Vanguard Health Systems is the newest member of the Dossia Consortium, a non-profit organization comprised of nine other U.S. employers that give employees access to their health data through personal health records (PHRs). The Dossia Founders now include Applied Materials, AT&T, BP America, Cardinal Health, Intel, Pitney Bowes, Abraxis BioScience, sanofi-aventis U.S., Wal-Mart and Vanguard.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final rule requiring certain Web-based personal health record (PHR) vendors to notify consumers when the security of their electronic health information has been breached.

New regulations requiring healthcare providers, health plans and other HIPAA-covered entities to notify an individual when their health information is breached were issued Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The growth of genomic and proteomic data has ushered in a new era of molecular medicine in which cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment are tailored to each individual's molecular profile, according to researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. This personalized medicine approach requires researchers to discover and link biomarkers, such as genes or proteins, to specific disease behaviors, such as the rate of tumor progression and different responses to treatments.

Healthcare IT research firm KLAS has released its annual clinical market share report, which details the wins and losses of acute-care EMR vendors at large hospitals with more than 200 beds. The report found that in 2008, EMR vendors sold the fewest number of new contracts in the United States and Canada in the last seven years.

The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is hosting a summit to provide new information and industry experts perspectives on current and emerging issues affecting the legal EHR, evidentiary support and records management in Chicago this week.

After playing a major role in elevating health IT into a leadership issue in the United States, the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) will cease operation on Sept. 30.

Mike Moore has joined healthcare software developer peerVue as senior vice president and chief operating officer (COO).