News

Summaries of open source, health care, or health IT news and information from various sources on the web selected by Open Health News (OHNews) staff. Links are provided to the original news or information source, e.g. news article, web site, journal,blog, video, etc.

See the following -

Don't Dismantle the VA

J. David Cox | Defense One | August 22, 2016

After the Department of Veterans Affairs’ waitlist scandal gained national attention two years ago, most Americans’ first instinct was to look for ways to make things better. But some political insiders and corporate funders saw only an opportunity to make billions off the wounds of our veterans. What followed was an unprecedented smear campaign to discredit the and promote private insurance as a viable alternative to the highly specialized, integrated, and cost-effective Veterans Health Administration...

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Don't Forget Radio in Push To Use Mobile Technology in Developing Countries

Hibah Hussain | Slate | July 19, 2012

If we really want to use technology to promote lasting social change and economic growth, we need to stop ignoring the power of established communications networks. We need to start talking about the radio. Read More »

Don't Overlook Fraud In EHRs, OIG Cautions CMS

Jacqueline Fellows | HealthLeaders Media | January 9, 2014

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has eagerly pushed EHRs onto healthcare providers without adequately addressing the risk of fraud, suggests a report from the Office of Inspector General. Read More »

Donald Berwick on Better Care as a Route to Financial Success

Tinker Ready | Health Leaders Media | January 7, 2016

The former head of CMS says "we will never solve the problem of cost and finance by focusing on cost and finance." Instead, it will be resolved "by focusing on the design and redesign of healthcare and the improvement of its quality." ... The former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the newest member of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission talked with HealthLeaders Media this week. This is the first of a two-part interview. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

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Don’t Call It A Comeback: 5 Reasons SMS Is Here To Stay

Trevor Knoblich | FrontlineSMS | January 10, 2013

In most cases, [SMS is[ inexpensive, casual, and discreet for users. It also represents one of the more profitable features offered by mobile network operators. And while SMS does face an increasingly fractured market, largely from the growth of messaging apps, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Here are 5 reasons why... Read More »

Don’t Call It “Open Source” Unless You Mean It

Christian Heilmann | christianheilmann.com | October 22, 2012

[...]Releasing an open source product is much more than making it available for free. It is a process, an ongoing commitment to nurturing something by sharing it with the world. Open source and its merits can actually be a blueprint of a much more democratic world to come as Clay Shirky explains in How the Internet will (one day) transform government. Read More »

Don’t Disrupt Government. Revolutionize It.

Luke Fretwell | GovFresh | September 11, 2012

I’ve always been cool to the term “disruption,” especially how it has recently been used to address changing the way government works... Read More »

Don’t Expect Defense And VA Health Records To Share Data Anytime Soon

Kedar Pavgi | Nextgov | March 1, 2013

Veterans Affairs Department Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told reporters in a press call on Thursday that officials halted the effort to develop an integrated electronic health record after cost estimates doubled to about $12 billion.  He said officials now expect to acquire 50 joint and shared applications, which he estimated will cost between $4 billion and $6 billion. Read More »

Don’t forget Obamacare’s electronic medical records wreck

Michelle Malkin | Michellemalkin.com | October 23, 2013

The White House finally acknowledged the spectacular public disaster of Obamacare’s Internet exchange infrastructure during Monday’s Rose Garden infomercial. But President Shamwow and his sales team are AWOL on the bureaucratic ravages of the federal electronic medical records mandate. Modernized data collection is a worthy goal, of course. But distracted doctors are seeing “more pixels than patients,” Dr. DiNubile observes, and the EMR edict is foisting “dangerous user-unfriendly technology” on physicians and patients.

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Don’t Give More Patients Statins

John D. Abramson and Rita F. Redberg | New York Times | November 13, 2013

ON Tuesday, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology issued new cholesterol guidelines that essentially declared, in one fell swoop, that millions of healthy Americans should immediately start taking pills — namely statins — for undefined health “benefits.” Read More »

Don’t Listen To Google And Facebook: The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership Is Still Going Strong

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | March 25, 2014

If you’ve been reading the news recently, you might think that corporate America is doing its best to thwart NSA surveillance. Google just announced that it is encrypting Gmail when you access it from your computer or phone, and between data centers.

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Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich

Evan Osnos | The New Yorker | January 30, 2017

Steve Huffman, the thirty-three-year-old co-founder and C.E.O. of Reddit, which is valued at six hundred million dollars, was nearsighted until November, 2015, when he arranged to have laser eye surgery. He underwent the procedure not for the sake of convenience or appearance but, rather, for a reason he doesn’t usually talk much about: he hopes that it will improve his odds of surviving a disaster, whether natural or man-made. “If the world ends—and not even if the world ends, but if we have trouble—getting contacts or glasses is going to be a huge pain in the ass,” he told me recently...

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Dorenfest Institute Updates Health IT Data For Government Researchers

Joyce Lofstrom | Government Health IT | December 19, 2012

The Dorenfest Institute for Health Information Technology, Research and Education, managed by the HIMSS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of HIMSS, has released updated 2010 data from the HIMSS Analytics Database. Read More »

DOs Urge Exploration Of Alternative State Funding Models For Physician Training

Press Release | American Osteopathic Association (AOA) | July 20, 2013

Recognizing the need to increase graduate medical education (GME) funding to support the creation of more residency training positions that are needed to fill projected physician workforce shortages, the [AOA] House of Delegates voted today to support the creation of alternative GME funding mechanisms at the state level. Read More »

Dossia Launches New Livli Social Network To Promote Better Consumer Health

Press Release | Dossia | October 24, 2012

Dossia, a leading electronic health management provider, announced the launch of Livli -- www.livli.com -- a free, online social network and resource center dedicated to consumer health and well-being. Read More »