MIE demonstrates how its Minimally Invasive^TM WebChart EHR portfolio shares medical information with Microsoft HealthVault at the HIMSS08 Annual Conference in Orlando

"By integrating our electronic health record products with HealthVault, we enable consumers to share health information with their physicians and other care providers via the Web," explains MIE Executive Vice President Peter Norder. "As consumers use Internet platforms like HealthVault to manage healthcare for themselves and their families, they are expecting their doctors to do the same."

WebChart products implemented in physician offices will import information from HealthVault, incorporating patient-supplied data into the practice electronic medical record. Physicians can also send encounter information from WebChart back to the patient’s HealthVault account. This electronic exchange of data will improve the coordination of care, reduce healthcare costs, and will reduce duplication of services and medical errors.

"Today’s healthcare system is an extremely fragmented market, and needs solutions that accelerate connections between consumers, physicians, and the information they need to make smart health decisions," said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft Corp. "Building on HealthVault , WebChart has the potential to improve patient-provider interactions and, as a result, enable better treatment outcomes."

HealthVault is a free Web-based platform designed to put people in control of their health data. It helps them collect, store and share health information with family members and participating healthcare providers, and it provides people with a choice of third-party applications and devices to help them manage things such as fitness, diet and health. HealthVault also provides a privacy- and security-enhanced foundation on which a broad ecosystem of providers - from medical providers and health and wellness device manufactures to health associations - can build innovative new health and wellness management solutions to help put people in control of their and their family’s health.

Currently, EHR penetration in physician practices hovers at the 20 percent mark nationally. "As HealthVault and other consumer platforms help to drive physician adoption of electronic medical record systems like WebChart, physicians will in turn choose systems that are flexible enough to match their budgets and importantly, their established workflows," adds Norder. "Our Web-based systems are minimally invasive, fully interoperable, affordable and configured specifically for the needs of each practice and each clinician."