Electronic health records inspire Mostashari, researchers, Olympians

CQ HealthBeat interviews the head of the government's IT effort while other news coverage focuses on a new report detailing the promise of electronic health monitoring.

CQ HealthBeat: A Conversation With Farzad Mostashari
Farzad Mostashari is a fired-up kind of guy. Gesturing and raising his voice at times to make his points, the federal government's top health IT official explained his enthusiasm in an interview with CQ HealthBeat editors Wednesday. It's a trait that makes him conspicuously different from most bureaucrats. But he has a lot of work to do in the coming months to get his fellow doctors to see what a powerful tool they now have to take better care of their patients (Reichard, 6/13).

Related, earlier KHN story: Farzad Mostashari: Man On A Digital Mission (Mitchell, 3/9)

WBUR's CommonHealth blog: 11 New Technologies To Manage Chronic Illness And Save Money
[A] slew of emerging mobile technologies, including "in-car" telemedicine that might prompt a diabetic patient that he's borderline hypoglycemic through a wireless glucose monitor and urge him to pull over, or warn an asthmatic that he's driving through a known asthma-attack-inducing region ... might at least help us manage some of our chronic conditions, and save some money too. That's the conclusion of a new paper that highlights 11 emerging technologies that offer novel ways to treat and manage chronic conditions (Zimmerman, 6/14).

Kaiser Health News: Team USA Goes For The Gold – And For Electronic Records
The U.S. Olympic Committee is digitizing health records this month for the athletes who will be competing in London, as well as for about 3,000 other athletes who have been seen by USOC doctors in recent years. Some say this step is a sign that electronic medical records have made it to the big time (Torres, 6/13).