The recent launches of Microsoft’s HealthVault and Google’s Google Health have increased the discussion over the past year on consumer driven healthcare—where consumers take a more active if not aggressive role in the management of their personal healthcare. The discussion of late, however, has fixated on the very real concern of privacy and security of personal health records.

However, when consumers order personal health records from MediConnect through Google Health they can be assured their records are kept completely private and secure. MediConnect, along with most healthcare providers integrated with Google Health, is HIPAA compliant.

So why are people worried? The concern probably comes at the point when the consumer places the information on their Google Health account. Many question whether the information can remain private.

This concern isn’t much different than a similar one shared when consumers first began providing their credit card numbers online to make purchases in the early e-commerce days. People were afraid their credit card numbers would be compromised, stolen, and used inappropriately. In that case, the industry worked together to protect the consumer to the point today when most people don’t think twice about giving a credit card number to make a purchase online.

The same is true of consumer driven healthcare. Recently, several organizations including Microsoft and Google agreed upon a set of privacy rules or standards related to online personal health records.

The privacy rules are outlined in a framework developed by Connecting for Health operated by the Markle Foundation.

In a Connecting for Health press release, “the framework defines a set of practices that can help protect personal information and enhance consumer participation in online personal health records.

“’Consumer demand for electronic personal health records and online health services will take off when consumers trust that personal information will be protected,’ said Zoë Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, which organized the consensus framework. ‘We have broken the typical logjam in health care and reached consensus among the health sectors and technology innovators, so internet health information products can flourish.’

“The announcement comes as technology companies, health care delivery systems, health insurers, large employers, and others are proliferating options for consumers to keep their own copies of health information and connect to health-related services online.”

There is no question consumer driven healthcare will continue to grow as trust in this framework increases. The personal health record will be at the center of this growing trend.

See the privacy framework from Connecting for Health

See the privacy framework press release

Wall Street Journal Health Blog

http://twitter.com/mediconnect

During the course of the next few weeks, MediConnect Global will be building and launching a new social forum geared for open discussion on topics important to you. Whether it’s the latest large pharmaceutical case, or other personal injury cases, the forum will be a place where you can chat with colleagues and experts in the industry.

There will be a few surprises in the forum that you may be interested in. Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/mediconnect and here on our blog during the next few weeks for more details and for the formal launch of the forum.

MediConnect Global recently (yesterday) began experimenting with Twitter. You can follow MediConnect at http://twitter.com/mediconnect. Those who follow MediConnect will get updates on information and news from the company as well as insights and discussions regarding trends in the legal, life/health insurance and healthcare provider industries.

Twitter is another one of those social phenomenons we’re seeing a lot of these days—along side Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and others. To understand it completely you really need to just try it out, but in simple form it is a social network that allows you to answer the simple question, “What are you doing?” You write whatever you’re doing or whatever you want to say in 140 characters or less and post it. Your friends and colleagues who follow you can see all of your updates. You can also follow your friends’ updates.

At first glance, you may wonder what good this is. In fact, FutureLawyer, Rick Georges, shares the sentiments of many who first encounter Twitter when he says on his blog, “Do you really want to know what I am doing 24-7? I didn’t think so.”

Yet, we’re seeing more and more excellent examples of how Twitter can be used in business to keep customers, clients, partners, and colleagues informed of information from a company in a sort of mini blog format. This is MediConnect’s goal. If you’re a twitterer, we hope you’ll follow MediConnect’s tweets. We’ll follow yours too!

Yet, we’re seeing more and more excellent examples of how Twitter can be used in business to keep customers, clients, partners, and colleagues informed of information from a company in a sort of mini blog format. This is MediConnect’s goal. If you’re a Twitter-er, we hope you’ll follow MediConnect’s “tweets.” We’ll follow yours too!

Sokolove affiliates now have increased access to conveniently order medical records online through MediConnect’s RapidRetrieve or their integrated case management software. (MediConnect integrated CMS includes TrialWorks, Needles, Amicus Attorney, SmartAdvocate, Case Manager Prop, or directly through LexisNexis Total Litigator.)

Following a competitive review, The Law Offices of James Sokolove selected MediConnect Global as a legal vendor to provide medical record retrieval services for its more than 400 affiliated U.S. law firms.

In addition, all affiliates have access to other services related to their medical records retrieval including bates stamping, optical character recognition (OCR), chronological and categorical organization, certifications, medical summaries, and more.

Affiliates can order medical records immediately at www.mediconnect.net or www.mediconnect.net/sign_up.asp.

http://del.icio.us/mediconnect http://twitter.com/mediconnect