The Readmore 2014

Josh Seidman, president of Center for Information Therapy, of provides an update of the status of Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology's (CCHIT) process for certification of personal health records (PHRs) over at The Health Care Blog.CCHIT has published the first draft of the 2009 certification criteria for Personal Health...

The New York Times Health section in the article, "Logging On for a Second (or Third) Opinion," examines the changing world of online health information search.As the article points out we are moving from a "search and read" web to a "search, share and interact" web. As Dr. Ted Eytan indicates, we are seeing the "democratization of health care."...

Critical Condition, a look at the American health care system and crisis, begins airing tomorrow on PBS. Locally it will air on WVPBS beginning Tuesday, September 30 at 9pm with follow up broadcasts on October 1, October 6, October 8, October 13.View the film trailer and learn more. Below is a synopsis of the film: Roger Weisberg's Critical Condition...

West Virginia's Creative Communities Under Construction project is underway to promote the Create West Virginia Conference set for October 20-22 at Snowshoe Mountain Resort. The viral campaign is being spread by West Virginia bloggers. If you are creatively curious, attend the conference...

Check back tomorrow for more on the Creative Communities Under Construction Project. I'll be posting tomorrow on elements of the new economy in my hometown of New Martinsville.Signs around Charleston have started to appear . ....

The West Virginia Health Care Authority has scheduled various public meetings over the coming months to discuss and examine the current certificate of need standards for a variety of service areas.As states on the Authority's website these meetings are being held as a part of the legislature's review of West Virginia's certificate of need statute.The...

The 5th Anniversary edition of Grand Rounds hosted by Dr. Val is up at two locations -- KevinMD and Emergiblog. If you want to know what is happening around the health care blogosphere Grand Rounds is required weekly reading.Great to see Dr. Val carrying on the tradition of Grand...

Dave Yaussy over at the WV Environmental Law blog beat me to the post. The Sunday Charleston Gazette featured another nationally recognized lawyer with West Virginia roots.Featured in the article was Michael Gerrard, a nationally known environmental lawyer and current managing partner of the New York office of Arnold & Porter, LLP. Mr. Gerrard...

Last week I noticed that I made JDScoop's list of 145 lawyers and legal professionals to follow on Twitter. I came in at #137 (@bobcoffield). Also making the list is my firm's IT Director, Bill Gardner, coming in at #69 (@oncee).The list is a great resource to find some of the leading...

Thanks to the folks at RNCentral.com for naming the Health Care Law Blog to its list of the 100 Best Health Care Policy Blogs (see #21 under Politics, Legislation and Law category) and the Top 50 Health 2.0 Blogs (#49 under the Health Care Policy and Law category).Looking over both lists of blogs its a privilege to be listed alongside some of the...

My favorite fellow HIPAA blogger, Jeff Drummond, over at the HIPAA Blog points out the Office for Civil Rights has issued new guidance for providers to follow when assessing whether or not they should provide protected health information (PHI) to the friends or family of a patient under HIPAA Privacy Rule 164.510(b).The guidance is titled "Guidance...

Today's Daily Mail covers Charleston based beBetter Networks, Inc. selection as the 15th fastest growing private company in the U.S. BeBetter was selected and is highlighted in Inc. Magazine's September edition featuring the 5,000 fastest growing companies.BeBetter's three year...

EHealth Initiative has released the results of the 2008 Fifth Annual Survey of Health Information Exchanges (HIE) at the State and Local Level.The survey included responses from 130 community based initiatives from 48 states. Here is a summary of the key finding...

Doc Searls on The Patient as the Platform.I missed this post and am glad it was pointed out via Twitter. The title caught my eye because it captures in a phrase what I think may be happening to our health care information system - a shift from provider-centric records to patient-centric records.Thanks to Jen McCabe-Gorman for the twitter ti...

For those interested (and we all should be) in the differences between the health care policies of Obama and McCain I a sharing a recent article appearing in the August 21 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.The article is by Jonathan Oberlander, professor of health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill titled, "The Partisan...

Bob Wachter on the Facebooking of medical records over at The Health Care Blog. Great thought provoking read for those in the health care world and who understand the powers of online social networking tools for communication.Recently I just completed co-authoring with Jud DeLoss the feature article for the next AHLA Health Lawyers News on PHRs where...

Last month The LA Times reported on a new law (AB 211 and SB 541) moving through the California Legislature to increase protections around confidential medical and health information and create a new state Office of Health Information Integrity to oversee compliance, investigate breaches and assess fines.The article cites the high profile celebrity...

David Harlow blogging on health care law at HealthBlawg tagged me via his version of 5 blogs & 5 blawgs. A new law meme started by the editor of Blawg Review in honor of Blog Day.The basic rule is to post links to five great blogs (other than law blogs) and tag five of your favorite law bloggers (otherwise known as blawgers) to do the same under...

Check out and download for free the EBook, "My Health Care Is Killing Me: a survival guide for the american healthcare consumer."The book was written by a couple of colleagues, Christopher Parks and Robert Hedricks, health care technology innovators and disruption mavericks who...