Uniformed IT standards required

GovExe.com reports that the US needs to establish standards that work together in health IT so medical personnel can communicate effectively.

The nation must "ensure that privacy and security standards are up to date" and take steps to prevent data breaches, Robert Kolodner, interim national coordinator of health information, said during an opening speech at the Health IT Summit for national, regional and state healthcare decision makers.

Health and human services (HHS) secretary Mike Leavitt said broad use of interoperable health IT was at the heart of a movement to improve the quality and price of healthcare.

Leavitt delivered his keynote address at the Third Annual HIT Summit at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.

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Intel chairman Craig R. Barrett urged employers to use their purchasing power to create a more effective, efficient healthcare system, Reliable Plants reports.

Barrett spoke before leaders at the third annual HIT Summit, co-sponsored by the eHealth Initiative and Bridges to Excellence in Washington, D.C.

Barrett called for employers to exercise their influence as the largest purchasers of healthcare to drive improvements in care delivery, reducing costs and improving quality.

Intel has unveiled a prototype of the so-called "clinical assistant platform", which should allow nurses and physicians to have information about a patient`s health condition at hand anywhere, Xbit Laboratories reports.

"To improve the quality of healthcare and staff workflow, the most critical task is to deliver the right information to the point of decision - which is most often at the patient`s bedside. This platform was designed in collaboration with the very people who must have access to up-to-the-minute patient care records and be able to document a patient`s condition in real time," said Louis Burns VP and GM of Intel`s digital health group.

During Intel Developer Forum the company demonstrated a mobile point-of-care platform designed specifically to address the unmet needs of nurses and physicians working on the front line of patient care.