Electronic Health Records News Update

Adapted from Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Communication

Electronic Health Records and Quality of Care Study

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) recently published a study comparing care provided to diabetic patients in physician practices that use electronic health records (EHRs) versus physician practices that do not. The results indicate that practices that use EHRs -- especially in conjunction with collaborative efforts to improve quality -- delivered measurably better care than practices which rely on paper records.

Check out the Office of the National Coordinator's Buzz Blog for a blog by the study's lead author, Dr. Randall Cebul, which summarizes their findings.

New Frequently Asked Questions Available for BioSense 2.0!

Announcement from BioSense Redesign Team:

Though it’s time to say goodbye to summer, the BioSense Redesign Team is closing the summer out with a bang! We’ve kept our ear to the ground at recent public health conferences and workshops, and based on your feedback, we’ve developed a new resource to address questions like, “What will the new BioSense 2.0 do? How will it be different? or How will CDC use data contributed to BioSense 2.0?”

Our new Frequently Asked Questions or “FAQs” are designed to address the most common questions and concerns about BioSense 2.0, with topics ranging from the new environment to cloud and security issues and integration of meaningful use requirements.

Please take a moment to visit the Frequently Asked Questions on the BioSense Redesign Collaboration Site and share with your partners!

Workshop on Patient Privacy and Secondary Use of EHR Data

The National Center for Biomedical Computing iDASH (integrating Data for Analysis, Anonymization, and Sharing) and the Division of Biomedical informatics at UCSD are hosting a workshop on privacy technology on October 10-11, 2011. The workshop will assemble specialists in privacy technology, privacy policy and law, and secondary use of healthcare data to discuss technological approaches to preserving privacy, existing laws and regulations, and stakeholder concerns in biomedical data sharing. U.S. and international perspectives will be presented as participants discuss the fundamental challenges of establishing a secure, privacy-preserving environment in which researchers can analyze and share data.

Registration is free. Details about the agenda, registration, and logistics can be found here: http://idash.ucsd.edu/index.php/component/content/article/34/102-privacy-workshop