A pioneer in clinical informatics with the development of the the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration is again on the forefront of the design and development of a new VistA Electronic Health Record (EHR). Using innovation as the major theme involving academia, the commercial sector and the […]
The Need for Genomic Diagnostic Tests in the EHR
In some cases, the utility of patient genotyping prior to therapeutics is of unquestioned value. In non-Hodgkin’s and Mantle Cell lymphoma, DNA sequencing of the tumor provides personalized cancer vaccines that demonstrate statistically significant Phase III clinical trial results with disease-free survival benefit in treatment of these types of follicular lymphoma [1]. The Oncotype DX® […]
Are You Ready for Whole Genomes in the EHR?
Clinical practitioners can now interactively produce and query a patient report for genetic tests spanning over 2000 inherited diseases from a single whole-genome sequence, using www.genetests.org (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/GeneTests/?db=GeneTests) as a valid guide. GenomeQuest (www.genomequest.com) , a company based near Boston, MA, which serves as the data management provider for most of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, has […]
How Private and Secure is Protected Health Information?
There was a very interesting meeting yesterday, “The Personal Health Record (PHR) Roundtable”, organized by the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology (ONCHIT). Some of the more enlightening discussions took place in the afternoon sessions, focusing on security, privacy and standards. Josh Lemieux, Director of Personal Health Technology, Markle Foundation and Dr. Matthew […]
Will Bioinformatics Drive Medical Specialty-Specific EHRs?
Over the past several years, we have seen segmentation of EHR product offerings, usually tailored for different clinical settings. In a domain such as Radiology, the specialty requires integration of PACS into the EHR. However, in certain specialties such as oncology, the federal government, professional organizations, and even patient advocacy groups have recommended that the […]