The Food and Drug Administration plans to control online prescription drug advertisements. They plan to issue new standards for posting medical information about drugs on social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook.
Currently, there are no regulations in place that differentiate between online advertisements and hard copy advertisements.  The FDA hopes to put guidelines in [...]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” initiative this past Friday. The availability of Recovery Act Funds for this community prevention and wellness initiative will be a key to building a healthier nation.
The initiative includes helping communities improve nutrition, as well as motivate more [...]

The Health and Human Services Department and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are creating a program that will enable vendors to obtain certifications for their electronic health record (EHR) systems, so they can qualify for economic stimulus law incentives.
In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on March 2, the HHS described the two-phase certification [...]

Physicians, healthcare directors and chief technology officers were among those who according to ExecutiveBiz’s list of the top 10 government health IT leaders have made an impact in their field and will help form the future of health IT. Five of those who made the cut include:
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. David Blumenthal, [...]

After reports emerged of patient deaths and several dozens of injuries linked to malfunctions in the health IT (HIT) systems, the Food and Drug Administration is now considering regulating the new technology for the first time ever.
In a testimony prepared for a government hearing yesterday, Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and [...]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has re-launched the National Resource Directory Website, to improve the ease of use for the ill and wounded veterans who use the site.
“We worked closely with users of the National Resource Directory to find out how to make the information they need easier to find,” said Noel Koch, deputy under [...]

Health and Human Services Department Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius is aiming to improve Health IT drastically. So, How will the department go about improving Health IT initiatives? By pouring money into different grants. Last Friday, the Health and Human Services Department announced their plans to award at least $750 million in different grants to push electronic [...]

The federal government has launched a new partnership across government agencies and private industry to enable pregnant women and new mothers to receive free text messages that will help keep them and their babies in good health.
Texting BABY to 511411 on a moble phone (BEBE for the Spanish-language version), pregnant women can receive three free [...]

Today the federal Health Technology Policy Committee is meeting to discuss the recently proposed regulations on electronic health records by the Health and Human Services Department. The committee is in place to advise the Health and Human Services Department.
In particular, they are meeting to discuss whether or not hospitals and doctors need more guidance on [...]

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced today a total of nearly $1 billion in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) awards to advance the adoption and meaningful use of health IT.  The awards also include funds to train workers for the health care jobs of the future and are intended to [...]