HealthAware: An Integrated Health and Health Care Information Network

Sandra Kogan, BS1, Lucila Ohno-Machado, MD, PhD1, Aziz Boxwala, MBBS, PhD1,
Jeanne Guillemin, PhD2, Jeannie Tam, BA1, Kathleen Keefe, BA1, Thomas
DiCesare, BA1, Jonathan Schaffer, MD1, Robert A. Greenes, MD, PhD1
Decision Systems Group, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
Department of Sociology, Boston College, Boston MA

HealthAware(TM) is an online, integrated resource for consumers which provides up-to-date information about health, wellness, and health care with linkage to a health care delivery network for problems that require further attention. Unlike other consumer health sites, this is a proactive resource for consumers linking together an interactive risk assessment tool, recommendations and referral.

To implement these features, a component-based strategy was used in which a core set of tools has been implemented, and which provides flexibility and expandability, in terms of ease of adding future features. Editing tools are used to author and update content in module-specific database files. A distributed authoring/editing approach is used that facilitates editorial review and approval analogous to traditional publishing; upon editor approval, content is published in Web-accessible format. Dynamic page generation from the databases enables content to be managed without the need for a Webmaster, and ensures a consistent look and feel for presented pages.

An evaluation project is underway using the Boston College campus as a testbed community, and linkage to Partners HealthCare System as the health care delivery network. Initial focus areas for the test bed include 55 topics in the following areas: breast disease, cardiovascular disease, sports injuries, substance abuse, pregnancy and prenatal care.