News Clips

Environmental Health Trust Launches Global Campaign for Safer Cell Phones in a Dozen Nations

Press Release | Environmental Health Trust | April 7, 2011

Environmental Health Trust (EHT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying and controlling environmental health hazards, today launched its Global Campaign for Safer Cell Phones in a dozen nations. The campaign's goal is to promote the public right to know about ways to reduce cell phone radiation, providing open-source resources that educate and motivate health professionals, teachers, parents and students about simple and safer ways to use cell phones. Read More »

API Aims to Hit Clinical Software With Disruptive Innovation

Brian Eastwood | SearchHealthIT.com | April 7, 2011

Clinical software is ripe for disruptive innovation. As Dr. Kenneth Mandl sees it, that innovation will arrive in the form of apps that reference a common application program interface (API) and as a result, can be added to or removed from any electronic health record (EHR) system. Dr. Mandl is the co-director of the Substitutable Medical Apps, Reusable Technology (SMART) initiative.

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Got Milk? Got Drugs? Got Both?: State Responds After Idaho Dairy Cattle Test Positive In Food Safety Tests

George Prentice | Boise Weekly | April 6, 2011

The [FDA] is worried about what it calls an "important potential public health issue." It could be in your latte or your child's bowl of breakfast cereal. It could be in your refrigerator or freezer. At the very least, the FDA wants to make certain that it's not in any of the 8 million milk-producing cattle in the United States or the 500,000 dairy cows in Idaho. Read More »

DoD, VA to Unite e-Records

John Pulley | NextGov | April 6, 2011

As Nextgov's Bob Brewin has reported, the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs will create a common platform for their electronic health records. A plan for implementing the joint venture is due in early May. Read More »

Open Source HIE Initiative Described

Press Release | Alembic Foundation | April 6, 2011

David Riley, president of the new Alembic Foundation, explains how the organization is promoting the use of open source software based on the Nationwide Health Information Network standards. Read More »

A Call to End Name-Calling

Joseph Conn | Modern Healthcare | April 6, 2011

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a Kansas Republican and the 1996 GOP presidential nominee, wrote a column in Politico this week lauding the VA.

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Six Reasons 'Open Access' Matters to the Medical Community

Tim Anderson | AMSA | April 6, 2011

I would argue that one of the most neglected and important ways to improve our healthcare delivery and innovation is by opening access to research. "Open Access" is the free, immediate, unrestricted availability of high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship over the Internet - combined with the rights to use this information to its fullest possible extent.

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EpiSurveyor Creator Selanikio Shakes Up International Development

Neil Versel | MobiHealthNews | April 6, 2011

“I think EpiSurveyor is the most widely deployed mHealth application in the world,” says Georgetown University pediatrician Dr. Joel Selanikio, creator of the open access software that aids in disease surveillance and collection of public health data in underserved regions.

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Exploring Africa’s Open Data

Erik Hersman | memeburn | April 5, 2011

The entities that hold the most public and infrastructure data are always government institutions. Getting information from them, no matter where you are in the world can be difficult. In Africa it can be very hard indeed... Read More »

Increase in CT Exams for Children in ERs Raising Concerns

Janice Simmons | Fierce Healthcare | April 5, 2011

The number of children receiving computed tomography (CT) scans in emergency rooms has been rapidly rising -- raising concerns that some may be exposed to adult-sized radiation doses that could lead to potential cancer risks in later years, according to a new study. Read More »

Gates, Shinseki Agree to Joint Electronic Records

Donna Mills | Department of Defense | April 5, 2011

Two years after they joined President Barack Obama in announcing plans to create a Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki have agreed to create a joint common platform for their departments’ electronic medical records.

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ACT-IAC Applauds Announcement as an Example of How Collaboration Can Improve Government

Press Release | ACT-IAC | April 5, 2011

The American Council for Technology (ACT) IAC report recommended that VA move to an open source, open standards model for the reengineering of the next generation of VistA. It was the sense of the industry that this approach would create an environment within which VA employees, large prime contractors, healthcare professionals, innovative small companies, healthcare software vendors, and entrepreneurs can all contribute to improving “the best care anywhere” being provided by VA today. 

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OpenClinica Launches Program Designed to Match OpenClinica’s Enterprise Technology with CRO Services

Press Release | OpenClinica | April 5, 2011

OpenClinica is launching an expanded partner program designed to match OpenClinica’s Enterprise technology with Contract Research Organization (CRO) services to deliver enhanced customer offerings.

Ben Baumann, OpenClinica’s director of business development, says this program will be appropriate for both domestic and international organizations.
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Open Source in Good Health and Vice Versa

Glyn Moody | ComputerWorld UK | April 5, 2011

Last week I wrote about the UK government's “new” IT strategy, which is designed in part to avoid some of the costly mistakes of the past. And as far as the latter go, there aren't many bigger or costlier than the NHS National Programme for Information Technology (NpfIT).

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Mirth and Pfizer Reach Licensing Agreement for InformaCare®, Mirth Launches Advanced Care Management Platform for Patient Centered Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations

Press Release | Mirth Corporation, Pfizer, Inc. | April 5, 2011

Mirth Corporation, the leader in commercial open source healthcare information technology, enables the rapid and secure exchange of critical patient information within healthcare delivery organizations and across broad geographies. Now Mirth’s client organizations rolling out Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and Accountable Care Organization (ACO) initiatives can harness these data sources to power comprehensive, cloud-based care management services with minimal overhead.

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