News
February 2, 2012
RWJF Celebrates 40 Years of Philanthropy
Together with all Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national programs, we recognize and celebrate the Foundation’s fortieth anniversary. For 40 years, RWJF has worked to improve health and health care, and has established a rich history of programs and areas of funding over the years.We’re pleased to have contributed to the Foundation's legacy.
January 19, 2012
AHRQ Webinar on the Evaluation of Personal Health Record Systems and Their Impact on Chronic Disease
AHRQ is offering a series of webinars about health IT and health information exchange environments. Register for the Jan. 25 webinar in this series to learn how health IT can impact the care of patients with chronic diseases.The event will be held at 12 p.m. CST (1 p.m. EST).
Speakers will include Peggy Wagner, Ph.D.(University of South Carolina), Carl Stepnowsky, Ph.D. (Veterans Medical Research Foundation), and Lygeia Ricciardi (Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT). Register now.
Speakers will include Peggy Wagner, Ph.D.(University of South Carolina), Carl Stepnowsky, Ph.D. (Veterans Medical Research Foundation), and Lygeia Ricciardi (Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT). Register now.
January 10, 2012
Op-Ed by Past Project HealthDesign PI Featured on KevinMD
A recent guest post on KevinMD.com features Roger Luckmann, M.D., M.P.H., family physician and principal investigator of a past Project HealthDesign team from the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His team's work with Project HealthDesign resulted in an electronic pain and activity diary, and this system served as the foundation for his current work on a mobile application for patients with chronic pain. The new application will soon be available in the Mac App Store.
Read more.
Read more.
January 4, 2012
Project HealthDesign Explores Benefits of mHealth for Patients with Chronic Diseases
A recent post on the Center for Health Market Innovations Blog, “Five tips for mHealth program designers,” focuses on promising mHealth innovations from both emerging and industrialized markets. The article notes the emergence of mHealth technologies for patients with chronic diseases, and forecasts future growth in this area. Project HealthDesign’s work with personal health applications that track observations of daily living (ODLs) is featured as an example of mHealth’s potential to benefit patients with chronic diseases. Read more.
December 9, 2011
Call for Papers on Bridging Clinical and Non-clinical Health Practices: Opportunities and Challenges
In preparation for the CHI 2012 conference, organizers invite you to submit a paper for the “Bridging Clinical and Non-clinical Health Practices: Opportunities and Challenges” workshop on Saturday, May 5. Researchers, designers, and health care practitioners interested in health care practices and human-computer interaction may submit position papers of no more than four pages in the ACM Extended Abstract format by Tuesday, Jan. 10. CHI 2012 will be held May 5-12 in Austin, Texas. Learn more.
November 14, 2011
American Medical News Article on Wireless Monitoring Devices Mentions Project HealthDesign Teams
A Nov. 14 article in American Medical News, “Market booming for wireless monitoring devices,” mentions the five current Project HealthDesign teams and their work with the devices. The article includes information about each team’s unique efforts to capture information about observations of daily living and incorporate the resulting data into clinical care conversations between patients and clinicians. Read more.
October 26, 2011
New Reports Detail Early Lessons from Working with Patient-Sourced Data
We recently released two new reports that highlight early lessons from working with patient-sourced ODL data. The "Project HealthDesign: Early Findings and Challenges" report explores themes and challenges that are common among our current teams. The draft report, "Project HealthDesign: Technical Architectures and Implementations," includes more detailed, technical information about each team’s technical architecture.
October 26, 2011
Project HealthDesign Director Receives Virginia K. Saba Nursing Informatics Leadership Award
Sigma Theta Tau International recently selected Project HealthDesign Director Patricia Flatley Brennan, Ph.D., R.N., as the Virgina K. Saba Nursing Informatics Leadership Award recipient for 2011. The award recognizes Dr. Brennan’s contributions to the field of nursing informatics research, as well as her international leadership role in the field. Brennan will receive the award on Oct. 30 at the society’s 41st Biennial Convention in Grapevine, Texas.
October 14, 2011
BreathEasy Principal Investigator Receives AMIA Leadership Award
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) recently selected BreathEasy Co-Principal Investigator Barbara Massoudi, M.P.H., Ph.D., as a prestigious Leadership Award recipient. The award is in honor of her success in advancing the association’s public health informatics activities. She will receive the award the AMIA Annual Symposium Leadership Dinner in Washington, D.C. Learn more about Massoudi's work with Project HealthDesign's BreathEasy team.
October 3, 2011
NIH Announces mHealth Grant Opportunities
Together, the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) recently announced three grant opportunities to stimulate research utilizing mobile health (mHealth) tools. The announcement encourages mHealth innovations that meet the needs of underserved populations in the areas of effective patient–provider communication, adherence to treatment and self-management of chronic diseases. Research project applications are due Oct. 5, small grant program and exploratory/developmental research grant award applications are due Oct. 16.
September 23, 2011
Project HealthDesign at Health 2.0 Conference
Whether you’re attending the Health 2.0 Conference in person or watching the backchannel from afar, be sure the join the conversation as Project HealthDesign attendees and other friends and grantees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer portfolio venture to the conference. We’re excited to see where the conversation leads as we send representatives from our current teams, national program office and National Advisory Committee. In preparation for the event, stop by Pioneering Ideas to leave your input on the challenges and benefits of self-tracking health data, and follow us on Twitter (@PrjHealthDesign) to share your thoughts with us during #health2con, which runs Sept. 25-27.
September 8, 2011
Apps Against Abuse Developer Challenge
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has issued a new Innovation Initiative (I2) developer challenge, which encourages developers and designers to create innovative applications to help young adults prevent violence and abuse. Entries should offer individuals a way to connect with trusted friends in real-time to prevent abuse or violence from occurring. The challenge closes Oct. 17, 2011. Learn more about the Apps Against Abuse Challenge.
August 23, 2011
Deputy Director Shares Project HealthDesign Vision with Local and International Audiences
Gail Casper, Ph.D., R.N., Project HealthDesign deputy director, recently spoke to elders at Oakwood Village West in Madison, Wis. about her work with Project HealthDesign and patient-facing technologies. Much like her recent engagement as an eHealth keynote speaker at the CeBIT Conference in Sydney, Australia, this outreach opportunity allowed her to share her vision for the future of health and health care, as well as the vision behind Project HealthDesign’s current studies. Learn more about Dr. Casper.
July 22, 2011
Teams Share Insights on Personal Health Application Development on a Shared Platform
Co-authored by past teams Assisting Older Adults with Transitions of Care (at the University of Colorado at Denver) and the My-Medi-Health (at Vanderbilt University Medical Center), a paper in the Journal of Medical Internet Research provides a case report for developing two complementary personal health applications on a shared personal health record (PHR) platform. The insights and recommendations the teams share in this paper provide many take-aways for the successful development of personal health applications. Read the paper.
July 7, 2011
Denver Team Publishes New JMIR Paper About Using Personal Health Applications with Elders
Stephen Ross, M.D. and Katie Siek, Ph.D., principal investigators of Assisting Older Adults with Transitions of Care, recently published "Older Adults with Multi-Morbidity: Medication Management Processes and Design Implications for Personal Health Applications" in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Read the paper to find out how elders responded to this new type of technology.
Read the paper to find out how elders responded to this new type of technology.
June 2, 2011
Complete Guide to Self-Tracking Health Information
Are you interested in using personal health technology tools to collect data about your health and help inform you as you make health-related decisions? If so, then the Complete Guide to Self-Tracking, a new resource from the Quantified Self community, will help you discover devices and technologies to help you get started. Learn more.
May 9, 2011
SMART Health App Challenge
Are you a developer or designer? Then put your skills to work to improve health! Participate in the SMART Health App $5K Challenge by building an HTML5 web application that aids patients, providers or researchers and that uses patient-level data delivered through the SMART API. Entries due May 31.
April 25, 2011
SMART Health App Challenge and DiabetesMine Design Challenge
Are you a developer or designer? If so, then put your skills to work to improve health! First, participate in the SMART Health App $5K Challenge by building an HTML5 web application that aids patients, providers or researchers and uses patient-level data delivered through the SMART API. Entries are due May 31. Then enter the DiabetesMine™ $7K Design Challenge by creating a new diabetes device or web application that improves life for patients with diabetes. Entries are due April 29.
February 28, 2011
Project HealthDesign comments on Stage 2 meaningful use criteria
Project HealthDesign recently submitted public comments to the Health IT Policy Committee (HITPC) on the proposed Stage 2 meaningful use criteria. The comments encouraged HITPC to consider how patients might become beneficiaries of the meaningful use of HIT in Stages 2 and 3. Comments on several specific criteria urged the committee to consider Project HealthDesign project teams’ findings as they become available throughout 2011. Read more.
January 31, 2011
Urging policymakers to keep the patient in focus
Project HealthDesign Director Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D., recently submitted a public comment to PCAST on its December 8 report, “Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward.” The report proposes a technical exchange structure to guide future meaningful use requirements as the federal EHR incentive programs, which are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, progress. Read Dr. Brennan’s comment.
December 10, 2010
Seeking to impact future policies on PHR privacy and security
We are delighted to have had the opportunity to influence future policies regarding personal health record (PHR) privacy and security by submitting comments to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology following their recent PHR Roundtable.
Three of our project teams submitted comments related to consumer expectations about the collection and use of health information; these comments reflect real expectations and concerns held by patients participating in their projects. Sujansky & Associates, technical partners to Project HealthDesign, submitted recommendations based on Project HealthDesign patient expectations concerning the privacy and security of PHRs. And finally, the national program office (NPO) shared thoughts on the types of data being included in and rapid evolution of PHRs. Read our comments.
September 27, 2010
LaFollette Policy Report: Project HealthDesign Reports on Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Records – Beyond Simple Access.
Project HealthDesign's National Program Director Patricia Flatley Brennan and Industrial and Systems Engineering student Edmond Ramly reported on the progress and importance of integrating meaningful use with electronic health records in the fall issue of the LaFollette Policy Report. Brennan and Ramly explain this integration as a way to allow the patient access to all facets of his/her medical record in order to integrate clinical observations of daily living made by the patient and family caregivers into the medical record. This idea creates a personal health record that allows many more services than just simple access to information. It creates a meaningful flow of information that can be utilized by patients and doctors to improve treatments and health for the patient. Project HealthDesign’s goals support the advancement of meaningful ideas in information technology implemented by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act....Learn More
August 23, 2010
Susannah Fox Takes the "Power of Mobile" into the Future and Project HealthDesign is there
In her article, "The Power of Mobile," Susannah Fox, Associate Director, Digital Strategy declares an end to the online health care revolution and argues that "It's time to change our frame of reference." It's time, she says, to start creating a new civilization based on the foundations that mobile technology is creating. And in her article Project HealthDesign represents a pioneer to that new frontier of HIT. To illustrate, she writes about the way Project HealthDesign created a tool for tracking the moods of chronically ill teens as a way to help those same teens take a more responsible role in maintaining their health. In Rochester, Minn., at Transform 2010 - Thinking Differently About Health Care, a symposium on health care advances in delivery and experience sponsored by the Mayo Clinic for Innovation, Fox also gave of presentation on the same subject. She spoke about the evolution of mobile information technology and its progress into the future. Learn More.
August 18, 2010
Nikolai Kirienko Illustrates the Importance of Project Health Design for the Wall Street Journal
Crystallizing the significant visions of Project HealthDesign takes the insight from individuals living on two sides of a coin: the researcher and the patient. And Nikolai Kirienko stands in the unique position as a representative of both sides. Kirienko's personal and professional dedication to Project HealthDesign's important work were presented in the Wall Street Journal on August 18. The article recounts the story of Kirienko, a University of California-Berkeley Undergraduate, who suffers from Crohn's disease and who also works with researchers on Project HealthDesign. Their team endeavors to create a smartphone that tracks the complex fluctuations of Crohn's disease symptoms on a daily basis. And what he shares with the Wall Street Journal epitomizes the significance of Project HealthDesign's work in HIT. Learn More.
August 11, 2010
2010 Health 2.0 Developer Challenge
RWJF Pioneer Portfolio and California HealthCare Foundation are seeking innovative designers to forge ahead with the Project HealthDesign 2006-2008 projects. Using the Project HealthDesign visual stories the 2010 Health 2.0 Developer Challenge is asking developers to build apps for the web, smart phones or tablets that demonstrate the features envisioned by 2006-2008 team designers. The challenge mandates that the apps must be compatible with commercially available PHR services capable of storing data securely. Entries will be judged on design quality and their degree and robustness of functionality. Learn more
April 20, 2010
Project HealthDesign Director Provides Testimony to Meaningful Use Workgroup
Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, FAAN, director of Project HealthDesign provided testimony at a public hearing hosted by the Office of the National Coordinator’s Meaningful Use Workgroup on consumer engagement in health care. She explained that achieving a paradigm shift to a more patient-centered health care system requires that patient-generated data – called observations of daily living (ODLs) – be captured, interpreted and incorporated into clinical care. Read Dr. Brennan's Testimony
April 14, 2010
Survey Finds Personal Health Records Motivate Consumers to Improve their Health
According to a study released by the California HealthCare Foundation Americans who have access to their health information through personal health records (PHRs) report that they know more about their health, ask more questions, and take better care of themselves than when their health information was less accessible to them in paper records...Read the Report
April 5, 2010
Project HealthDesign Workshop 2 Video Available
In March, Project HealthDesign grantees and members from the core resource teams came together in Nashville at the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health to participate in our second design workshop. All of the video and documents from this workshop are online and available for viewing. In addition to group activities, guests Dr. Kevin Johnson presented on ODLs in clinical practice and Dr. David Ahern presented on evaluation strategy. Workshop Webjournal
March 5, 2010
Manatt and CDT to Provide Regulatory and Assurance Support to Project HealthDesign
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a law firm specializing in health information technology and privacy, and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the country’s foremost consumer expert on health information privacy policy, are partnering to serve as regulatory and assurance advisors to Project HealthDesign.
Together, Manatt and CDT will provide the Project HealthDesign grantees with legal and policy advice to support their provision of personal health records, including the integration of patient-generated observations of daily living. They will also contribute to the more global aim of monitoring and influencing public policy that will support continued innovation in the creation of PHRs and other health IT tools designed to place patients in greater control of their health care.
Together, Manatt and CDT will provide the Project HealthDesign grantees with legal and policy advice to support their provision of personal health records, including the integration of patient-generated observations of daily living. They will also contribute to the more global aim of monitoring and influencing public policy that will support continued innovation in the creation of PHRs and other health IT tools designed to place patients in greater control of their health care.
March 5, 2010
Project HealthDesign Director Featured in iHealthBeat HIMSS Preview
As a preview to the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference Patricia Flatley Brennan, Director of Project HealthDesign, was featured in an audio story from iHealthBeat. Her comments focus on moving away from thinking of personal health records as repositories of data and instead seeing them as platform for action, containing the kind of information patients notice and understand...Listen to the Audio Report
March 3, 2010
Project HealthDesign Announces 2010 Projects
We are excited to announce the five grantee teams that are working to demonstrate how to improve the health and well-being of people with chronic disease by helping them capture, understand, interpret and act on information gathered from their observations of daily living (ODLs).
- Carnegie Mellon University
- RTI International and Virginia Commonwealth University
- San Francisco State University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Irvine and Charles Drew University
January 19, 2010
RWJF Feature: The Power and Potential of Personal Health Records
This web feature from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation highlights Project HealthDesign and traces the history and development of PHRs, discussing their role within the larger health IT arena. It also highlights a shift in emphasis from data captured in clinical encounters to the strong potential of patient-generated observations of daily living (ODLs)...Read the Feature
November 19, 2009
Project HealthDesign Director Receives Leadership Award
The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) selected Project HealthDesign National Program Director Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD, FAAN, FACMI, to receive a prestigious 2009 Leadership Award for her work with Project HealthDesign, creating a new vision for personal health records. Leadership Awards are given by the AMIA for outstanding volunteer leadership and service to the association or in the field of medical informatics. The award was presented to Dr. Brennan at the AMIA Annual Symposium Leadership Dinner on Nov.14 in San Francisco, California.
November 5, 2009
Informational Bidders' Call
An informational Bidders' Call will be held on Monday, November 9, at 10:00 AM Central time. To participate, please contact Project HealthDesign at (877) 674-3170 before 4:00 PM Central time on Friday, November 6.
October 30, 2009
Project HealthDesign Seeks Regulatory and Assurance Consulting Proposals
Project HealthDesign is seeking proposals for Regulatory and Assurance Consulting. For information about responding to RFQP #10-5215 please contact Carl Hubbard (608) 262-6557 /FAX (608) 262-4467; EMAIL: chubbard@bussvc.wisc.edu at University of Wisconsin-Madison Purchasing Services. Responses to the RFPQ are due on November 16, 2009.
August 11, 2009
2009 Public Media Award for Project HealthDesign
Project HealthDesign was selected to receive a 2009 Public Media Award from the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (STT). The award recognizes “Grantee Videos,” for capturing the vision of nine grantee projects through vignettes that illustrate the potential of personal health applications to help individuals and families better manage their health. The award will be presented at STT’s Fortieth Biennial Convention Tribute Luncheon, November 1. To learn more about Sigma Theta Tau awards, see Awards. You can view the grantees visual stories on our YouTube channel.
July 1, 2009
Living Environments Laboratory Chosen for Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
Project HealthDesign National Program Director Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D., is among five University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty whose research proposals will establish the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID). Dr. Brennan’s proposal for the Health Technology Design in the Living Environments Laboratory is aimed at accelerating the development of personal care diagnostic and therapeutic technology with the goal of supporting individuals and families in the detection, recognition and management of health problems.
“The Living Environments Laboratory research will help expand Project HealthDesign’s work,” according to Dr. Brennan, “by developing new devices and creative technologies to better understand health in everyday living. “This is a perfect complement to Project HealthDesign, which seeks to demonstrate how to improve the health and wellbeing of people with chronic disease by helping them capture, understand, interpret and act on information about the patterns of their everyday lives.”...Read More
June 30, 2009
National Advisory Committee Selected To Help Advise Second Round of Project HealthDesign
Project HealthDesign is pleased to announce new additions to its national advisory committee (NAC), comprising leaders in academia, technology, clinical practice and health and health care. Selected for a three-year term of service, the committee members include such industry luminaries as healthcare IT innovators Dr. John Halamka of the Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Dr. Paul Tang of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. The NAC members were chosen based on leadership in their respective fields, as well as their commitment to the goals of the program. As a part of their responsibilities, members will review submissions received in response to the program’s recent call for proposals, make recommendations on awards selections and provide RWJF with advice on overall program strategy. Full NAC list
June 17, 2009
Project HealthDesign Releases Findings and Resources from Initial Phase
The work products and final report from the initial phase of Project HealthDesign are currently available for download. The report captures key learnings from the work of the program’s first nine grantee teams, as well as from its efforts to develop a common platform and explore the ethical, legal and social issues tied to next-generation personal health records (PHRs). We are pleased to also release all of the open, sharable source code and other technical code documentation produced by the grantee teams in developing their PHR application prototypes. View Resources
Project HealthDesign is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio