The search for a new National Coordinator for Health Information has not unearthed a viable replacement as yet. The former coordinator, David Brailer, resigned last April.

President Bush and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt are leading the search, and timing seems to be an issue. Potential candidates for the position may not want to relocate to Washington for a presidential appointment that may end at the close of the current term.

Additionally, some think that the search may be hampered by qualified candidates being immersed in their own health IT projects.

However, there are pressing issues that require a national health IT coordinator, including communicating a vision that fosters public trust in health IT, coordinating efforts among federal agencies to adopt health IT and managing contracts awarded by HHS for health IT prototypes. Based on those issues, most insiders feel optimistic that the search will continue in earnest and ultimately produce a qualified replacement.

Two more electronic health record (EHR) software products have been certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).

iMedica Patient Relationship Manager 2005 Version 5.1 from iMedica and Praxis Electronic Medical Records Version 3.4 from INFOR-MED have met the commission's criteria for functionality, interoperability and information security.

CCHIT has now completed its first round of certifications of EHR products for use in providers' offices, referred to as 'ambulatory' EHR products. A new round of certifications for ambulatory products is set to begin and CCHIT will accept vendor applications August 1 through August 14.

Industry associations formed CCHIT, which is supported by a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, to make buying EHR software easier and less risky.

As part of the standard preparations for hurricane season, private information technology companies are recommending a dose of their electronic health records systems.

A lesson was learned from Hurricane Katrina where the destruction of medical records for an estimated 1 million Gulf Coast residents is still causing problems for consumers.

Seeking to snare a share of the Florida consumer market, one California company, MyMedicalRecords.com, is offering its electronic medical records service to Florida residents free during hurricane season. A subscription fee will apply after November 30 when hurricane season ends.

Privacy issues are, as always, a concern as are issues relative to the actual accessing of the information during a true emergency.

More and more medical schools are using technology, and the Internet, as teaching tools-and medical students are welcoming an infusion of technology into their educational experience. Most medical students today carry laptops and PDAs in addition to notebooks and stethoscopes.

Drexel University College of Medicine, in Philadelphia, has recently put all lectures for first- and second-year students online, and nearly 75 lectures for third- and fourth-year students. Drexel has also developed a series of Web-based innovations, inclucing Doc.com, a joint production with the American Academy on Physician and Patient, a society that works to help doctors and patients communicate better.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has digitized all of its lectures and put the information online. The lectures are indexed to the minute so students can quickly find any particular part of a lecture they want to review.

Despite fears of students opting not to attend the actual lectures, instructors say the overwhelming majority of students continue to attend lectures even though the content is also available online.