President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

See the following -

6 Reasons To Plan Architecture For Interoperability

John Loonsk | Government Health IT | September 23, 2014

Nearly $26 billion spent, and the U.S. healthcare industry is still asking why information doesn’t move more easily between electronic health records.  That’s a loaded question, of course, and suggesting a ten-year timeframe or arguing that there is progress if you look hard enough just doesn’t answer it...

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Bacteria’s Ability To Resist Drugs An International Issue

Barbara Dickworth | The Western Producer | November 28, 2014

Global surveillance needed | Countries take action on antibiotic use...

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DeSalvo: America 'Waiting For Us To Get Interoperability Right'

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | September 3, 2014

Calling it a “changing of the horizon,” national coordinator Karen DeSalvo, MD, said that her office is working to refresh the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan.  “It’s an opportunity to look at HIT beyond the EHR and policy levers beyond meaningful use,” DeSalvo said of the forthcoming plan...

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ONC Chief Scientist Doug Fridsma Resigns

Tom Sullivan | Government Health IT | September 22, 2014

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on Monday announced that Doug Fridsma, MD is stepping down from his post as chief scientist.  Fridsma’s departure comes on the heels of other high-profile resignations, notably the so-called consumerista Lygeia Ricciardi and chief privacy officer Joy Pritts...

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Open Letter to Chuck Hagel: DoD still doesn’t know what the hell they are doing

...I fear that you are paving a road to a hellish destination.  Rather than lifting up the VA eligibility problem to a shiny new common information system, you are on the verge of dragging health IT into the same bureaucratic vortex that has already done so much damage in the past.  AHLTA was declared “intolerable” in a Congressional hearing 4 years ago.... Read More »

Pentagon Resists Administration’s Mandate for an Open Source Health Records System

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | April 22, 2013

President Obama has backed open standards for an integrated electronic health record system to serve the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments since his first term, but Pentagon plans to acquire commercial software to replace the department’s current EHR are “manifestly inconsistent” with that approach, J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation wrote in a blistering memo. Read More »

Test Highlights: How To Do EHR Data Sharing Right

Mary Mosquera | Healthcare IT News | September 19, 2012

The Department Veterans Affairs  and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have demonstrated how to securely share sensitive health information via electronic health records  (EHRs). Read More »

The (Profitable) Potential For Open Health-Care Data

Susan Devore | The Experts | September 16, 2014

Despite the $20 billion taxpayer investment in health information technology, it still has not reached its full potential. Most offerings are not easy to use or properly integrated into the daily workflow of clinicians...

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VA & SAMHSA test Exchange of Tagged Substance Abuse Data

Mary Mosquera | Government Health IT | September 18, 2012

The Veterans Affairs Department and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration have demonstrated how to securely share sensitive health information while following confidentiality laws and patient disclosure wishes among providers using certified electronic health records (EHRs). Read More »

Where's The Plan For Interoperability?

John Loonsk | Healthcare IT News | September 22, 2014

Six reasons we will not have health IT interoperability without an architecture...

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White House Actions On Antibiotic Resistance: Big Steps, Plus Disappointments

Maryn McKenna | WIRED | September 22, 2014

The United States government proposed several important steps last week that, if accomplished, will significantly change how this country attempts to counter the advance of antibiotic resistance, bringing us within reach of the more complete programs which exist in Europe. But as significant as it is, the new program has some perplexing gaps that left experts attending to the issue disappointed...

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