ONC’s Office of Consumer eHealth Releases “Health IT For You” Video

Yesterday the ONC released a new, animated video to help explain how widespread EHR adoption and other health IT initiatives are upgrading our healthcare system.  “Health IT for You” gives consumers the opportunity to learn more about the benefits of health IT and other e-health tools and applications. The video also addresses the value of having secure, electronic access to health information to ensure coordinated care between patients and their doctors. Help spread the word on Twitter using #HealthIT4U.

This latest video is one in a series released by the ONC’s Office of Consumer eHealth. The mission of this newly created office is to convey the benefits of health IT and e-health tools to encourage patients to ask for electronic access to their health records and to use health IT technology to better manage their own health or that of a loved one. The Office of Consumer eHealth continues the consumer engagement work begun through the Office of Policy and Planning. ONC Farzad Mostashari summed up its creation as “demonstrating the ONC’s strong commitment to enabling patient and family engagement in health care.”

[Related Article: ONC Announces Blue Button Mash-up Challenge]

The goal of this new video is to spark conversations between patients and their providers about how they can leverage technology to improve care and increase awareness about HealthIT.gov. HealthIT.gov is a terrific resource for patients, their  families and providers to learn more about health IT.

If you’re unable to view the video in your web browser view it here.

In addition to their series of videos, the ONC  is also sponsoring a number of  Health IT video contests to engage the public in creating short videos sharing personal stories on using technology to improve their health. ONC recently announced the What’s In Your Health Record?. The challenge is looking for personal experiences from consumers on obtaining personal health records.

Learn more at HealthIT.gov.