Pfizer Inc. is conducting a drug trial in which patients participate from their homes using computers and smartphones rather than visiting a clinic.

Read More »

The popularity of UpToDate offers a window into how physicians currently view and value information...While the idea of using a medical textbook to guide clinical decision making does not strike most physicians as a particularly radical idea, it’s useful to consider alternative approaches that are not generally used. Read More »

Roger Baker, the Veterans Affairs Department chief information officer, said the department awarded its key open source software contract to The Informatics Applications Group based on "best value" criteria as defined in the solicitation. Read More »

Privacy in health care is the first topic raised whenever someone talks about electronic health records--and dominates the discussion from then on--or, on the other hand, is dismissed as an overblown concern not worthy of criticism. But today a conference was held on the subject, prepared by Patient Privacy Rights and the University of Texas's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs... Read More »

The Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) will be hosting its annual Government Health IT (GHIT) Conference June 14-15 in Washington, DC. ONC’s presence at the meeting will highlight the ongoing work being done at the federal and state level supporting interoperable health information exchange and meaningful use of electronic health records. Read More »

I recently interviewed Daniel Haas from the Intelligent Health Lab (IHL) of the Children's Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP), within the Children's Hospital Boston, about Indivo, a project he will speak about at the O'Reilly Open Source convention. Read More »

I want to bring you all up to date on the effort to establish an open-source software development project at the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department. Read More »

Some would say that the amount of capital invested is on the rise, and new funding streams are providing an excellent opportunity for startups to start getting funded again. But is this also true for health or healthcare startups?  After leaving Google recently, I have been spending time talking to various startups and VC firms that are interested in health and healthcare apps. I am encouraged by what I see. Read More »

Fred Trotter writes about a very scary story out of Washington. The custodian for the new VistA system, the open source software that's supposed to replace what the Veterans Administration is now using, will be a long-time Defense contractor with no ties to open source whatever. This is important for two reasons: Read More »

Last September, an ambitious code-sharing initiative named Civic Commons was launched at the Gov 2.0 Summit in a bid to help city governments use information technology better. This week, Civic Commons took a big step forward with a new management team in place and $250,000 of funding from Omidyar Network. Read More »