develop tools news from FierceHealthIT

Evidence continues to mount that Microsoft's talk about taking on healthcare isn't just posturing. The latest item is the software giant's participation in a joint effort with the U.S. Department of Defense, under which the two will build a huge medical data warehouse for the military. Microsoft will help the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center develop tools to slice and dice data for more than 9.1 million patient health records.

What's intriguing about this deal …

Over the next 18 months, researchers will conduct a new, ambitious effort aimed at helping consumers use IT to manage their health. Participants in the Project HealthDesign initiative, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and California HealthCare Foundation, will develop tools intended to improve the PHR model. Unlike other PHR development efforts, which often create technical silos of their own, the grant teams are designing applications that can be built upon a common …

Lynard Skynard loved 'em. Neil Young and Randy Newman weren't so sure. But folks in Alabama are transforming their "sweet home" into something of a cutting-edge healthcare IT state. For a decade, the Tuscaloosa Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Alabama has used computerized medical records to try to curb medical errors. Other hospitals are trying to follow suit. Nationally, the VA is leading the way in terms of computerization of medical records and medicine distribution. The …