New American Medical Association And Microsoft Collaboration To Enhance Patient-Physician Communication

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 14 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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The American Medical Association (AMA) announced it is working with Microsoft to better connect patients with their physicians. Patients and their physicians will be able to exchange vital health care information by connecting through Microsoft's HealthVault, a platform developed by Microsoft to store and maintain health and fitness information. Through this collaboration physicians will be able to access self reported patient health information at the point of care, while enabling patients to access vital information that has been entered through the physician's office.

With patient consent, physicians will be able to access a patient's HealthVault record through a new physician Web-based portal the AMA is developing with Covisint, a subsidiary of Compuware. The AMA portal, which is currently in beta testing, will provide physicians access to practice-related products, services and resources in a single location. The AMA plans to launch its new portal nationally in early 2010.

"The use of electronic medical records, and health information technology overall, holds great promise for improving patient care and increasing practice efficiency," said AMA President-elect James Rohack, M.D. "The addition of Microsoft's HealthVault on our AMA portal will enable patients using HealthVault to share more comprehensive health information with their physicians. Having ready access to patient information can help physicians make treatment decisions and reduce the time spent gathering this information resulting in more face-to-face time with patients."

"With the pending launch of their portal, the AMA is addressing a demand within the medical community for tools that enable physicians to join the move towards online health in a seamless, intuitive way," said David Cerino, general manager of the Consumer Health Solutions Group at Microsoft. "Through Microsoft HealthVault's connection to the AMA portal, patients will be able share personal health information with their physicians, who can make more informed decisions for improved coordination of care."

The AMA has been developing its portal for more than a year. The effort is aimed at helping physicians better meet their practice-related needs. Primary offerings will include: clinical resources, practice and revenue management tools, e-prescribing and electronic health record applications and professional development resources. The AMA portal will allow for personalized content, search capabilities and learning and networking opportunities that will not require great technological expertise to implement.

"Many practicing physicians are feeling overwhelmed right now," Dr. Rohack said. "They want help in meeting the demands of their day-to-day practices. Our goal is to provide them easy access to the tools and technologies that can help them, especially those who are looking to implement health IT into their practices. The AMA's expertise is health care, but by collaborating with companies like Microsoft and Covisint, we can offer physicians sound IT solutions that keep health, patient care and medical practice at the forefront."

Source
American Medical Association