Dr. John Halamka joins me for this week’s podcast. He’s a renaissance guy: a physician, a CIO, and a healthcare IT innovator whose work I mentioned in a pair of InfoWorld columns. Lots of people are talking about secure exchange of medical records and portable continuity of care documents. John Halamka is on the front lines actually making these visions real. Among other activities he chairs the New England Health Electronic Data Interchange Network (NEHEN), which began exchanging financial and insurance data almost a decade ago and is now handling clinical data as well in the form of e-prescriptions. The technical, legal, and operational issues are daunting, but you’ll enjoy his pragmatic style and infectious enthusiasm.

We also discuss the national initiative to create a standard for continuity of care documents that will provide two key benefits. First, continuity both within and across regions. Second, data on medical outcomes that can be used by patients to choose providers, and by providers to study the effectiveness of procedures and medicines.

Websites mentioned in this podcast include:

Oh, and there’s a new feed address for this series: feeds.feedburner.com/JonUdellFridayPodcasts.