The Markel Foundation released online personal health record privacy guidelines that Google and Microsoft have agreed to follow.

MedPAC released new recommendations for medicare payments, the safety and liability of mystery shoppers in healthcare is being debated, and online medical records-keeping systems are being discussed.

Twelve communities have been selected to take part in a new national Medicare demonstration project using EHR incentives.  The five-year project is the first of its kind. The community areas that were selected are Alabama, Delaware, Jacksonville, FL (multi-county), Georgia, Maine, Louisiana, Maryland/Washington, DC, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, PA (multi-county), South Dakota (multi-state), Virginia, and Madison, WI (multi-county).

Kaiser Permanente announced that it is partnering with Microsoft's HealthVault personal health records platform to offer its members a way to manage their own health data.  A Kaiser employee pilot is planned before a full rollout of the service at a later date.

Search giant Google publicly released its Google Health service.  The offering allows consumers to manage some health records online.  The product has been anticipated for several years.

TheHill.com has posted an interview with Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary.  Leavitt talks about several topics, including a new Medicare demonstration project involving small physician practices, the implementation and spread of electronic health records, and the benefits of increasing interoperability standards.