HealthIT.gov recently published a new report highlighting how healthcare providers are now using EHRs and Health IT.

According to the interesting data gleaned from the research, healthcare professionals continue to discover how modern tech can be enormously beneficial in improving patient care and wellbeing.

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We wanted to give you the heads up that mHealthWatch will be on the ground in Washington D.C. next week to bring you on-site coverage of the annual mHealth Summit.

Building on last year’s massive success, this year’s event promises to be even bigger – highlighting emerging best practices from mHealth implementations as well as the latest business, finance, policy and technical perspectives from throughout the healthcare industry.  This year’s summit will be the go-to event for everything mobile healthcare, including more than 400 exhibitors showcasing innovative devices, services, applications, tools and related solutions.  Organizers are expecting more than 4,500 healthcare leaders from nearly 50 different countries around the world.

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One of the most enjoyable interviews of the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco this week was that of Michael Long, Chairman and CEO of Lumeris.  He was interviewed by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of iHealthBeat. Michael is also the CEO of Essence Group Holding Company, and many will also recognize his name as the former CEO of Healtheon Corporation (now WebMD).

Mr. Long is not a new kid on the block.  He has extensive experience and expertise both in business management in general and in the health space in particular.  He started Lumeris to address several on-going challenges in healthcare:  to lower costs; improve quality; improve patient experiences within the health ecosystem; and also to improve the physician experience as well.  They initially targeted 40,000 seniors to prove their model.  So what do they do exactly?

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It’s been revealed that more than $439M has been poured into 70 different Web 2.0 healthcare startups that develop mobile health apps and tools for online social networking and collaboration in 2011.

In 2010, a little more than $305M was raised for 43 different deals, meaning 2011 showed a 44% increase in dollars invested and a 63% increase in deals funded compared to 2010.  ”We are at the very early stages of an evolution in the entire healthcare system,” Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource, told InformationWeek Healthcare. “We are essentially witnessing the democratization of healthcare where detailed information is being collected both from healthy people as well as individuals trying to improve their physical wellness.”

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The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has issued a call for public comments surrounding the security, privacy and best practices of using mobile devices in healthcare.

More specifically, the ONC is seeking comments on three categories, including real-world uses of mobile devices by providers and other healthcare delivery professionals; real-world privacy and security practices, strategies and technology; and other general comments on the use of mobile devices by providers and other healthcare delivery professionals.

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The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has awarded Kaiser Permanente with two awards; the Davies Award for Organizational Excellence and a Stage 7 award for “Excellence in Health IT” for its Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Davies Award recognizes “excellence in the implementation and value derived from health information technology,” with Kaiser Permanente named 2011′s sole winner.  ”The implementation of our world-class electronic health record, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, has shaped and improved how our physicians and care teams treat patients,” said Phil Fasano, executive vice president and chief information officer, Kaiser Permanente.  ”The Davies Award recognizes the important role of health IT in improving care and the overall patient experience, the same goals we had in mind when beginning the KP HealthConnect project almost 10 years ago.”  Kaiser currently has the largest private-sector EHR system in the world.

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New research out yesterday from ABI suggests the market for wearable wireless devices in healthcare will grow to nearly 170M by 2017.

This figure represents a CAGR of  more than 41% based on the market showing just 20.77M such devices at the end of 2011.  ABI’s research also includes wearable sports and fitness devices as well, showing the increased usage of devices that collect and automatically share data online from the likes of Nike, Adidas, Motorola and others.  In addition, mobile handset accessory vendors, consumer electronic companies, fitness management and online service providers are quickly joining a market that’s long been the “preserve of specialist, high-end vendors such as Polar and Garmin.”

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