News Clips

VA, Stanford Test 'Point-of-Care' Diabetes Research

Editors | CMIO | May 9, 2011

A team from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Stanford University is exploring a new approach to clinical trials that may be easier to translate into practice. An online article in the journal Clinical Trials describes a “point-of-care” study now under way that will involve more than 3,000 veterans with diabetes. Read More »

Marketing Makes Medicines Worse?

Jim Murray | Open Medicine EU | May 8, 2011

Medicines are sometimes withdrawn from the market or heavily restricted in their use, when the risks are judged to outweigh the potential benefits. Is this just a case of bad luck or an unavoidable risk when it happens, or is it something more?

According to a fascinating article in the American Journal of Public Health (Am J Public Health. Read More »

The Case for Developer Driven Open Source Governance

Tomas Nystrom | ComputerWorld UK | May 6, 2011

This conflict—managing controls in an open environment—is where mere paper policy fails. Implementing proper governance requires one to take the “people” perspective to be the most effective: How can we help the developers to do their work more efficiently? What are their suggestions? And, how can we help them “not” make their work more bureaucratic and cumbersome? Read More »

VA Unveils MVP -- Million Veteran Program

Editors | Government Health IT | May 6, 2011

The Department of Veterans Affairs went national May 5 with a genomics research program that officials call a “game-changer." The initiative, which relies heavily on databases, is underpinned by the use of healthcare information technology.

Read More »

VA Putting “Point-of-Care Research” to the Test

Press Release | Department of Veterans Affairs | May 6, 2011

A team from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Stanford University is exploring a new approach to clinical trials that experts say will cost less and be easier to translate into practice.

Read More »

VA and Defense Eye DISA Data Centers for Joint Health Record

Joseph Marks and Bob Brewin | NextGov | May 6, 2011

The Veterans Affairs Department plans to use data centers operated by the Defense Information Systems Agency to store its electronic health records as part of a project to develop a joint record for both departments, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker disclosed this week.

Read More »

OpenClinica to Unveil Major New Software Release at Global Conference

Press Release | OpenClinica | May 6, 2011

Culminating 18 months of research, development and testing, OpenClinica will formally unveil a new version of its innovative software package—Version 3.1—at its Global Conference in Boston on May 8-9.

Read More »

Alembic Expands Open Source HIE

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | May 6, 2011

The Alembic Foundation has updated the features of the open source Aurion software, which is commercially available, to make it easier to identify individual providers that are part of a larger integrated organization and are participating in a health information exchange, according to David Riley, Alembic president.

Read More »

Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers

Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber | ProPublica | May 5, 2011

From the time they arrived to the moment they laid their heads on hotel pillows, the thousands of cardiologists attending this week’s Heart Rhythm Society conference have been bombarded with pitches for drugs and medical devices. Read More »

Cell Phones Saving Lives in Tanzania

Kizito Makoye | Shout-Africa | May 5, 2011

he Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) has introduced telemedicine- a distant diagnosis platform in which health workers use cell phone technology to carry out distance diagnosis through a web-based programme. Read More »

Physicians Drive Up Medical Costs With Frivolous Tests

Dan Bowman | Fierce Healthcare | May 5, 2011

Despite the constant controversy surrounding high healthcare costs, physcians aren't doing their part to curb such trends, and in many instances, are only concerned about their financial bottom lines

Read More »

Ten Rules for Health Care Organizations Interested in Using Social Media

Jaan Sidorov | The Health Care Blog | May 5, 2011

After doing some reading and talking to some colleagues in the disease management industry, here are ten insights that can help other health care organizations such as accountable care organizations, integrated delivery systems, medical homes or other provider organizations build followers, tweeps, and friends the opt-in world of social media.
Read More »

VA CIO Describes Cloud, Blue Button and EHR Programs

Alice Lipowicz | 1105 Government Information Group | May 5, 2011

Those programs, in addition to modernization of the “VistA” electronic health record system and its path toward a joint system with the Defense Department, indicate that the VA is transforming itself into a more efficient and effective agency, Baker, who also is CIO, said at the Input industry forum on VA IT acquisition held May 5. Read More »

NQF Founder: Quality Measure Science Still 'Immature'

Cheryl Clark | HealthLeaders Media | May 5, 2011

"Now everyone is talking about measuring quality," he said, "But that wasn't how it was 11 or 12 years ago when I started NQF. No one really wanted to engage in measurement. Now, it's in a different place, but it clearly is not being used as much as it should be. 

Read More »

Interactive Mapping and Open Data Illustrate Excess Federal Property

Alex Howard | O'Reilly Radar | May 5, 2011

Last week, I reported how open source tools make mapping easier. Yesterday, the White House showed how open data can be visualized in a massive new interactive feature posted at WhiteHouse.gov. Read More »