By Diana Mano

Government Health IT

Dec. 10, 2012

Electronic tools, including smartphones, can help patients, but the adoption of apps for healthcare is still lagging, according to a new report released by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

At a Dec. 10 report-release briefing, Janet Marchabroda, chair of the Health IT Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said smartphones have changed every aspect of American life, including the way they shop, travel and manage their finances. If Americans could apply that use of smartphones to healthcare, great things would result, she added.

Barriers on the consumer side often include lack of awareness that the apps are out there, and more innovation is still needed in the marketplace.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, who spoke at the briefing, said one barrier is often providers' lack of understanding of HIPAA. "Sometimes it’s interpreted that HIPAA means, 'I can’t give you your health information.' HIPAA gives people a right to access of the information in the format that they want."

Mostashari said the main message from ONC’s tiger teams is that authentication for smart phones is here: "People want access to their healthcare records."

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Health Project