Quoted: Officials from Google Health, Dossia, WebMD and Microsoft discussed ways to engage both physicians and consumers during the Center for Connected Health symposium Monday in Boston.

Grad Conn, senior director for Microsoft Health Solutions. says technology has already made the information more secure by converting the data to digital form from paper.

Craig Froude, executive vice president for WebMD Health Services, said personal health records on his company's platform are accessed through either WebMD's secure Web site or a participating health plan's site - all of which meet HIPAA rules for privacy and security.

Jerry Lin, product manager for Google Health, suggested that engaging physicians is a "nut not cracked yet."

Concerns still exist, but unique patient identifier may be an idea whose time has come, according to a Rand Corp. study released online today.

Quoted: It turns out that the compromise fashioned to adhere to the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] mandating the creation of a system to accurately identify patients has resulted in a system in which privacy is at risk, while not doing enough to prevent errors.

Quoted: "Twelve months ago, the most important things on American voters' minds were the war and health care. Two days ago, the most important thing on American voters' minds is the economy. Health care and the war have taken a backseat."

With an aging population, behavior-related chronic conditions, and expensive innovations, companies must help people address their specific personal health concerns with thorough, transparent and specific information... Effective health engagement can build trust, and conversely, trust is the key to deeper engagement.

Quoted: The CDC's 2006 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of 3,350 office-based physicians found 12.4 percent of physicians use comprehensive EMR systems in 2006, not significantly up from 9.3 percent in 2005.

Quoted: Starting next month, many enrollees in the insurer's plans will be able to move information from their Aetna "personal health record" -- an online repository of data that includes claims, diagnoses, test results and prescriptions -- to HealthVault.

Quoted: MyPACS.net creator Rex Jakobovits said success in health 2.0 is all about building critical mass. “One that’s there, it’s self-perpetuating.”

Quoted: American Medical News - System design and user error can contribute to vulnerabilities that increase your liability.