Health professionals push officials to slow digital health records

Additionally, venture capitalists pour money into digital health, and more Americans take to the Web and digital devices to store their electronic health data and seek health care support from their peers.

Politico: Electronic Health Records: A 'Clunky' Transition
The government-led transformation of health information is driving doctors to distraction, igniting nurse protests and crushing hospitals under debt. Most health care professionals accept the inevitability of going electronic and see its value. But they have a message for the administration's multibillion-dollar push: not so fast (Allen, 6/15). 

Kaiser Health News: Health Data Geeks Get Their Day
Venture capitalists are pouring more money than ever before into digital health start-ups, more than $2 billion so far this year alone, according to the venture capital firm Rock Health. They are betting that entrepreneurs can help doctors, hospitals and insurers become leaner -- which the Affordable Care Act strongly encourages (Whitney, 6/16).

The Boston Globe: Medical Records At Your Fingertips
Heather Earley used to lug a 5-inch binder to every pediatrician's appointment, filled with hundreds of pages of specialists' notes, test results, and other medical records for her 11-year-old son, who was born with a rare genetic disorder. Now Early, 47, a mother of three from Libertyville, Ill., just brings her iPad. Two months ago, Earley transferred all her son's information to an app that stores the medical records. "It was exactly what we needed," Earley said. "All that paperwork was so cumbersome and complicated, and this is so simplistic and easy to use." While Americans have embraced wearable health devices that keep track of the minutiae of daily fitness routines and diets, they've been slower to trust online storage of their mental health records, mammogram reports, and prescriptions (Kotz, 6/16).

The San Francisco Chronicle: Outside Tech Workers Try To Heal Health Care
Grant Verstandig's transformation into a digital health entrepreneur began with seven knee surgeries. As a freshman at Brown University in 2010, Verstandig was told he'd never run normally again after multiple operations for a chronic knee injury. He looked for a secure website where patients with similar injuries could share their experiences. Finding none to his satisfaction, Verstandig dropped out to start his own, Audax Health - never mind that, at 21, he'd never held a job in health care (Lee, 6/14).