Tech companies jump in to grab niche in online health records market
A Detroit-based tech company partners with Microsoft on early start to capture niche in health information storage and management systems.
Making the announcement at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Florida, Detroit-based Covisint and partner Microsoft are on early start to capture the niche in health information storage and management systems, the mlive.com recently reported.
Making the announcement at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in Florida, Detroit-based Covisint and Microsoft are on early start to capture the niche in online health information storage and management systems, the mlive.com recently reported.
Covisint, a Compuware subsidiary, announced a partnership with Microsoft in February to offer free Web-based storage and management tools.
According to Robert Yellan, president of DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce, mlive.com reported, “consumers are becoming more involved in their own health care decision-making,” and thus “it seems like a natural next step for them to seek out tools to help organize their own health information more systematically.”
Yellan cited how consumers use technology, with many of them using the Internet to help them choose their hospital.
The report also quoted Michael Elinski, associate vice president for technology and business development for Health Alliance Plan, as saying, “I think what they’re both doing are very good things, the basic concept is enabling information sharing. I think there is a very big need in our industry, and they have seen the need.”
Elsinki also mentioned in the report that what these technologies are going to do is to start to close the gaps in letting individuals manage their information. In time, he said, this technology may be able to join with hospital and health systems to connect the information for a more complete system.
The report also mentioned President Bush’s call for broad electronic medical records implementation, but the rate is estimated at only 17.5 percent now and isn’t expected to go above 50 percent before 2014.
One potential drawback, according to the report, is that the information is not covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, so some of the same tight controls under that act may not apply. In this light, Elinski pointed out, “I have not heard anything from Washington about regulation, so we have to be very careful of these applications and platforms. There are new risks with any new technology, and we have to make sure we do our due diligence.”
Covisint has said the information will be secure and that no data or keyword searches within the platforms will be used as marketing tools.
