An employer health care coalition in Minnesota is offering state residents a personal health record that’s independent of any provider, payer or employer.

The PHRs, launched by the Buyers Health Care Action Group, uses the myHealthfolio technology from Minneapolis-based Avenet running on the Microsoft HealthVault platform. Controlled solely by the individual, the platform allows users to track their individual and family health histories, including care received and medications taken. They also will have access to wellness and fitness information, online services to help them manage and improve their health and information generated by home monitoring devices. The PHRs will be able to store patients’ health records from physicians, hospitals, health plans, pharmacies, labs or employers.

New Jersey lawmakers are considering a bill that would prohibit the use of health IT products that are not certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare IT, FierceEMR reports.

WASHINGTON – Health information technology regional extension centers should be designed with local needs in mind and focus on providing implementation and technical assistance to clinicians, according to a new survey released by the eHealth Initiative.

U.S. hospital spending on information technology will hit $4.7 billion this year and grow to $6.8 billion by 2014, according to a new report from HIMSS Analytics, Chicago. Spending will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.5%, the report says.

The Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration has released a how-to guide for state cooperation in health care privacy and security issues.