PCHIT links for January 11th through January 13th:

• Racial Disparities in cancer therapy among (FFS) Medicare Beneficiaries - I think this is really “Racial Disparities …among Fee For Service Medicare Beneficiaries,” since HMO enrollment was excluded from the study. The data are concerning regardless, and raise the question of PCHIT in enhancing access to information in making

AHRQ-Funded Projects: Using an Electronic Personal Health Record to Empower Patients with Hypertension - Innovative grant to Medical College of Georgia to develop a PHR on the Cerner Platform

• The Big Opt Out » About the campaign - A campaign led by patients to opt out of NHS data sharing (UK)
• Kaiser Permanente EHR System Facts - KP HealthConnect Electronic Health Record Project - As the title says, a handy public status update of the KP HealthConnect Project
• Medical Care - Abstract: Volume 45(12) December 2007 p 1205-1209 Behind-the-Scenes of Patient-Centered Care: Content Analysis of Electronic Messaging Among Primary Care Clinic Providers and Staff. - Impressive: 47.8% of all messages between providers and staff dealt with the act of communicating and informing staff of attempts or achievements of acts of communication.
• SpringerLink - Journal Article - See the review on the pchit.org blog
• The Diabetes Patient Portal: Patient Perspectives on Structure and Delivery — Hess et al. 19 (2): 106 — Diabetes Spectrum - Early focus group testing from UPMC’s patient portal. Patients understand efficiency gains to the system and wonder why they should pay more, therefore.

PCHIT links for December 17th:

• Clinical Messaging Is Costly but Worth It, Says Vanderbilt Study ? Digital Healthcare and Productivity - Useful information when doing cost-utility analyses around messaging, perhaps.
• e-patients: Markle Foundation Policy Meeting 2007 - Notes from the meeting. What will be achieved, e-patients asks?
• Exploring Social Contextual Correlates of Computer Ownership and Frequency of Use Among Urban, Low-Income, Public Housing Adult Residents | McNeill | Journal of Medical Internet Research - A respectable 51% owns and 42% of adults in low income public housing uses computers, narrowing the disparity gap. Do they have internet access? Interesting correlates with neighborhood safety.