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 -

Health Records Of Every NHS Patient To Be Shared In Vast Database

Sarah Knapton | The Telegraph | January 10, 2014

The health records of everyone in the NHS will be pooled in a vast database which can be accessed by researchers and pharmaceutical companies. But campaigners warn it could breach privacy. Read More »

Health Reform Leaders Focus on Patient Access to Records as Key Barrier

Andy Oram | O'Reilly Radar | June 11, 2012

A convocation of trend-setters and organizational leaders in U.S. health care was called together in Washington last Monday, June 4. The attendees advised two government organizations driving health reform--the Office of the National Coordinator at the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and the Dept. of Veteran Affairs--how to push forward one of their top goals, patient engagement.

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Health Reform’s Problems Run Deeper Than A Glitchy Website

Philip Caper | Bangor Daily News | November 14, 2013

Serious problems with the websites created by the Affordable Care Act continue, and probably will for a long time. Although frantic efforts at incrementally improving them are being made by the Obama administration, and some sites are working better than others, they are a long way from working well. Read More »

Health Start-Ups! - Crowd Funding And Project Testing

Joan Justice | Health Tech Hatch | June 18, 2013

Project testing and funding are necessary steps in the launch of the start-up.  Crowd-funding is the new kid on the block and is making a lot of waves in the start-up world.  And thanks to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), which goes into effect in 2013, crowdfunding will transition from a donation to a true investment model. Read More »

Health System Turns To RFID To Slash Infection Rates

Dan Bowman | FierceHealth IT | January 13, 2014

Infection control via improved hand-washing efforts is the impetus for a recently announced pilot project involving big data and wireless sensors at Columbus, Ohio-based OhioHealth. Read More »

Health Tap: Intelligent Interface for Patients

Andy Oram | EMR & HIPAA | January 9, 2017

    allows patients to connect with doctors online, and additionally hosts an enormous repository of doctors’ answers to health questions. In addition to its sheer size and its unique combination of services, HealthTap is ahead of most other health care institutions in its use of data. I talked with founder and CEO Ron Gutman about a new service, Dr. AI, that triages the patient and guides her toward a treatment plan: online resources for small problems, doctors for major problems, and even a recommendation to head off to the emergency room when that is warranted. The service builds on the patient/doctor interactions HealthTap has offered over its six years of operation, but is fully automated...

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Health Tech Hatch Brings Crowdfunding And Testing Together

Laura Billingsley | Silicon Prairie News | January 15, 2013

A crowdfunding and beta-testing platform's creators hope to change the way health care products and apps go to market. Based in Iowa City, Health Tech Hatch combines testing and funding into one website, allowing developers to receive feedback from users before finalizing their product. Read More »

Health Tech Hatch Chosen As Test Platform For Healthfinder.gov Mobile App Challenge

Eric Wicklund | mHIMSS | December 18, 2012

A California-based crowdfunding and development resource for mHealth entrepreneurs has been selected to provide the testing platform for the healthfinder.gov Mobile App Challenge. Read More »

Health Tech Podcast: How One Woman Built Her Own Artificial Pancreas and Started a DIY Movement

Clare McGrane | Geek Wire | July 19, 2017

Dana Lewis has Type 1 diabetes, which means her pancreas doesn’t work the way it should: It doesn’t make the insulin she needs to survive. So, she built a new one. It’s not a biological organ. Lewis’ artificial pancreas system (APS) is an open-source computer system that monitors her blood sugar level and gives her body insulin as needed, building on the insulin pump and glucose monitor that she’s been using for years...

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Health Technology’s ‘Essential Critic’ Warns Of Medical Mistakes

Jay Hancock | Kaiser Health News (KHN) | February 18, 2013

Computer mistakes like the one that produced incorrect prescriptions for thousands of Rhode Island patients are probably far more common and dangerous than the Obama administration wants you to believe, says Drexel University’s Dr. Scot Silverstein. Read More »

Health Workforce Productivity Analysis And Improvement Toolkit

Sarah Dwyer | CapacityPlus | October 1, 2013

Over the last two decades, increasing the resources, or inputs, within health systems—including physical, financial, and human resources—has improved access to health care. However, increased investments have not always resulted in better health outcomes. How can we know which resource investments in health systems will yield the greatest return? [...] Read More »

Health, Fitness Apps Sending User Data To Third Parties

Greg Slabodkin | FierceMobileHealthcare | September 7, 2013

The top 20 most popular health, wellness and fitness apps, including WebMD Health, are actively sharing user data with as many as 70 third-party companies, according to a blog post from web analytics and privacy group Evidon. Read More »

Health-Care Costs Are A Civil Rights Issue

Matt Miller | The Washington Post | August 28, 2013

In 1963, when Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech, America spent 5.5 percent of gross domestic product on health care . Today we spend 18 percent, while most other wealthy nations spend 10 to 12 percent through systems that deliver equal or better health outcomes... Read More »

Health-Care Delivery: Flex Credits

Editorial | The Chronicle Herald | September 25, 2012

Pragmatism is the lowliest of virtues. It does not inspire great works of literature, soaring rhetoric or killer quotes. Linus Torvalds’ take on it is as good as it gets: “I’m generally a very pragmatic person,” the open-source software pioneer once opined. “That which works works.” Read More »

Health-Care Enrollment On Web Plagued By Bugs

Amy Goldstein and Juliet Eilperin | Washington Post | December 2, 2013

The enrollment records for a significant portion of the Americans who have chosen health plans through the online federal insurance marketplace contain errors — generated by the computer system — that mean they might not get the coverage they’re expecting next month. Read More »