October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Every October we turn to pink. It has become the universal color for breast cancer awareness. The Department of HHS says that “despite significant advances in treatment and prevention, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States.” It still remains the best change of successful treatment for the cancer is highest with early detection. So how is health IT helping the cause? Here are some ways.
Carrie Handley talks about here treatment and discovering health IT in Using Health Information Technology during the Treatment Journey: One Patient’s Story on the Livestrong Blog. With a binder full of medical information she took to her computer and now to her iPad and has not looked back.
Kaiser Permanente has become a national leader in breast cancer screening, demonstrating the improved quality of care that results from coordinated health teams and electronic information sharing. Information technology is helping caregivers coordinate activities throughout the organization. Read about the Breast Cancer Screening Outreach Program Uses Coordinated Teams and Health Information Technology on AccountableCareFacts.org in their case studies. And speaking of Kaiser, Health Affairs published a paper on Kaiser’s experience with health IT in cancer care. “Health IT holds the potential to accelerate learning in cancer care by comprehensively capturing rich patient data and supporting optimally standardized care.” Read more in Reshaping Cancer Learning Through The Use Of Health Information Technology.
GE Healthcare has been a recognized pioneer in the battle against cancer for over fifty years and last year announced a healthymagination commitment to help 10 million patients around the world by 2020. The investment commitment, $1bn over the next five years, is dedicated to R&D and delivery of better care for patients through expansion of its world-class technologies as well as advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities. The DailyFinance reports on their Global Pink Ribbons initiative in GE Healthcare Mobilizes ‘GE Global Pink Ribbons’ to Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
EmpowHER is an award-winning social health company for women. EmpowHER.com provides visitors access to one of the largest women’s health and wellness content libraries on the web, as well as the largest online community of women discussing their health and wellness issues. They report on first-of-its-kind study, Health of Women Study (HOW) in End Breast Cancer Using Your Computer or Mobile Device. This is an opportunity to participate in a long-term research study on breast cancer and its potential causes.
Do your part for Breast Cancer Awareness, pass it on.