One of the greatest challenges social media emergency managers face is that the public isn’t very interested in hearing from them unless and until a disaster strikes, they told lawmakers on Tuesday. Read More »

As Taiwan heads into another Typhoon season, the need for reliable and easily accessible information about where the next storm will hit and how to stay safe has never been more important.  That’s why we’re launching Google Public Alerts and a dedicated Google Crisis Map for Taiwan. Read More »

Foreign hackers don't just pose a threat to classified material, corporate secrets, and individual pri­vacy. Security experts say the greatest cyberthreat to the United States is the fact that the Chinese and Russian governments—and possibly other players—have succeeded in hacking into the nation's electric grid, giving them the ability, if they wish, to bring the U.S. economy to a screeching halt with the click of a mouse. Read More »

A pilot program at the University of Texas at Austin is looking at how to enable patient tracking of who requests and receives their protected health information (PHI), according to a Health Data Management article. Read More »

This is the fourth Q&A in a series exploring the current state of Open Access (OA). On this occasion the questions are answered by Heather Joseph. Read More »

The average life expectancy in Japan right now, home to one of the healthiest, longest-living populations in the world, is about 83 years. That's four years longer than in the United States, a decade longer than in much of North Africa, and as many as 30 years longer than some war-torn parts of the world like Sierra Leone. Read More »

The European Commission held a public consultation on open access to research data on July 2 in Brussels inviting statements from researchers, industry, funders, IT and data centre professionals, publishers and libraries. [...] Read More »

As we reach the "tipping point" of electronic health record adoption, the Office of the National Coordinator has issued a mark for EHRs and other health IT products, meant to serve as visual proof that they can offer functionality, interoperability and security. Read More »

Although healthcare is awash in data, getting it into the hands of clinicians so they can provide coordinated, quality care at the bedside remains a huge challenge. Just ask the 32 Pioneer accountable care organizations--including the nine Pioneer ACOs that may opt out of the program altogether. Read More »

In case you've been on vacation the last month and incommunicado, the New York Times on June 18 reported that the AMA has officially declared that obesity is a disease, not just a physical condition. Since then, the media, the Internet and the medical community have erupted in a frenzy of stories and opinions. Read More »