New Open Source License For Seeds
The Germany-based OpenSourceSeeds initiative this month started to offer open source-licensed seeds in an effort to strengthen a form of copyleft for new plant varieties. The goal, according to the organisation established by academics, activists and breeders and establish a non-private seed sector as a second pillar alongside private plant breeding...
- Login to post comments
An Interview with Open Source Health IT Project: LibreHealth
LibreHealth is the largest health IT project to emerge recently, particularly in the area of free and open source software. In this video, Dr. Judy Gichoya of the LibreHealth project explains what clinicians in Africa are dealing with and what their IT needs are. Both developed and developing countries need better health IT systems to improve patient care. In the developed countries, electronic records and other health IT systems sprout complexities that reflect the health care systems in which they function...
- Login to post comments
HHS IDEA Lab Hosting Innovation Day in DC on May 15
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is holding an Innovation Day on Monday, May 15th at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C. The day will feature presentations from teams across HHS who are using open source, collaborative, and entrepreneurial methods like design thinking and lean startup to improve how their office or agency delivers on the HHS mission. The day will also feature a panel on deploying creative thinking to improve work in government, and innovative speakers from government and the private sector.
- The Future Is Open
- Login to post comments
Bill Gates Won’t Save You From The Next Ebola
In late August 2014, Tom Frieden, then director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traveled to West Africa to assess the raging Ebola crisis. In the five months before Frieden’s visit, Ebola had spread from a village in Guinea, across borders and into cities in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Médecins Sans Frontières, the first international responder on the scene, had run out of staff to treat the rising numbers of sick people and had deemed the outbreak “out of control” back in June...
- Login to post comments
Why Making the Case for Interoperability Standards Is Needed
It's buzzy. It's the fly in the ointment for many and vendors swear it's seriously. just. about. to. gain. traction. Interoperability. Thinking about the topic is daunting itself but for those on the frontlines of care delivery and for patients, its increasingly becoming necessary as the healthcare industry enters into a more networked era. When we last checked in on interoperability, the industry was touting the massive adoption of EHRs...
- Login to post comments
HHS Secretary Equates Health IT to ‘Burden’ for Doctors
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price advocated Thursday for reducing the burden placed upon physicians and health care providers by the health technology that is otherwise meant to improve care for patients. Speaking at his first Health Datapalooza as the head of HHS, Price said the proliferation of health IT is something that “can have remarkably challenging and sometimes destructive consequences”...
- Login to post comments
When It Comes to Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices, We Should Ask More and Listen Better
A new study in JAMA suggests that nearly one-in-three drugs approved by the FDA between 2001 and 2010 had post-market safety issues, which caused safety communications to physicians and consumers, "black-box" warnings on labels, and drug withdrawals. It is not clear how many patients may have died or otherwise harmed by these issues...Lead author Joseph Ross, M.D., noted: "No drug is completely safe, and during premarket evaluation, we are not going to pick up all the safety signals," and urged "that we have a strong system in place to continually evaluate drugs and to communicate new safety concerns quickly and effectively."
- Login to post comments
OpenMRS Announces 2017 Google Summer of Code students
Congratulations to the 15 students selected by OpenMRS to participate in Google Summer of Code™ this year! A total of nearly 1,400 students were selected to participate with 201 different open-source projects. As the organization administrators for the program, we are thrilled to announce our 11th year of participation yet in the annual event graciously sponsored by Google. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed participating in this great program in the last 10 years and are even more excited about the students, projects and mentors that are participating this year. Coding for OpenMRS is a great way for university students to practice coding skills and at the same time help benefit people in developing countries who are on the front lines of the battle against HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, and other public health challenges. Read More »
- Login to post comments
VistA / eHMP in the Cloud Project Group Status Update
Established in January 2017, this group will implement and maintain a VistA/eHMP Cloud demonstration site using Microsoft Azure. The centerpiece of this implementation will be an operating demo of VistA with eHMP, which will serve as a testbed and proof-of-concept. In addition, facilities will be made available for developer sandboxes and for creation of curated test data in cooperation with university medical and nursing students. This Innovation Webinar will serve as a status update on the groups' progress. Read More »
- Login to post comments
Leveraging the "Learning Health Community" Concept in Education
This idea of an iterative engaged learning environment (we can call it a “Learning Health Community”) is not far-fetched. Such a system would require quality evidence-based data and information delivered in real-time based on the real-world experiences of millions of patients. As new verified information and data develop, these would be incorporated and then deployed. We would harness the power of existing and future knowledge in a form that is usable by both medical professionals and the patients they serve. The questioning fathers and others similarly situated could access the Internet for augmented and personalized health information.
- Login to post comments