Health IT News

News clips about general health IT products, organizations, and activities [not open source health IT news] from various news sources, e.g. newspapers, news web sites, magazines, journals, blogs, etc.

See the following -

Health IT: The Coming Regulation

Andy Oram | Health IT | April 14, 2014

The Food and Drug Administration has spent decades refining its processes for approving drugs and devices (and is still refining them), so what would happen if they extended their scope to the exploding health software industry?  The FDA, and its parent organization, the Department of Health and Human Services, are facing an unpleasant and politically difficult choice.

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mHealth: Pocket Healthcare

Zohaib Amjad | The Express Tribune | November 23, 2014

The ability of mobile phones to monitor basic human patterns using digital input from its user has allowed it to transform every aspect of human life. Given the mobile phone’s computing capacity and wide usage, it has recently been adopted as a tool by the global healthcare industry...

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New VA Partnership for Electronic Health Information Exchange

Sara Heath | EHR Intelligence | November 11, 2016

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration (SSA), and The Sequoia Project’s eHealth Exchange have partnered to exchange electronic health information for veterans looking to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, according to a press release. The health data exchange, which will be hosted on VA’s Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER), will help process VA patient requests for social security disability benefits...

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Sidelined HHS Deputy Chief Information Security Officer blasts agency, claims cybersecurity center 'decimated'

Jessica Davis | Healthcare IT News | March 22, 2018

After being abruptly placed on admin leave, Leo Scanlon opens up about his 150-day leave, “dirty politics,” and what it means for the future of the HCCIC cybersecurity initiative...HHS’ HCCIC had overwhelming support from Congress and industry leaders when it launched as part of a partnership with the National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NH-ISAC). It was designed to take a leadership role facilitating threat intelligence and other cybersecurity related information sharing and, in fact, played a pivotal role in fighting the global WannaCry attack in June of 2017.

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Spread of DNA Databases sparks ethical concerns

Jill Lawless | Associated Press | July 12, 2013

Countries around the world are collecting genetic material from millions of citizens in the name of fighting crime and terrorism — and, according to critics, heading into uncharted ethical terrain. Read More »

The Antikythera Mechanism Is a 2,000-Year-Old Computer

Brian Resnick | Vox | May 17, 2017

One hundred fifteen years ago, an archeologist was sifting through objects found in the wreck of a 2,000-year-old vessel off the Greek island Antikythera. Among the wreck’s treasures — beautiful vases and pots, jewelry, a bronze statue of an ancient philosopher — was the most peculiar thing: a series of brass gears and dials mounted in a case the size of a mantel clock. Archeologists dubbed the instrument the Antikythera mechanism. The genius — and mystery — of this piece of ancient Greek technology, arguably the world’s first computer, is why Google is highlighting it today in a Google Doodle...

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VA Joins NATE and the Blue Button for Consumers (NBB4C) Trust Bundle

Press Release | National Association for Trusted Exchange | June 9, 2016

The National Association for Trusted Exchange (NATE) today welcomed its newest member, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). By joining NATE and participating in the NATE Blue Button for Consumers (NBB4C) Trust Bundle, VA is demonstrating its commitment to enabling its Veterans to send their health data to the consumer-facing application (CFA) of their choice. 

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West Virginia REC Program Reaching Key Milestones

Editor | WVRHITEC Newsletter | July 23, 2013

As part of its ongoing mission to assist the state’s health care community with health information technology matters, the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center (WVRHITEC) has accomplished the following: Read More »

What If EMRs Worked Like Wikipedia?

Nick Dawson | The Health Care Blog | February 5, 2014

I’ve been thinking about EMRs, electronic medical records, lately. It’s a subject, despite some professional experience, I don’t feel particularly close to...And, as a patient I see them largely as an opaque blob of data about me with a placating window in the form of a portal.

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"Open Humans" Launches Online Platform to Share DNA and other Medical Data

Press Release | Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Knight Foundation, PersonalGenomes.org | March 24, 2015

A group of top university scientists just launched a project to build a community of researchers and participants who want to benefit medical progress – by using technology to open up health data. The “Open Humans Network,” created by researchers from Harvard, New York University and the University of California San Diego, is backed by a $1 million investment from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, each of which contributed $500,000 in separate grants.

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"Super Symptom Checker" - Do It Yourself Doctoring – Wish List

Tom Garz | TG Ideas | November 8, 2008

...Wow, it's been nearly 5 years since I first posted this "Super Symptom Checker".  Here's a few more additions for 2013....Since emotions affect physical symptoms, I'd also like to add Emotional Stress and Pain as Vital Signs...

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#scholarAfrica – Consolidating The African Open Agenda

Michelle Willmers | University World News | August 22, 2014

Open Access has officially gone mainstream. It is now embraced by governments, funders and researchers, and is widely acknowledged as an enabler of knowledge societies...

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$100 Million Epic Install Dampens Lifespan Health System's Credit

Bob Herman | Modern Healthcare | June 6, 2014

A multimillion-dollar electronic health-record system installation is eroding the cash flow, and bond rating, of Rhode Island's largest health system. Read More »

$100 Million Epic Install Dampens Lifespan Rhode Island Healthcare's Credit

Scott Silverstein | Health Care Renewal | June 22, 2014

Lifespan Rhode Island Healthcare System's Siemens EHR was apparently causing thousands of electronically-generated prescriptions to become scrambled, as I posted in Nov. 2011 here: http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/11/lifespan-rhode-island-yet-another.html. Due to this "glitch" - and other factors, I surmise - they switched to Epic. Here are the current results [see $100 Million Epic Install Dampens Lifespan Health System's Credit]...

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$375 Billion Wasted On Billing And Health Insurance-Related Paperwork Annually: Study

Press Release | Physicians for a National Health Program | January 12, 2015

Medical billing paperwork and insurance-related red tape cost the U.S. economy approximately $471 billion in 2012, 80 percent of which is waste due to the inefficiency of the nation’s complex, multi-payer way of financing care, a group of researchers say. The researchers – physicians and health policy researchers with ties to the University of California, San Francisco, the City University of New York School of Public Health, and Harvard Medical School – note that a simplified, single-payer system of financing health care similar to Canada’s or the U.S. Medicare program could result in savings of approximately $375 billion annually, or more than $1 trillion over three years.

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