detect possible concussions in athletes

David Icke, CEO of MC10, responsible for the remote sensor located in a skullcap to detect hits resulting in a concussion,  says

The company is now preparing to market a skin-based sensor that looks like a Band-Aid and collects biometric data.

Most of all, mHealth devices “give me my … data, make it  relevant to me,  allow me to act on that information, and  give me a unified view of my healthcare needs and concerns.” according to Don, vice president of consumer experiences forEpocrates. “It’s therefore important for doctors to adopt mHealth tools that show value to their patients, such as wearable sensors and monitors that fit into the fabric of their lives and don’t make healthcare a chore”. “The doctor is like the conductor of an orchestra in that sense, managing all the different sections of instruments into one cohesive symphony.”