Open Mobile Health Exchange

Getting information about specific patients' current situation is one of the biggest problems in clinical decision support. Perhaps what's needed is a simple short messaging protocol that allows Twitter-like text strings to be both machine- and human-readable. I wish I thought of it, but the good folks at microsyntax.org get the kudos.

OMHE (Open Mobile Health Exchange), pronounced "ooommm," is an open-source microsyntax for text messaging (mobile SMS), Twitter®, medical devices, and other "short text capable" systems.

OMHE has a short list of standard messages and commands like

wt=182

to transmit a current weight or

getphr

to request a copy of your personal health record. The target audience includes cell phone users entering personal info on the go, distributed data collection devices like blood glucose monitors and pedometers, and patient services like personal health records or disease management nurses. I think this idea may have real utility in a variety of settings, and being open-source is a big plus.

More can be found at http://code.google.com/p/omhe/