Healthy and Prosperous 2011
Lodewijk Bos, ICMCC
ICMCC wishes all our website visitors (almost 134,000 in 2010) a healthy and prosperous 2011.
Articles
On policymakers and the devil’s advocate
Jeff Rowe, Healthcare IT HITECHWatch
“To put it mildly, the HITECH program is probably here to stay.
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My cat has an electronic health record
Jean DerGurahian, Health IT Pulse
“I took my cat to her first appointment with a new vet recently and caught a glimpse of what a practice using a full electronic health record (EHR) might look like for human patients, once meaningful use incentives kick in next year.
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Failure is Not an Option
Margalit Gur-Arie, The Health Care Blog
“2010 is drawing to an end amongst a flurry of activities in the Health IT field. In a few short days 2011, the year of the Meaningful Use, will be upon us and the stimulus clocks will start ticking furiously. In addition to the yearlong visionary activities from ONC, December 2010 brought us two landmark opinions on the future of medical informatics.
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The Doctor vs. the Computer
Danielle Ofri, The New York Times
“Electronic medical records promise efficiency, safety and productivity in the switch from paper to computer. But there are glitches, as a patient of mine recently brought to light.
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How smartphones could lead the digital healthcare revolution
Stewart Wolpin, DVICE
“To start with, mHealth is bio-sensors we’ll wear. Nothing obvious, necessarily. These bio-sensors could be built into stuff you already wear — eye glasses, belt buckles, hats, watches, bras, clothing, shoes, jewelry, whatever.
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Institute Of Medicine Sets Health IT Vision
Anthony Guerra, InformationWeek Healthcare
“The vision of a safe, efficient and cost-effective healthcare system supported by information technology was outlined in a recent Institute of Medicine report, The Learning Health System Series: The Digital Infrastructure.
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HOW I SEE IT: Health IT could depersonalize medicine
Mike Thompson, Star Exponent
“When Congress approved the new health care reform bill, it included plans to digitize our nation’s health records. At face value, this appears to be a positive step forward in integrating technology into our doctors’ offices. But will Health Information Technology (HIT) improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs?
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SEHA Implements Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Enhancement
sara, biomedme.com
“The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA) has announced the successful implementation of advanced Electronic Medical Record (EMR) functionality, which allows SEHA physician’s to view, share, and collaborate on a patients care regardless of the patient’s location. This new feature supports SEHA’s One Patient, One Record philosophy.
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Comparative Effectiveness Research and Medical Informatics
D'Avolio LW et al, The American Journal of Medicine
As is the case for environmental, ecological, astronomical, and other sciences, medical practice and research finds itself in a tsunami of data. This data deluge, due primarily to the introduction of digitalization in routine medical care and medical research, affords the opportunity for improved patient care and scientific discovery. Medical informatics is the subdiscipline of medicine created to make greater use of information in order to improve healthcare.
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Smart phones may help
King D et al, BMJ, 341
The publication of Greenhalgh and colleagues’ evaluation of the HealthSpace platform coincided with the release of an iPhone app that we recently developed at Imperial Academic Health Science Centre. The Wellnote by Dr Darzi App (available free from iTunes) lets users record their medical details and medications and search for local NHS services via a smart phone—a mobile phone that offers more advanced computing ability and interactivity than a basic handset.
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The role of standardized data and terminological systems in computerized clinical decision support systems: Literature review and survey
Ahmadian L et al, International Journal of Medical Informatics, 2010
Introduction
Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) should be seamlessly integrated with existing clinical information systems to enable automatic provision of advice at the time and place where decisions are made. It has been suggested that a lack of agreed data standards frequently hampers this integration. We performed a literature review to investigate whether CDSSs used standardized (i.e. coded or numerical) data and which terminological systems have been used to code data. We also investigated whether a lack of standardized data was considered an impediment for CDSS implementation.
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Emerging technologies and web accessibility: research challenges and opportunities focussing on vision issues
Harper S, Yesilada Y. Disability and Rehabilitation. Assistive Technology, 2010
This is a technological review paper focussed on identifying both the research challenges and opportunities for further investigation arising from emerging technologies, and it does not aim to propose any recommendation or standard. It is focussed on blind and partially sighted World Wide Web (Web) users along with others who use assistive technologies. The Web is a fast moving interdisciplinary domain in which new technologies, techniques and research is in perpetual development. It is often difficult to maintain a holistic view of new developments within the multiple domains which together make up the Web.
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‘I’m searching for solutions’: why are obese individuals turning to the Internet for help and support with ‘being fat’?
Lewis S et al, Health Expectations, 2010
Introduction
This study explores what types of information obese individuals search for on the Internet, their motivations for seeking information and how they apply it in their daily lives.
Method
In-depth telephone interviews with an Australian community sample of 142 individuals with a BMI ≥ 30 were conducted. Theoretical, purposive and strategic samplings were employed. Data were analysed using a constant comparative method.
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HIT resistant strains
Chris Gibbons, Healthcare Disparities Solutions Blog
“The recently released President’s Council of advisors on scince and technology report entitled, “Realizing the Full Potential of Health Information Technology to Improve Healthcare for Americans: The Path Forward,” calls upon the Federal government to facilitate the widespread adoption of a “universal exchange language” that allows for the transfer of relevant pieces of health data while maximizing privacy.
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Personal Health Records: A Focus on Privacy and Security
Joy Pritts, Health IT Buzz
“Personal health records (PHRs) have the potential to give individuals more control over their health information — collecting, using, and sharing it as they see fit. On December 3, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), held a PHR Roundtable to gain a better understanding of PHRs as well as other emerging technologies, and the dynamic and evolving market in which they exist, with a focus on privacy and security. The Roundtable will help inform a congressionally mandated study and a report to Congress on entities not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). ONC expects to deliver the report to Congress in 2011.
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Health IT: The Year In Review
Michael Lake, The Health Care Blog
“This is a summary of the HIT Trends Report for December 2010 (The Year in Review). You can get the current issue or subscribe here.
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Patient Centered Health Internet
Fred Trotter
“Through my work at the Cautious Patient Foundation, I have become pretty obsessed about only working on patient-centered and patient-empowering technologies. I often work on software for doctors, but only when it happens to also empower patients.
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Physician says no to EMRs
Patty Enrado, EHRWatch
“Michael Kirsch, MD, roundly condemned EMRs as a guest columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, on Christmas Day. He said it doesn’t save time or money, promote efficiency, or improve staff morale. He knows of no patients who prefer it, and believes only health IT vendors are benefiting from the federal push for health IT adoption.
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Telemedicine ‘only way’ for Family Islands
Neil Hartnell, The Tribune
“Telemedicine is the “only way” that Bahamian healthcare professionals will be able to provide better outcomes and cost-effective care to remote Family Island communities, a leading doctor has stated, although he expressed concern over whether this nation’s education system was “gearing” students to exploit job opportunities in this field.
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