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 -

The Darkest Year Of Medical School

Danielle Ofri | Slate | June 4, 2013

Students come in altruistic and empathetic. They leave jaded and bitter. Read More »

The Data Divide

Sean Martin McDonald | FrontlineSMS | February 5, 2013

[T]he digitization of interactions means that every time we carry a smart phone, send a text message, or buy something online, we’re creating value for someone. A lot of it, as it turns out. These days, information isn’t just power, it’s big money.

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The Data You've Been Missing — Provided by Patients

Gale Pryor | Athena Insight | May 10, 2017

Ask orthopedic surgeon Andrew Jawa, M.D., when his total shoulder replacement patients can expect to put on a jacket without help. His answer is likely to include the exact postoperative week — with evidence-based variations due to each patient's age and condition. Jawa performs more than 220 total shoulder replacements each year at the Boston Sports and Shoulder Center. And his success relies in part on self-reported data provided by his patients at every visit, from the first preoperative appointment through every follow-up visit for the next five years...

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The Day We Fought Back

Rainey Reitman | Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) | February 11, 2014

[...] The groups that organized this action have long been pushing hard for real surveillance reform. But we knew that the time was ripe—that the Snowden leaks, unrelenting media pressure, grassroots activism, and even pressure from within Congress—were creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give the public—worldwide—the chance to voice its opposition to mass spying. [...] Read More »

The Death Of The Academic Book And The Path To Open Access

Roxanne Missingham | The Conversation | October 22, 2013

Is publishing academic books a dying trade? And if so, are free e-books from universities likely to deal the final blow? Read More »

The Defense-VA-Vendor Conference Nobody Wants You to Know About

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | May 1, 2013

An outfit called the Defense Strategies Institute will hold a conference in Alexandria, Va., May 15-16 on the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments’ planned integrated electronic health record featuring high ranking speakers from both departments. Any vendor who wants to attend can do so. But the media will be prohibited. Read More »

The Design Of iOS 7: Simply Confusing

Joshua Topolsky | The Verge | June 10, 2013

What I saw today at Apple's annual WWDC event in the new iOS 7 was a radical departure from the previous design of the company's operating system — what CEO Tim Cook called "a stunning new user interface." But whether this new design is actually good design, well, that's a different story entirely. Read More »

The Digital Panopticon

Josh Sager | The Progressive Cynic | June 25, 2013

If the American people sit back and let a digital panopticon be constructed by our government, we will have a nearly impossible time destroying it. The fear which can be created through the threats of constant surveillance and draconian persecution by a government (ex. using the Espionage Act to put leakers away for life) is a powerful mechanism of control that can paralyze an entire population. Read More »

The Direct Project: Accelerating Government Innovation in Health IT

Richard P. Adler | iHealthBeat | March 22, 2011

In February 2011, two pilots of a new standard for sending health information securely over the Internet were launched. The pilots -- one in Minnesota and one in Rhode Island -- are the first tests of the Direct Project, a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) initiative designed to simplify the exchange of information within the health care industry. The Direct Project represents an unusual experiment in accelerating the creation of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The project has demonstrated how rapidly a "lightweight" open process can yield useful results compared with typical government-sponsored IT development projects.

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The Doctor Is In

Mark Mitchell | Government Executive | July 1, 2013

I’m a little underslept today,” Dr. Francis Collins laughs, sitting in his office in the historic Building 1 of the National Institutes of Health’s sprawling campus in Bethesda, Md., where he presides as the dean of the nation’s health. [...] Read More »

The Doctor’s Best Use Of The Tablet

Michael J. Koriwchak | Wired EMR Practice | August 27, 2013

I recently reviewed the Epocrates 2013 Mobile Trends report.  The study has a somewhat unusual participant profile, consisting only of primary care, 3 medical specialties and no surgical specialties; nonetheless the observations are probably close to the mark and are consistent with my experience with my first tablet a couple of years ago. Read More »

The DoD's Problem With VistA Could Be Its Solution

David Perera | FierceGovernmentIT | May 6, 2013

Defense Department intransigence on the subject of its electronic health record is well known, as is the collapse earlier this year of an effort to create a joint core system that both it and the Veterans Affairs Department would utilize. Read More »

The Door Revolves Again: The Former White House Health Reform Czar Goes To Private Equity Firm Looking For Investments Created By Health Reform

Roy M. Poses | Health Care Renewal | August 14, 2013

It appears that Ms Nancy DeParle, formerly a White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and before then, from 2009 - 2011, the Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform, has gone through the revolving door again. Read More »

The Dubious Promise Of Digital Medicine

Chad Terhune,Keith Epstein andCatherine Arnst | Bloomberg Businessweek | April 22, 2009

GE, Google, and others, in a stimulus-fueled frenzy, are piling into the business. But electronic health records have a dubious history Read More »

The East African “Miracle Grain” That Could Become The Next Quinoa

Roberto A. Ferdman | Quartz | March 4, 2014

There’s a huge business opportunity hiding in the fields of East Africa. Teff, a golden, wheat-like grain, has quinoa-like potential. It’s gluten-free, and boasts all kinds of highly marketable health traits that have made quinoa such a hit in countries like the United States: high in calcium, protein, iron, and amino acids. [...] Read More »