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Halamka gives up on implantable PHRs

Dr. John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School, has officially given up on the idea that people will want to carry their medical records on implanted RFID chips, Michael Millenson reports on The Health Care Blog. Halamka had a chip implanted in 2004, but doesn’t think the public will ever widely accept the technology.

So far, no PHR technology has been widely accepted, but that’s another story.

I’m sure this won’t stop Halamka from experimenting with technologies. He was just the second person to have his genome sequenced and published on the Internet.

Interestingly, the news comes one day after the ECRI Institute included RFID on its list of 10 technologies for hospital executives to watch this year. Of course, there is a difference between tagging assets or employee badges and surgically implanting chips in people’s arms.

May 6, 2009 I Written By

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Microsoft gives Telus exclusive HealthVault rights in Canada

Canadian telecommunications firm Telus has signed an exclusive deal with Microsoft to market the HealthVault platform in Canada. This marks the first expansion of HealthVault outside the U.S.

According to both companies, Telus is licensing HealthVault and will brand it in Canada as “Telus Health Space, powered by Microsoft HealthVault.” The Toronto-based telecom says in a press release that it will develop a consumer-focused service and Telus Health Space to organizations such as governments, health regions, hospitals, insurers and employers, but apparently not directly to consumers.

Telus says it will store all data in Canada. There has been some concern among Canadian companies in the past that using U.S.-based servers or databases for health information would make them subject to the USA Patriot Act and open them up to all sorts of reporting requirements and other bureaucratic hassles.

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I'm a freelance healthcare journalist, specializing in health IT, mobile health, healthcare quality fast $5000 loans-cash.net with bad credit, hospital/physician practice management and healthcare finance.