It has become an article of faith in some health policy circles over the past 20 years that the "solution" for our health care system's woes is to make us better health care consumers -- the so-called consumer-driven movement. After all, we've known for at least forty years that increased cost-sharing does influence how much health care we consume, so, in theory, higher deductibles and coinsurance, plus better cost/quality information, should give us the right incentives to shop. Most health care professionals are equally convinced patients aren't, and are never going to be, "consumers" in any meaningful sense. Health care is too scary, relies on too much specialized information, and is too often "consumed" at times when we are least able to make thoughtful decisions...
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ONC fail: EHR 'data blocking' still rampant
Manuel Prado, president of Viva Transcription, Santa Cruz, Calif., publicly complained two years ago about the high interface fees – up to $10,000 – that electronic health record vendors charged for each hospital or physician practice they connect to his transcription service. “That's data blocking,” he charged. “If taxpayers are contributing $44,000 or $63,000 (in federal Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments) for each EHR, it's not too much to ask” that they make interconnect charges free.
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One Small Step For NASA, One Giant Leap For Open Source
"Space: the final frontier." These may be the opening words of the Star Trek series so loved by geeks far and wide, but lately, they've been on the tip of more Linux bloggers' tongues than ever. Why? Because Linux recently scored a major victory some 230 miles up in the sky... Read More »
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Open Source And Linux In 2014
In today's open source roundup: Looking back at open source and Linux in 2014. Plus: Switching from Apple laptops to Chromebooks, and the best gaming mouse for Linux?...
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Open Source Clinical Software is Opening Up Biotech
Open-source computing looks at software as a public good. Programs are measured in pride over profit. Programs are provided with their source code free-of-charge, allowing users to freely modify the work, provided the terms of the license (usually attribution and licensing the derived code under the same open-source license) are met. Read More »
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Open Source Hardware Holds The Same Promise As Software
I see SparkFun Electronics mentioned often in my social media stream, so I jumped at the chance to interview Chris Clark, the company's Director of Information Technology.
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OpenSim Needs a Viewer of Its Own
Even as OpenSim implementation continues to grow, a constant remains: there is no viewer tailored specifically for OpenSim as it comes direct from OpenSimulator.org. Read More »
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Patients Are Not Consumers...But Who Is?
Post-PC Microsoft Signs Its Death Warrant -- With An iPad
A leaked report claims Microsoft [MSFT] intends bringing Office to Apple [AAPL] iPads -- but not until 2014. Meanwhile IDC informs us that PC sales have slumped to a 20-year low. Microsoft's refusal to follow trend means it has signed its own death warrant, and here's why: Read More »
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Prescribable Mobile Apps Huge Threat For Pharma
With the proliferation of mHealth apps, it was only a matter of time before healthcare providers would start prescribing apps as soon as apps proved to be as or more effective than prescription drugs. Read More »
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Red Hat Powers New Generation of High-Performance Virtualization Based on Open Standards with Red Hat Virtualization 4
Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced the general availability of Red Hat Virtualization 4, the newest release of its Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) -powered virtualization platform. Red Hat Virtualization 4 challenges the economics and complexities of proprietary virtualization solutions by providing a fully-open, high-performing, more secure, and centrally managed platform for both Linux- and Windows-based workloads. It combines a powerful updated hypervisor, advanced system dashboard, and centralized networking for users’ evolving workloads...
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Red Hat's Success Aside, It's Hard To Profit From Free
Red Hat, which just reported a profit of $47.9 million (or 26 cents a share) on revenue of $456 million for its third quarter, has managed to pull off a tricky feat: It’s been able to make money off of free, well, open-source, software...
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Regulatory Compliance Officers Need Not Fear Open Source Software in Medical Devices or Mission-Critical Healthcare IT Systems
I spent the past few days in Boston at the Harvard Medical School Conference Center speaking audiences at the Medical Device Connectivity Conference (I presented lectures on how to design next-generation medical devices and gateways). Read More »
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Round-Up: Open Source Technologies Are Key To The Growth Of Internet Of Things
Today, there are numerous products that allow the exchange of information on the Internet, but there is little real interoperability. Companies that make fact-based device platforms and proprietary applications may be stifling the creation of a complete ecosystem...
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The Evolving Landscape Of Medical Apps In Healthcare
Mitchell Posada, VP of Marketing at Pathfinder Software discusses the evolving landscape of medical apps in healthcare...
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The Money In Open-Source Software
It’s no secret that open-source technology — once the province of radicals, hippies and granola eaters — has gone mainstream. According to industry estimates, more than 180 young companies that give away their software raised roughly $3.2 billion in financing from 2011 to 2014. Even major enterprise-IT vendors are relying on open-source for critical business functions today. It’s a big turnaround from the days when former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously called the open-source Linux operating system “a cancer” (and obviously a threat to Windows)...
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