OHNews Weekly Summary - 9/7/2013

September 7, 2013-The following is a brief listing of some of the hot news items, selected news clips, feature stories, and blogs posted on Open Health News (OHNews) over the past week that  we believe will be of interest to our readers across the U.S. and around the world. Two of the key themes running through the news this weeks involved 'Open Data' and the high cost of current proprietary EHR Market and the shakeout that is starting to take place.

To see other OHN News, Feature Stories, Calendar of Events, Resources and more - go to the Open Health News (OHN) Home Page.

Roger Maduro
Publisher & Managing Editor, Open Health News

 

Headlines

OHNews-News & Blog Posts


Selected News Clippings

Calendar

Summaries

OHNews-News & Blog Posts

OSEHRA Summit 2013 Shines, even as DoD Shuns the Summit
Peter Groen | Open Health News | September 7, 2013
The Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent (OSEHRA) Summit was held this past week in Bethesda, Maryland.  The focus was on the use of the VistA electronic health record (EHR) and other open source solutions in healthcare...

Growing Use of GIS Maps by the Government & Healthcare Organizations
Peter Groen | Open Health News | September 4, 2013
Geoplatform.gov is up and running and growing more robust with every passing month. This resource is hosted and supported by the General Services Administration (GSA). This is the same U.S. government agency  that also hosts the government's national repository of government data sets known as Data.gov...

Major Upcoming Open Source & Health IT Conferences
Peter Groen | Open Health News | September 1, 2013
There are a number of major upcoming conferences and events related to Open Source & Health IT our readers ought to follow or attend over this next month, e.g. OSEHRA Summit, Open Hardware Summit, Consumer Health IT Summit, LinuxCon North America, FOSS4G, Health 2.0, and more...

Selected News Clippings

Doctors vs Data
Fred Trotter | O'Reilly Strata | September 4, 2013
There is a storm brewing in Healthcare. Doctors have been in charge of healthcare for a long time, and have become comfortable, sometimes even arrogant, with their authority and power. But dumb data beats smart doctors every time. Forward thinking doctors are embracing data, with surprising grace and humility. Others are having much more trouble adjusting.

Western States Consortium (WSC) Pilot of Direct Connect between California & Oregon
John Rancourt | HealthIT Buzz | September 6, 2013
Health care providers in California and Oregon are now querying each others’ provider directories and sending interstate Direct messages as a result of the Western States Consortium project. The Consortium’s final report, released today, details how the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) collaborated with 13 states to successfully test ways to break down technical and policy barriers to interstate exchange...

Without Sharing, Big Data Is Nothing
Zack McCartney | Healthcare IT News | September 4, 2013
Industry insiders say developing open data exchange was the key to unlocking big data’s potential...

CIO Halamka Highlights 5 Health IT Challenges In Year Ahead
Kyle Murphy | EHR Intelligence | September 4, 2013
Writing on his personal blog, Life as a Healthcare CIO, John Halamka, MD, MS, has shared his feelings about what lies ahead for him in his role as CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Unsurprisingly, Halamka identifies no less than five concerns that are at the foremost of his mind as his prepares for the end of 2013 and challenges that await healthcare organizations and providers in 2014.

Public Open Data: The Good, the Bad, the Future
Camille Crittenden | PBS | September 4, 2013
New technology tools, combined with raised expectations among voters and stakeholders for government transparency, have sparked a movement toward “open government.” Championed by advocacy organizations and a few high-profile elected officials, the trend seeks to promote greater accountability and responsiveness for the systems of representative democracy. An area of particular opportunity — as well as potential concern — is the growing cache of large datasets of public information now available on the Internet...

Global Wireless Health Market Expected To Reach $59.7 billion By 2018
Fred Pennic | HIT Consultant | September 3, 2013
The global wireless health market is currently valued at $23.8 billion in 2013 and is expected to reach $59.7 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 20.2% from 2013 to 2018, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets...

Epic Implementation Results In $55.1M Operational Loss For Hospital
Jasmine Pennic | HIT Consultant | September 3, 2013
The rollout of the Epic electronic health records system contributed to a $55.1 million operational loss in fiscal 2012-13 for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, according to a financial report released last week.The Winston Salem Journal first reported that Wake Forest Baptist “did have a substantial negative impact on fiscal 2013 operating performance through both direct implementation expenses and associated indirect expenses.”...

Despite Cuts, Wake Forest Baptist Closes Fiscal Year With Loss
Owen Covington | The Business Journal | September 3, 2013
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center posted an operating loss of $55.2 million to close out its fiscal year June 30 in what was close to a $100 million swing in operating income from the year before...

New Zealand Ends Patents for Basic Software
Lucy Kraymer | Wall Street Journal | September 3, 2013
International technology giants won’t be able to get patents for basic software under a law passed by the New Zealand government, although protection for significant innovations and programs will remain under the country’s copyright law. The New Zealand government updated its 60-year-old patent bill with a new law that acknowledges overseas influences in New Zealand but perhaps more controversially prevents both local and international companies receiving patents for their software. Local patent experts say the move brings the country in line with the U.K. and Europe, which already prevent the patenting of software...

The great EHR market shakeout
Tom Sullivan | Government Health IT | September 3, 2013
...The EHR landscape, peppered with software programs that for reasons technological as well as proprietary or financially-driven do not interoperate, integrate or even interface with each other, will get better in time, of course, as most markets invariably do — but when?...Indeed, the EHR market is “agitated” and “unstable” according to a report published in late July by Black Book. Based on Black Book’s and other firms’ research little doubt remains that many healthcare organizations are either planning to or are already in the process of switching EHR vendors. It’s worth noting that Black Book targeted replacement EHR buyers in its polling of 2,880 — and 81 percent of respondents are, in fact, planning to drop one EHR in favor of a newer model...

Organs On Demand
Kate Yandell | The Scientist | September 1, 2013
...playthings, accessories, and weapons aside, 3-D printing has also made incursions into the medical device business. The 3-D–printing industry brought in $2.204 billion in 2012, $361 million of which was revenue from 3-D printing for medical and dental uses, according to the 2013 Wohlers Report. And researchers are now testing the feasibility of using printers to create patient-specific tissues and organs that may one day be used to supplement scarce donor body parts...

Calendar

2013 Open Hardware Summit at MIT
September 6, 2013 | Cambridge, MA USA
The 2013 Open Hardware Summit will take place on September 6, 2013 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The annual conference is organized by the Open Source Hardware Association, features speakers and panel discussions centered on the topics of Open Source Hardware (OSHW) and the growing global Open Source Movement.

LinuxCon North America 2013
September 16-18 | New Orleans, LA USA

LinuxCon is the conference for all matters Linux. It brings together developers, sysadmins, and information technology (IT) architects to learn and collaborate on the latest technical issues facing the Linux and IT operations ecosystems. Launched in 2009, LinuxCon has quickly become known for offering top speaking talent, a cross-section of the leading players in the Linux community, innovative and timely content, a wide variety of opportunities for attendee collaboration, and more.

National Health IT Week 2013
September 16-20 | USA
The 8th Annual National Health IT Week is being held September 16-20, 2013.  With partners across the U.S., National Health Information Technology Week is a virtual event with various activities in communities from Maine to California.  Read more about Health IT Week.

3rd Annual Consumer Health IT Summit
September 16 | Washington, DC USA
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) will hold the 3rd Annual Consumer Health IT Summit in Washington, D.C., on September 16, 2013. Learn more about public and private sector led advancements to equip and empower patients to better manage their health in this digital era.

Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon)
September 17-18, 2013 | Geneva, Switzerland
The Open Knowledge Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2013 Open Knowledge Conference (OKCon) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland on 17th -18th September. The theme of this year’s edition will be Open Data – 'Broad, Deep, Connected'.

FOSS4G 2013 Conference
September 17-21 | Nottingham, UK
FOSS4G is the global conference for Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) for Geospatial. It is organized by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). In 2013, FOSS4G will be held in in the United Kingdom for the first time, at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham, September 17-21, 2013.

The 5th Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) Conference
September 18-20, 2013 | Riga, Latvia
The Open Access Scholarly Publishing (COASP) Conference is to be held this year in Riga, Latvia. The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) is a trade association that was established in 2008 in order to represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines. This mission is carried out through exchanging information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation.

Stanford Medicine X
September 27-29, 2013 | Palo Alto, CA
Medicine X brings together the most innovative and engaging minds in academia and industry to exchange bold new ideas about the future of medicine and the role technology will play in improving health. The conference attracts public health officials, venture capitalists, health-care practitioners, researchers, technologists, patients, design experts, and business leaders. Stanford Medicine X 2012 drew nearly 500 attendees from 30 countries.  See OHN News & Blogs on Health IT in 2040.

Health 2.0: 7th Annual Conference
September 29-October 2, 2013 | Santa Clara, CA
The Health 2.0 Conference brings a fresh approach to showcasing cutting-edge innovation that’s transforming health and health care. The conference brings together some of the best minds, resources and technology in compelling panels, discussions and product demonstrations.

Open World Forum 2013
October 3-5, 2013 | Montrouge, France
The Open World Forum is back for its sixth Edition. The Open World Forum is the first European summit to gather political representatives, decision-makers and experts to debate the technological, economic and social impacts that the Free and Open-Source technologies bring to the market. More than 3,000 attendees are expected for this year's Edition.

2013 OpenMRS Implementers Meeting
October 8-11, 2013 | Eldoret, Kenya
This meeting provides an opportunity for developers to collaborate and improve their technical skills in OpenMRS, implementers to share their best practices from implementations, and users to propose and prioritize their top features in future releases of the software. As we introduced last year, the 2013 Implementers Meeting may also include visits to OpenMRS implementation sites along with a discussion afterward for participants to share their experience and suggestions.

Ireland Public Health (IPH) Open Conference
October 8, 2013 | Dublin, Ireland
Following the success of the Open Conference held In Belfast last year IPH invites you to attend the 2nd Public Health Open Conference which will take place on Tuesday, 8 October 2013 in Croke Park, Dublin. The programme will be suggested and developed by you, the participants, through online registration and this approach gives you the opportunity to present on a topic of your choice.  There is no cost in attending the Conference.

VISTA Academy Expo 2013
October 18-21, 2013 | Seattle, WA
A full slate of pre-conference training classes has been announced for the Academy program of the Third Annual VISTA Expo & Symposium. The eight different classes covering a range of VISTA-related topics will be held at the same venue as the VISTA Expo, in Seattle, Washington, beginning October 18, 2013. The VISTA Expo & Symposium will run from October 22 to 25, 2013.

-End