Tools & Topics

Lessons from Project HealthDesign: Strategies for Safeguarding Patient-Generated Health Information Created or Shared through Mobile Devices July 23, 2012 | mHIMSS Leveraging the power of new technologies, researchers funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Project Health-Design are encouraging patients to track and share with clinicians observations of daily living (ODLs) and other information that can serve as important indicators of a patient’s health.  More
Desktop Virtualization and Mobile Device Management: Meeting the Data Accessibility Expectations of the Consumer Workforce July 23, 2012 | mHIMSS Desktop virtualization and mobile device management (MDM) strategies enables the flexibility to adapt data governance and accessibility models at pace more consistent with the evolving consumer audience expectations. They will achieve this benefit through enabling secure, profile-based, federated data analysis.  More
Innovation: A Snapshot of mHealth’s Moving Target July 23, 2012 | mHIMSS From smartphones and tablets to apps, body sensors and telemedicine, these compact, portable tools promise foundational shifts in healthcare quality and delivery that will dramatically impact stakeholders at every level—from patients to C-suite executives—and deliver on the elusive promise of quality care, coordination and cost-savings.  More
Security Risks: Mobile Devices Are Here to Stay, But Challenges Remain July 23, 2012 | mHIMSS The use of portable devices—especially smartphones and tablets—are turning physicians into iDocs. These consumer tools are moving into the healthcare environment at break-neck speed. We have seen increased usability—that is good. But, we also have seen increased security risks— that is bad.  More
Case Study: Txt4Health: Using Mobile Health Technology in the New Orleans Beacon Community July 19, 2012 | mHIMSS In June, 2011, after brief meetings with ONC Beacon Program staff, Voxiva, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), were signed up for testing a text4baby-like diabetes program. Of the 17 Beacon communities, New Orleans and Detroit were the first two (later to be joined by a third, Cincinnati) Beacons to announce plans to test a public health diabetes awareness program that will use Voxiva’s mobile health technology and work with the CDC and ADA to develop the right content for such a public health program.  More
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to Work – Enterprise IT Management Concerns July 19, 2012 | mHIMSS This matrix identifies a number of security and policy concerns that should be addressed by IT and Compliance Management as they develop an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and design the network and application security infrastructure to support “BYOD” by employees and contractors who wish to use these devices to communicate and to access internal applications. This listing is a collection of technical and policy concerns from a variety of industry and consultant whitepaper reports. In order to answer each question adequately the organization must have a thorough understanding of the devices they wish to support, understanding of the available solutions to secure those devices at an application and network level and the specific requirements of the employees and providers who will be granted access. For Wi-Fi connected devices, many security concerns can be managed at a network level. For example, restricting Web Access on wireless enabled devices. For Carrier connected devices with internet capabilities the Acceptable Use Policy may require additional monitoring and enforcement tools.  More
JHIM: Focus on Mobile Health July 17, 2012 | mHIMSS Mobile technology penetrates our daily lives, from the use of consumer-influenced devices that keep us tethered to the world around us to the complex work environments that compel us to be more efficient and productive every hour of the day. Healthcare has become more data-driven and our thirst for immediate access to information has propelled mobility into a game changer for healthcare planning and delivery. This issue of JHIM focuses on the many aspects of mobile health and technology.  More
RFI: DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, Mobile Display of Patient Data July 13, 2012 | U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), is looking to expand the current provider-facing mobile application pilot, making additional data available to end users, implementing write-back capabilities, allowing customization of the application to meet the needs of different users, providing a more refined patient search capability and allowing users to view and resolve secure messages. New functionality will allow for context management, application resume functionality and additional rendering capabilities, while existing functionality will be enhanced to support these capabilities. Finally, the VA would like to reengineer the current proof of concept that makes users’ Clinical Calendars and Microsoft Exchange calendars available as a single calendar to meet changes in VA technology policies.  More
Guidelines for Managing and Securing Mobile Devices in the Enterprise (Draft) July 13, 2012 | National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST) This Special Publication 800-series reports on ITL’s research, guidance, and outreach efforts in computer security and its collaborative activities with industry, government, and academic organizations.  More
Happtique Announces Draft Certification Standards for Medical Apps July 12, 2012 | Happtique Happtique, a mobile health application store and total app management solution, is developing an App Certification Program for medical, health, and fitness apps. The purpose of the program is to help users identify apps that meet high operability, privacy, and security standards and are based on reliable content.   More
Selecting a Mobile App: Evaluating the Usability of Medical Applications July 03, 2012 | mHIMSS This document has been prepared as an aid to the healthcare provider or IT staff member who is engaged in the selection of mobile apps for a hospital organization or private practice. This guide outlines some basic steps to include in a mobile app selection process, to assist practices evaluate mobile app usability, based on current usability recommendations and best practices.  More
Updated: 6 FAQ's on SMS Text Messaging Implementation in Healthcare June 26, 2012 | mHIMSS This updated FAQ addresses common questions when implementing SMS (text) messaging within a clinical environment. The FAQ addresses important information related to privacy and security, implementation, and post implementation support related to texting.   More
5 FAQ's on Hardware and Vendor Selection June 12, 2012 | mHIMSS This FAQ-the third in the series-address common questions when considering the purchase of hardware or evaluation of telecommunications vendors. The FAQ addresses important information related to hardware requirements, considerations for evaluating vendors, and potential impacts or challenges to integration.  More
Infrastructure Requirements for Medical Device RFI's April 25, 2012 | Henry Ford Health System The attached document is a sample RFI requirement document used by Henry Ford Health System that is distributed and used by medical device vendors when requesting a new device be introduced into their wireless network.  More
Medical Device Wireless Certification Process April 25, 2012 | Henry Ford Health System This document serves as a framework for testing medical devices to ensure that they are compatible with the standards based HFHS wireless network, and that they meet relevant regulatory standards. This resource is provided courtesy of the Henry Ford Health System and serves as a guide for integrating new wireless devices into an IT architecture.   More