Fort Wayne, Ind. - March 28, 2012 - As consumer engagement becomes increasingly important in healthcare, NoMoreClipboard.com today announced an agreement with Healthx, Inc. to provide best-in-class personal health records (PHRs) to health plans and employers.

The addition of the NoMoreClipboard PHR will add value to Healthx self-service communication and data integration portals that serve more than 130 payer organizations and 39,000 groups. "More than 12 million individuals use our applications to enroll in health plans, manage benefits and improve their health and wellness," said Mitch Hansen, Healthx Executive Vice President. "Adding the NoMoreClipboard PHR to our cloud-based offering enables our health plan and employer clients to provide a valuable tool to their covered populations - helping them organize, manage and share their family health information."

"Healthx has carved out a powerful position with medium-sized health plans, health system payer organizations and self-funded employers," said Jeff Donnell, President of NoMoreClipboard. "The NoMoreClipboard PHR is a great complement to Healthx self-service portals, and Healthx shares our vision of giving consumers access to health information in order to improve communication and coordination of care while reducing unnecessary healthcare cost. We have integrated our PHR into the Healthx application suite, creating a seamless, single sign-on consumer experience."

About Healthx, Inc.

Healthx was formed in 1998 and has rapidly grown to be the healthcare industry’s leading developer of self-service communication and data integration portals serving more than 130 payers and 39,000 groups, representing over 12 million individual lives. Healthx develops and manages the most widely adopted online portals and applications for the healthcare market. Healthx provides SaaS solutions for payers, providers, employers and brokers. Healthx is privately held and headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Healthx is SAS 70 audited and HIPAA compliant. All Healthx clients are supported on a cloud-based platform that is housed at a SAS 70 certified data center in Indianapolis. For more information, visit www.healthx.com.

by Kate Ackerman, iHealthBeat Managing Editor

2011 was a big year for health IT. Farzad Mostashari took over as the country's fourth national coordinator for health IT. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT launched pilot projects in which health care providers and public health agencies began exchanging health information using specifications developed by the Direct Project, an "open government" initiative. The first graduates of federally funded health IT training programs hit the job market. CMS issued proposed rules designed to improve consumer access to laboratory testing results. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gave health care providers who met Stage 1 meaningful use requirements in 2011 an additional year to comply with Stage 2 criteria. More than 100,000 primary care providers -- more than one-third of primary care providers nationwide -- signed up with the 62 federally designated regional extension centers to move forward with electronic health record adoption. Medicare and Medicaid each distributed nearly $1 billion in incentive payments during the first year of the EHR system doubled from 17% in 2008 to 34% in 2011.

However, much of the U.S. health care system still exists in a paper-based world. The majority of health care providers have not yet made the leap to EHRs, citing cost, workflow and privacy as major barriers. Some health care stakeholders have raised concern that the meaningful use incentive program requirements might be unachievable for many health care providers, while others argue that the criteria do not go far enough in promoting patient-centered care.

2012 is sure to be a crucial year in the country's shift toward health IT. We asked a variety of stakeholders -- including providers, vendors, patient advocates and government officials -- to weigh in on health IT progress, disappointments and hopes for 2012.

We asked each health IT expert to answer three questions about the most significant health IT development in 2011, the biggest disappointment in the past year and how the remaining barriers to widespread health IT adoption should be addressed in 2012.

Read the full story here.