During last week's Games for Health 2012 conference in Boston, an official from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT said that health gaming is "on the radar of the federal government," Healthcare IT News reports.
Erin Poetter of ONC's Department of Consumer e-Health/Innovations said that health gaming is an ideal tool to help boost patient engagement. She said health games have a "miraculous ability to take complex data and make it actionable and meaningful."
Poetter said that getting patients more engaged in their health can make "a real difference." She added, "More active patients achieve better results."
Poetter said health gaming can help patients by:
- Improving self-efficacy through goal-sharing and knowledge;
- Facilitating their communications and interactions with health care providers;
- Enabling visualizations of change and progress; and
- Motivating them to overcome challenges.
According to Poetter, ONC is looking for opportunities to help advance health gaming (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 6/14).