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ONC has a real understanding of the importance of consumer engagement, the head of the ONC's Office of Consumer eHealth, says. When ONC was originally created and even when HITECH passed, there was a lot of emphasis on providers and hospitals. But it's only in more recent years that it's become more generally understood that patients and consumers play a critical role, too.

Lygeia Ricciardi, Office of Consumer e-Health director, on public understanding of personal health information, healthcare consumer empowerment, and her experience with mobile maternity health.

The national coordinator, speaking at HIMSS ICD-10 Forum, said that because "there's a lot of money to be made in helping doctors get ready" for the new code sets, expressed faith that the free market will offer solutions and services to make the transition easier.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, the national coordinator for healthcare IT, asserted today there would be no extension of the deadline for switching from the ICD-9 medical coding system to ICD-10. The deadline for conversion would remain Oct. 1, 2014, Mostashari said in a keynote delivered this morning at the HIMSS Media ICD-10 Forum in National Harbor, Md.

There's a commonly held perception that healthcare is a process in which doctors take care of patients. But increasingly healthcare stakeholders are figuring out that, at times, a more effective way to help patients get healthy is to show them how to take care of themselves.

Atul Gawande, MD, professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and staff writer at The New Yorker, offered a reflective presentation earlier this month at Health Datapalooza IV, taking the audience back through what the healthcare system used to look like, and showing and how data innovations have helped set the stage for big transformations.

At the Government Health IT Conference and Exhibition in Washington this week, chief information officers from the Military Health System and the U.S. Navy offered candid discussion about the way they make their IT decisions -- most notably with regard to the EHR system DoD is looking to acquire.

Facing ongoing and intense public scrutiny about its joint iEHR with the VA, more recent decisions to evaluate commercial options, and perceived absence from similar projects, such as Healtheway, OSEHRA and VLER, the top tech officials discuss challenges of balancing legacy systems with modernization.

In saying that she will step down soon, Regina Benjamin, MD says the movement away from a healthcare system concentrating on treating disease and sickness has begun.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, has announced plans to step down in July, after four years as the nation's top voice for public health.