Top 5 Posts from 2011

Libby Dowdall, Communications Coordinator, Project HealthDesign National Program Office

Join us as we look back at our most-read posts from 2011. We’re grateful for your interest and the many conversations these posts have sparked throughout the past year. We look forward to sharing more updates with you, and encourage you to tell us what you'd like to hear about in future posts.

1. BreathEasy Android Application and Web Dashboard Design
   “The BreathEasy Android application is designed to be an easy-to-use tool that allows study participants to enter observations of daily living (ODLs) such as peak flow readings, asthma triggers, stress and activity levels, sleep patterns, symptoms and medication use.”
   
   
2. PCAST Report Comment: Looking Toward Truly Patient-centered Health Data
   “Yet even as I affirm the overall spirit of the report, I find myself searching for a more explicit focus on the patient. I was hoping for a report addressing health information technology, but this report focuses more on health care information technology.”


3. When is a Mobile App a Mobile Medical App?
   “Today, medical conditions are significantly improved — and even prevented — by healthy behaviors, and providers might prescribe or at least recommend particular diet or exercise protocols as part of medical treatment. Many mobile health applications in development and in active use today fall in this gray area between medical and health/wellness.”
   
   
4. Patient Engagement: A Key Ingredient in Accountable Care Organizations
   “We think that knowing a patient’s observations of daily living (ODLs) could help ACOs meet quality improvement goals under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. We also believe that the program, with its focus on patient engagement and care coordination, could go a long way toward convincing health care providers to incorporate patient-defined, patient-generated health information into the clinical care setting.”
   
   
5. In the Wake of Google Health
   “Beyond support for clinical health information, we know people also want support for personal health information like observations of daily living. These types of personal information have little representation within current EHRs. Thus, a central challenge will be to provide systems that can integrate both clinical and personal health information in meaningful ways.”

What other posts from our blog or other sites are on your must-read list from 2011? Let us know in the comments.