Loonsk, John. "Comments for the Meaningful Use Commenters: Specificity Matters." Governement Health IT, April 2, 2012.
From the article: "Stage 2 of Meaningful Use has an increasing number of process measures that try to encourage health information exchange between and, by implication, inside of organizations. But asking for information exchange or interoperable systems without highly detailed, implementation guide “cookbooks” for each transaction means that the costs and burden rests with each healthcare provider. As far back as 2005 when HITSP started its work in the first national health IT agenda, there was a consensus assumption that standards-based, implementation-level guidance for health-related transactions was a principal need and goal. Stage I Meaningful Use had almost no implementation level guidance because, according to the Health IT Standards Committee, no guidance was ready. It is not clear there is more, well-tested implementation guidance available now for Stage 2, but fortunately there is still incrementally more in the regulation.
Comments that push back on implementation level guidance, while there are still process measures that demand the transactions occur, put healthcare providers on the hook for costs and effort for making ad hoc transactions happen. When adequate specificity of implementation guidance is present, much of the burden is shifted to the software developers. Instead of provider-funded, ad hoc transactions in each clinical setting, we get closer to having transactions that that can be built once by each vendor and used in many different implementations." Read more
Thursday, April 5, 2012
A Privacy Manifesto in Code: What If Your Emails Never Went to Gmail and Twitter Couldn't See Your Tweets?
From the article: "A new tool under development by Oregon State computer scientists could radically alter the way that communications work on the web. Privly is a sort of manifesto-in-code, a working argument for a more private, less permanent Internet.
The system we have now gives all the power to the service providers. That seemed to be necessary, but Privly shows that it is not: Users could have a lot more power without giving up social networking. Just pointing that out is a valuable contribution to the ongoing struggle to understand and come up with better ways of sharing and protecting ourselves online." Read more
The system we have now gives all the power to the service providers. That seemed to be necessary, but Privly shows that it is not: Users could have a lot more power without giving up social networking. Just pointing that out is a valuable contribution to the ongoing struggle to understand and come up with better ways of sharing and protecting ourselves online." Read more
If Court Squashes 'Obamacare,' IT May Suffer: HIMSS
Lewis, Nicole. "If Court Squashes 'Obamacare,' IT May Suffer: HIMSS." Information Week, April 2, 2012.
From the article: "If the Supreme Court rules that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, a number of health information technology-related provisions of the law will also fall, and that could disrupt health IT implementation plans, according Richard M. Hodge, senior director of Congressional Affairs at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
But despite these concerns, Hodge told InformationWeek Healthcare, "We will find ways to move forward regardless of the court's decision. That may be through the private sector, [it] may be through other proposals and legislation…we'll just have to see how that unfolds." Read more
See Also
The Supreme Court Case on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, HIMSS fact sheet, March 22, 2012.
From the article: "If the Supreme Court rules that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, a number of health information technology-related provisions of the law will also fall, and that could disrupt health IT implementation plans, according Richard M. Hodge, senior director of Congressional Affairs at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
But despite these concerns, Hodge told InformationWeek Healthcare, "We will find ways to move forward regardless of the court's decision. That may be through the private sector, [it] may be through other proposals and legislation…we'll just have to see how that unfolds." Read more
See Also
The Supreme Court Case on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, HIMSS fact sheet, March 22, 2012.
HIEs Must Plan for Security, Financial Viability to Survive: IDC
Horowitz, Brian T. "HIEs Must Plan for Security, Financial Viability to Survive: IDC." eWeek.com, April 3, 2012.
From the article: "Health information exchanges are beneficial for the continuity of care, but they require privacy and security strategies as well as an effective financial plan to survive, according to an April 2 report by research firm IDC Health Insights. In the report, "Best Practices: Establishing Sustainable Health Information Exchange," IDC interviewed about 45 executives from organizations running enterprise, regional and statewide HIEs…. Health care organizations need to better understand how the technology behind HIEs will be funded before implementing the platforms, according to Lynne Dunbrack, program director of connected health IT strategies at IDC Health Insights." Read more
See Also
Dunbrack, Lynne, Best Practices: Establishing Sustainable Health Information Exchange, March 2012.
From the article: "Health information exchanges are beneficial for the continuity of care, but they require privacy and security strategies as well as an effective financial plan to survive, according to an April 2 report by research firm IDC Health Insights. In the report, "Best Practices: Establishing Sustainable Health Information Exchange," IDC interviewed about 45 executives from organizations running enterprise, regional and statewide HIEs…. Health care organizations need to better understand how the technology behind HIEs will be funded before implementing the platforms, according to Lynne Dunbrack, program director of connected health IT strategies at IDC Health Insights." Read more
See Also
Dunbrack, Lynne, Best Practices: Establishing Sustainable Health Information Exchange, March 2012.
New Internet Users and Online Privacy Perceptions
Turner-Lee, Nicol E., New Internet Users and Online Privacy Perceptions (March 31, 2012).
From the abstract: "This paper explores how minorities and low-income people define, understand and act upon online privacy concerns, and how these communities are impacted by online behavioral advertising. The author’s research will address the degree to which new Internet users, especially people of color, seniors and youth, are often subjected to online targeted advertising due to their lack of experience managing privacy controls and permissions. The authors will present a final paper that integrates both qualitative research as gathered through focus groups and one on one interviews, and secondary analyses of existing research to offer policy recommendations that strive to protect these populations from “bad online actors” that promote predatory targeted advertising." Read more
From the abstract: "This paper explores how minorities and low-income people define, understand and act upon online privacy concerns, and how these communities are impacted by online behavioral advertising. The author’s research will address the degree to which new Internet users, especially people of color, seniors and youth, are often subjected to online targeted advertising due to their lack of experience managing privacy controls and permissions. The authors will present a final paper that integrates both qualitative research as gathered through focus groups and one on one interviews, and secondary analyses of existing research to offer policy recommendations that strive to protect these populations from “bad online actors” that promote predatory targeted advertising." Read more
Assessing the Influence of Online Activism on Internet Policy-Making: The Case of SOPA/PIPA
Powell, Alison, Assessing the Influence of Online Activism on Internet Policy-Making: The Case of SOPA/PIPA (March 30, 2012).
From the abstract: "This paper analyzes the influence of online activism, especially technical activist actions like web blackouts, on the policy-making process. It presents an assessment of the differential influence of various forms of policy advocacy, based on a review of all actions related to the Stop SOPA campaign, but particularly the web site blocks and shutdowns of January 18, 2012. Preliminary research suggests that most sites who participated left site access unchanged, but added symbolic blackouts or messages inviting citizens to contact their representatives. This suggests that the Jan 18 action was significant in 1. connecting the proposed laws with a discourse of internet censorship and 2. amplifying that discourse through online and mass media to provoke a policy response." Read more
From the abstract: "This paper analyzes the influence of online activism, especially technical activist actions like web blackouts, on the policy-making process. It presents an assessment of the differential influence of various forms of policy advocacy, based on a review of all actions related to the Stop SOPA campaign, but particularly the web site blocks and shutdowns of January 18, 2012. Preliminary research suggests that most sites who participated left site access unchanged, but added symbolic blackouts or messages inviting citizens to contact their representatives. This suggests that the Jan 18 action was significant in 1. connecting the proposed laws with a discourse of internet censorship and 2. amplifying that discourse through online and mass media to provoke a policy response." Read more
Designing Surveillance Law
From the abstract: "As communications surveillance techniques become increasingly important in government efforts to detect and thwart criminal and terrorist activities, questions of how to reconcile privacy and law enforcement interests take on paramount importance. These questions have institutional as well as substantive dimensions. That is, the issue is not simply what the limits on communications surveillance should be, but who should set them — courts through application of the Fourth Amendment or legislatures through statutes and the oversight process? The scholarly literature offers divergent positive and normative perspectives on these questions.
For most scholars, the question of who should regulate communications surveillance activities has a straightforward answer: the task is one for the courts applying the Constitution. Because constitutionally-based regulation of communications surveillance tactics has been relatively limited since the seminal case of Katz v. United States in 1967, such scholars view the surveillance law landscape as one reflecting judicial abdication: courts have largely failed at reining in executive discretion and must play a more active role. For a handful of other scholars, in contrast, the limited constitutionally-based regulation of surveillance tactics is not a cause for concern. Such scholars argue for legislative supremacy in surveillance law on the theory that courts lack the expertise to evaluate rapidly evolving technologies." Read more
For most scholars, the question of who should regulate communications surveillance activities has a straightforward answer: the task is one for the courts applying the Constitution. Because constitutionally-based regulation of communications surveillance tactics has been relatively limited since the seminal case of Katz v. United States in 1967, such scholars view the surveillance law landscape as one reflecting judicial abdication: courts have largely failed at reining in executive discretion and must play a more active role. For a handful of other scholars, in contrast, the limited constitutionally-based regulation of surveillance tactics is not a cause for concern. Such scholars argue for legislative supremacy in surveillance law on the theory that courts lack the expertise to evaluate rapidly evolving technologies." Read more
Is Your Facebook Password Like Your Mail, House Key, or Drug Test?
Garber, Megan. "Is Your Facebook Password Like Your Mail, House Key, or Drug Test?" The Atlantic, April 3, 2012.
From the article: "Last week, Representative Ed Perlmutter, Democrat from Colorado, proposed an amendment to H.R. 3309, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012, in reaction to news of employers, prospective and otherwise, demanding the passwords of employees' social media accounts. The amendment, colorfully shorthanded "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS ON PASSWORDS," would have prohibited employers from demanding workers' social networking usernames and passwords -- and would have allowed the FCC to intervene on behalf of employees and their privacy. It would have codified, in other words, the notion that one's social media identity is an extension of one's broader identity, with the privacy protections (such as they are) that come along with the analogy.
A day after it was proposed, the amendment was voted down -- almost entirely along party lines -- thus closing one door to social media privacy legislation, at least on the national level. (There are similar social media privacy laws -- full bills, rather than amendments -- currently being proposed in the legislatures of Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan.)
But that's not the end of the story. In fact, it's just the beginning." Read more
From the article: "Last week, Representative Ed Perlmutter, Democrat from Colorado, proposed an amendment to H.R. 3309, the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2012, in reaction to news of employers, prospective and otherwise, demanding the passwords of employees' social media accounts. The amendment, colorfully shorthanded "MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS ON PASSWORDS," would have prohibited employers from demanding workers' social networking usernames and passwords -- and would have allowed the FCC to intervene on behalf of employees and their privacy. It would have codified, in other words, the notion that one's social media identity is an extension of one's broader identity, with the privacy protections (such as they are) that come along with the analogy.
A day after it was proposed, the amendment was voted down -- almost entirely along party lines -- thus closing one door to social media privacy legislation, at least on the national level. (There are similar social media privacy laws -- full bills, rather than amendments -- currently being proposed in the legislatures of Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan.)
But that's not the end of the story. In fact, it's just the beginning." Read more
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
ISACA: 58% Use Location-based Apps Despite Privacy Concerns
ISACA: 58% Use Location-based Apps Despite Privacy Concerns, ISACA press release, April 3, 2012.
From the press release: "Fifty-eight percent of consumers who have a smart device use location-based applications, despite concerns about safety and third-party use of their personal information for marketing purposes, according to a recent survey from nonprofit global information security association ISACA.
From the press release: "Fifty-eight percent of consumers who have a smart device use location-based applications, despite concerns about safety and third-party use of their personal information for marketing purposes, according to a recent survey from nonprofit global information security association ISACA.
A telephone poll of 1,000 Americans shows that many people have concerns or incomplete information about geolocation, which uses data acquired from a computer or mobile device to identify a physical location:
- Top concerns include third-party use of personal information for marketing purposes (24%) and strangers knowing too much about people’s activities (24%)
- Personal safety is the next biggest concern (21%)
- 43% of people do not read the agreements on apps before downloading them, and of those who do read the agreements, 25% believe these agreements are not clear about how location information is being used" Read more
See Also
Geolocation: Risk, Issues and Strategies, ISACA white paper, 2012.
ICANN Leader Predicts Major Internet Changes
"ICANN Leader Predicts Major Internet Changes." SF Gate, March 30, 2012.
From the press release: "Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's President and Chief Executive Officer today said the Internet will change more in the next five years than it has in the past three decades. …Beckstrom said the future of the Internet will be defined by the very model of governance that ICANN embodies. "The Internet itself will depend on coordination and cooperation between its many stakeholders. We must continue to work together under principles of inclusion, consensus, multistakeholder participation, bottom-up decision making processes, transparency and accountability." Read more
From the press release: "Rod Beckstrom, ICANN's President and Chief Executive Officer today said the Internet will change more in the next five years than it has in the past three decades. …Beckstrom said the future of the Internet will be defined by the very model of governance that ICANN embodies. "The Internet itself will depend on coordination and cooperation between its many stakeholders. We must continue to work together under principles of inclusion, consensus, multistakeholder participation, bottom-up decision making processes, transparency and accountability." Read more
Beware the Unholy Alliance of State and Internet
Morozov, Evgeny. "Beware the Unholy Alliance of State and Internet." The Financial Times, April 3, 2012.
From the opinion: "Instead of granting intelligence services more power, we need to worry about the coming convergence of the data-gathering demands of the state and the business imperatives of internet companies. Take a recent example: a few weeks ago, Google was granted a patent that would potentially allow it to use our phones to study the environment around us – to record noise levels, lighting conditions, temperature – and customise adverts accordingly. It’s easy to imagine that the folks at intelligence agencies would be quite delighted if Google developed this idea – at the very least, it would save them money on wiretaps.
….The idea that we need to make it easier for governments to do this, in the UK and elsewhere, is ludicrous. We need to be doing the exact opposite. It is only by anticipating the consequences of this coming unholy alliance between internet companies and intelligence agencies that our freedoms can be defended." Read more (registration may be required)
Internet Freedom Starts at Home
Mackinnon, Rebecca. "Internet Freedom Starts at Home." Foreign Policy, April 3, 2012.
From the article: "Yet more than two years after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her first speech declaring "Internet freedom" to be a major component of U.S. foreign policy, it turns out that many of the most sophisticated tools used to suppress online free speech and dissent around the world are actually Made in the USA. American corporations are major suppliers of software and hardware used by all sorts of governments to carry out censorship and surveillance -- and not just dictatorships. Inconveniently, governments around the democratic world are pushing to expand their own censorship and surveillance powers as they struggle to address genuine problems related to cybercrime, cyberwar, child protection, and intellectual property.
Even more inconveniently, the U.S. government is the biggest and most powerful customer of American-made surveillance technology, shaping the development of those technologies as well as the business practices and norms for public-private collaboration around them. As long as the U.S. government continues to support the development of a surveillance-technology industry that clearly lacks concern for the human rights and civil liberties implications of its business -- even rewarding secretive and publicly unaccountable behavior by these companies -- the world's dictators will remain well supplied by a robust global industry." Read more
From the article: "Yet more than two years after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her first speech declaring "Internet freedom" to be a major component of U.S. foreign policy, it turns out that many of the most sophisticated tools used to suppress online free speech and dissent around the world are actually Made in the USA. American corporations are major suppliers of software and hardware used by all sorts of governments to carry out censorship and surveillance -- and not just dictatorships. Inconveniently, governments around the democratic world are pushing to expand their own censorship and surveillance powers as they struggle to address genuine problems related to cybercrime, cyberwar, child protection, and intellectual property.
Even more inconveniently, the U.S. government is the biggest and most powerful customer of American-made surveillance technology, shaping the development of those technologies as well as the business practices and norms for public-private collaboration around them. As long as the U.S. government continues to support the development of a surveillance-technology industry that clearly lacks concern for the human rights and civil liberties implications of its business -- even rewarding secretive and publicly unaccountable behavior by these companies -- the world's dictators will remain well supplied by a robust global industry." Read more
IT Investments Deliver Profits, Study Finds
Thibodeau. Patrick. "IT Investments Deliver Profits, Study Finds." Computerworld, April 3, 2012.
From the article: "Investing in IT departments can have a big impact on a firm's profits, more so than similar spending on R&D and some marketing endeavors, according to a team of university researchers.
The researchers reached their conclusions after examining the IT investments and financial data of about 450 companies in an effort to draw a link between IT spending and profits.
The work, published in the journal, MIS Quarterly, led to several key conclusions.
First, IT investments are "positively associated with profitability," according to the research paper.
The researchers said they were able to look deep enough at these unidentified global firms to draw insights into the type of IT investments that are most helpful. They found that companies are better off spending on projects that create revenue instead of reducing costs.
For instance, a company that builds or buys a business intelligence system that helps sell products will see more bottom line benefits than a company that spends IT dollars to automate internal processes to trim expenses, said the paper's lead author, Sunil Mithas, an associate professor Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland." Read more
See Also
Mithas, Sunil, A.Tafti, I. Bardhan and J.M. Goh. "The Impact of IT Investments on Profits." MIT Sloan Management Review, March 20, 2012.
John Dodge, March 30, 2012, "IT Investments Have Greater Impact on Profitability Than R&D or Advertising, MIT Reports," CIO blog.
From the article: "Investing in IT departments can have a big impact on a firm's profits, more so than similar spending on R&D and some marketing endeavors, according to a team of university researchers.
The researchers reached their conclusions after examining the IT investments and financial data of about 450 companies in an effort to draw a link between IT spending and profits.
The work, published in the journal, MIS Quarterly, led to several key conclusions.
First, IT investments are "positively associated with profitability," according to the research paper.
The researchers said they were able to look deep enough at these unidentified global firms to draw insights into the type of IT investments that are most helpful. They found that companies are better off spending on projects that create revenue instead of reducing costs.
For instance, a company that builds or buys a business intelligence system that helps sell products will see more bottom line benefits than a company that spends IT dollars to automate internal processes to trim expenses, said the paper's lead author, Sunil Mithas, an associate professor Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland." Read more
See Also
Mithas, Sunil, A.Tafti, I. Bardhan and J.M. Goh. "The Impact of IT Investments on Profits." MIT Sloan Management Review, March 20, 2012.
John Dodge, March 30, 2012, "IT Investments Have Greater Impact on Profitability Than R&D or Advertising, MIT Reports," CIO blog.
NeHC Offers Guidance for Successful HIE
NeHC Offers Guidance for Successful HIE, National eHealth Collaborative press release, April 2, 2012.
See Also
Health Information Exchange Roadmap: The Landscape and a Path Forward, report by the National eHealth Collaborative, April 2, 2012.
From the press release: "National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) today released the Health Information Exchange Roadmap: The Landscape and a Path Forward. This Roadmap offers stakeholders a clear picture of efforts being undertaken by both the public and private sectors to create and implement the building blocks for widespread deployment of interoperable HIE. It also provides an understanding of how these diverse approaches fit together into a cohesive strategy for nationwide HIE and suggests a four phase roadmap to help HIE initiatives make progress and become sustainable." Read more
See Also
Health Information Exchange Roadmap: The Landscape and a Path Forward, report by the National eHealth Collaborative, April 2, 2012.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Buzz in the Blogosphere: Millions More Bloggers and Blog Readers
"Buzz in the Blogosphere: Millions More Bloggers and Blog Readers." Nielsen Wire, March 8, 2012.
From the article: "By the end of 2011, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, tracked over 181 million blogs around the world, up from 36 million only five years earlier in 2006…. It’s no surprise that the growing number of blogs mirrors a growth in bloggers. Overall, 6.7 million people publish blogs on blogging websites, and another 12 million write blogs using their social networks.
So, who are blog writers and what else do they do online?
From the article: "By the end of 2011, NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey company, tracked over 181 million blogs around the world, up from 36 million only five years earlier in 2006…. It’s no surprise that the growing number of blogs mirrors a growth in bloggers. Overall, 6.7 million people publish blogs on blogging websites, and another 12 million write blogs using their social networks.
So, who are blog writers and what else do they do online?
- Women make up the majority of bloggers, and half of bloggers are aged 18-34
- Bloggers are well-educated: 7 out of 10 bloggers have gone to college, a majority of whom are graduates
- About 1 in 3 bloggers are Moms, and 52 percent of bloggers are parents with kids under 18 years-old in their household
- Bloggers are active across social media: they’re twice as likely to post/comment on consumer-generated video sites like YouTube, and nearly three times more likely to post in Message Boards/Forums within the last month" Read more
Monday, April 2, 2012
Becoming Accountable: Delivering Value-Based Care Through Optimal Use of IT and Data
Samitt, Craig E. "Becoming Accountable: Delivering Value-Based Care Through Optimal Use of IT and Data." iHealthBeat, April 2, 2012.
From the article: "As we evolve from a system of unit-based care to population-based care, we, as systems, will want to be able to benchmark our performance against other organizations, share un-blinded comparative data with clinicians regarding service, quality and cost, and transparently report data to our markets as a means of growing our practices and competing in the world of health insurance exchanges. We also will want to develop comprehensive "big data" data warehouses and analytics shops so that we can predictively model clinical information, identify areas of quality/safety/cost concerns and assess variations in practice patterns. We'll also want to develop a wider array of metrics of success, so that we know what good quality looks like, what good service feels like and what efficient care costs.
While our assessment of quality today is mostly process metrics in primary care, we can predict that we'll move closer to outcome metrics in the future, and such metrics will exist not only for primary care, but for all specialties and all services, both inpatient and outpatient. While we struggle with the accuracy, transparency, format and availability of data today, we've invested heavily in data creation, analysis, reporting and modeling at Dean because it is quite clear to us that data will be king in the world of value." Read more
From the article: "As we evolve from a system of unit-based care to population-based care, we, as systems, will want to be able to benchmark our performance against other organizations, share un-blinded comparative data with clinicians regarding service, quality and cost, and transparently report data to our markets as a means of growing our practices and competing in the world of health insurance exchanges. We also will want to develop comprehensive "big data" data warehouses and analytics shops so that we can predictively model clinical information, identify areas of quality/safety/cost concerns and assess variations in practice patterns. We'll also want to develop a wider array of metrics of success, so that we know what good quality looks like, what good service feels like and what efficient care costs.
While our assessment of quality today is mostly process metrics in primary care, we can predict that we'll move closer to outcome metrics in the future, and such metrics will exist not only for primary care, but for all specialties and all services, both inpatient and outpatient. While we struggle with the accuracy, transparency, format and availability of data today, we've invested heavily in data creation, analysis, reporting and modeling at Dean because it is quite clear to us that data will be king in the world of value." Read more
Overabundance of Medication Alerts Too Detailed to Help Busy Docs
Terry, Ken. "Overabundance of Medication Alerts Too Detailed to Help Busy Docs." Fierce Health IT, March 29, 2012.
From the article: "Too many medication alerts exist in electronic health records, and often times those alerts contain warnings that are too detailed to help busy clinicians, according to a new study by Indianapolis' Regenstrief Institute and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The institute calls the study first "in-depth look" at how physicians react to such alerts in EHRs…. Their paper, published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics, notes that prescribers were sometimes unsure of why an alert was appearing. The prompts seemed to be more oriented to pharmacists than doctors or nurses, despite the fact that the latter were the alerts' main recipients." Read more
See Also
Russ, Alissa and A. Zillich, M. McManus, B. Doebbeling, & J. Saleem. "Prescribers’ Interactions With Medication Alerts at the Point of Prescribing: A Multi-method, In Situ Investigation of the Human–Computer Interaction." International Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 81, Issue 4 , Pages 232-243, April 2012.
Lab Tests Fell After HIE Rollout, Researchers Say
Conn, Joseph. "Lab Tests Fell After HIE Rollout, Researchers Say." Modern Healthcare, April 2, 2012.
B. Middleton, M. Shubina, & A.Turchin. "Bridging the Chasm: Effect of Health Information Exchange on Volume of Laboratory Testing." JAMA Archives of Internal Medicine, 2012;172(6):517-519.
From the article: "A study released by Harvard researchers that concluded that physicians who have computerized access to patients' test results are more likely to order additional lab and imaging tests has a new counterpoint by another team of Harvard researchers.
A three-page research letter, "Bridging the Chasm: Effect of Health Information Exchange on Volume of Laboratory Testing" (purchase required), published in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, reports on a study that examined outpatient visits at two affiliated academic hospitals one year before and up to three years after a health information exchange was rolled out.
The study looked at 117,606 outpatient encounters at the two hospitals. The encounters occurred in 1999, the year before a health information exchange between them was rolled out, and in the years 2001 through 2004, when the HIE was in operation. Before and after the exchange's implementation, the researchers counted the number of laboratory tests ordered at either of the hospitals that occurred seven or fewer days before an outpatient visit at the other hospital, which the researchers call an "index encounter." Between the two study periods, before and after the exchange's implementation, 346 visits in which lab results were available from the "other" hospital took place." Read more
A three-page research letter, "Bridging the Chasm: Effect of Health Information Exchange on Volume of Laboratory Testing" (purchase required), published in the March 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, reports on a study that examined outpatient visits at two affiliated academic hospitals one year before and up to three years after a health information exchange was rolled out.
The study looked at 117,606 outpatient encounters at the two hospitals. The encounters occurred in 1999, the year before a health information exchange between them was rolled out, and in the years 2001 through 2004, when the HIE was in operation. Before and after the exchange's implementation, the researchers counted the number of laboratory tests ordered at either of the hospitals that occurred seven or fewer days before an outpatient visit at the other hospital, which the researchers call an "index encounter." Between the two study periods, before and after the exchange's implementation, 346 visits in which lab results were available from the "other" hospital took place." Read more
See Also
Hebel, Esteban and
Protecting Privacy in a TMI World
Leibowitz, John. "Protecting Privacy in a TMI World." The Washington Post, April 1, 2012.
From the opinion: "Over the past decade, as Americans have enthusiastically moved more and more of their lives online — from catching up on the latest NCAA results to buying a car, financing their college education or finding a job — we at the Federal Trade Commission have had to rethink what privacy means: to consider how consumers can continue to enjoy the riches of a thriving, increasingly online and mobile marketplace without surrendering their privacy as the price of admission.
Last week, the FTC, the nation’s premiere privacy protection agency, tackled that question with a report on the state of the right to privacy, what Louis Brandeis, one of the intellectual fathers of the FTC, called “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” We detailed what we — in the public and private sectors — must do to make sure consumers’ right to privacy remains robust into the 21st century." Read more
See Also
FTC Issues Final Commission Report on Protecting Consumer Privacy, Federal Trade Commission press release, March 26, 2012.
From the opinion: "Over the past decade, as Americans have enthusiastically moved more and more of their lives online — from catching up on the latest NCAA results to buying a car, financing their college education or finding a job — we at the Federal Trade Commission have had to rethink what privacy means: to consider how consumers can continue to enjoy the riches of a thriving, increasingly online and mobile marketplace without surrendering their privacy as the price of admission.
Last week, the FTC, the nation’s premiere privacy protection agency, tackled that question with a report on the state of the right to privacy, what Louis Brandeis, one of the intellectual fathers of the FTC, called “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” We detailed what we — in the public and private sectors — must do to make sure consumers’ right to privacy remains robust into the 21st century." Read more
See Also
FTC Issues Final Commission Report on Protecting Consumer Privacy, Federal Trade Commission press release, March 26, 2012.
Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool
Lichtblau, Eric. "Police Are Using Phone Tracking as a Routine Tool." The New York Times, March 31, 2012.
From the article: "Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of “surveillance fees” to police departments to determine a suspect’s location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations." Read more
From the article: "Law enforcement tracking of cellphones, once the province mainly of federal agents, has become a powerful and widely used surveillance tool for local police officials, with hundreds of departments, large and small, often using it aggressively with little or no court oversight, documents show. The practice has become big business for cellphone companies, too, with a handful of carriers marketing a catalog of “surveillance fees” to police departments to determine a suspect’s location, trace phone calls and texts or provide other services. Some departments log dozens of traces a month for both emergencies and routine investigations." Read more
Email and Web Use 'To Be Monitored' Under New Laws
"Email and Web Use 'To Be Monitored' Under New Laws." BBC News, April 1, 2012.
From the article: "Government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation set to be announced soon. Internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time. The Home Office says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it." Read more
From the article: "Government will be able to monitor the calls, emails, texts and website visits of everyone in the UK under new legislation set to be announced soon. Internet firms will be required to give intelligence agency GCHQ access to communications on demand, in real time. The Home Office says the move is key to tackling crime and terrorism, but civil liberties groups have criticised it." Read more
World War 3.0
Gross, Michael Joseph. "World War 3.0." Vanity Fair, May 2012.
From the article: "When the Internet was created, decades ago, one thing was inevitable: the war today over how (or whether) to control it, and who should have that power. Battle lines have been drawn between repressive regimes and Western democracies, corporations and customers, hackers and law enforcement. Looking toward a year-end negotiation in Dubai, where 193 nations will gather to revise a U.N. treaty concerning the Internet, Michael Joseph Gross lays out the stakes in a conflict that could split the virtual world as we know it." Read more
Friday, March 30, 2012
In Age of Gadgets, Doctors Try To Keep Human Touch
Neergaard, Lauran. "In Age of Gadgets, Doctors Try To Keep Human Touch." USA Today, March 29, 2012.
From the article: "As the United States moves to paperless medicine, doctors are grappling with an awkward challenge: How do they tap the promise of computers, smartphones and iPads in the exam room without losing the human connection with their patients? Are the gadgets a boon or a distraction?...Across the country at Stanford University this summer, medical students will bring a school-issued iPad along as they begin their bedside training — amid cautions not to get so lost in all the on-screen information that they pay too little attention to the patient.
Face your patient, excuse yourself to check the screen and put away the gadget when you don't really need it, say Stanford guidelines that specialists say make sense for physicians everywhere. And, of course, no personal Internet use in front of a patient.
Electronic health records, or EHRs, are considered the future of health care for good reason — they can help prevent medical errors. For example, the systems can warn if doctors are about to prescribe a drug that could interact badly with another one the patient already uses. As these computerized charts become more sophisticated, they also have the potential to spur more efficient care: no more getting another X-ray just because you forgot to bring in your last scan if the doctor can call it up digitally." Read more
From the article: "As the United States moves to paperless medicine, doctors are grappling with an awkward challenge: How do they tap the promise of computers, smartphones and iPads in the exam room without losing the human connection with their patients? Are the gadgets a boon or a distraction?...Across the country at Stanford University this summer, medical students will bring a school-issued iPad along as they begin their bedside training — amid cautions not to get so lost in all the on-screen information that they pay too little attention to the patient.
Face your patient, excuse yourself to check the screen and put away the gadget when you don't really need it, say Stanford guidelines that specialists say make sense for physicians everywhere. And, of course, no personal Internet use in front of a patient.
Electronic health records, or EHRs, are considered the future of health care for good reason — they can help prevent medical errors. For example, the systems can warn if doctors are about to prescribe a drug that could interact badly with another one the patient already uses. As these computerized charts become more sophisticated, they also have the potential to spur more efficient care: no more getting another X-ray just because you forgot to bring in your last scan if the doctor can call it up digitally." Read more
Huge Genetic Data Set Open To Public
Robeznieks, Andis and Christine LaFave Grace. “Huge Genetic Data Set Open To Public.” Modern Healthcare, March 29, 2012.
From the article: "Researchers worldwide now have public access to an enormous database of information on human genetic variation, officials from the National Institutes of Health and a public-private research collaboration announced Thursday. The database was produced by the 1000 Genomes Project, an international research consortium started in 2008 and supported by the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and numerous not-for-profit institutes and genetic-research companies. It represents the "world's largest set of data on human genetic variation," according to an NIH news release.
NIH officials and Amazon Web Services representatives announced the data set's availability at an event hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. Also at the event, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the launch of the public-private Big Data Research and Development Initiative, which will commit more than $200 million and the resources of at least six federal agencies, including the NIH and the Energy and Defense departments, to develop technologies needed to analyze large data sets, according to the release." Read more
See Also “Big Data is a Big Deal.” Office of Science and Technology Policy, March 29, 2012.
From the article: "Researchers worldwide now have public access to an enormous database of information on human genetic variation, officials from the National Institutes of Health and a public-private research collaboration announced Thursday. The database was produced by the 1000 Genomes Project, an international research consortium started in 2008 and supported by the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and numerous not-for-profit institutes and genetic-research companies. It represents the "world's largest set of data on human genetic variation," according to an NIH news release.
NIH officials and Amazon Web Services representatives announced the data set's availability at an event hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. Also at the event, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy announced the launch of the public-private Big Data Research and Development Initiative, which will commit more than $200 million and the resources of at least six federal agencies, including the NIH and the Energy and Defense departments, to develop technologies needed to analyze large data sets, according to the release." Read more
See Also “Big Data is a Big Deal.” Office of Science and Technology Policy, March 29, 2012.
Press release, “1000 Genomes Project data available on Amazon Cloud.” National Human Genome Research Institute, March 29, 2012.
2010 International Telecommunications Data
“2010 International Telecommunications Data.” Strategic Analysis and Negotiations Division, Multilateral Negotiations and Industry Analysis Branch, International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission. October 31, 2011.
From the Press Release: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released an annual report entitled 2010 International Telecommunications Data regarding international message telephone, private line and miscellaneous services between the United States and other countries.
Statistical Findings
From the Press Release: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released an annual report entitled 2010 International Telecommunications Data regarding international message telephone, private line and miscellaneous services between the United States and other countries.
Statistical Findings
- The per-minute charge to U.S. consumers for this traffic fell 19% from $0.08 per minute in 2009 to $0.06 per minute in 2010. From 2000 to 2010, the charge has decreased 87%, from $0.47 per minute to $0.06 per minute.
- International “U.S.-billed” traffic – primarily traffic originating in the United States – decreased 14.5%, from 72.9 billion minutes in 2009 to 62.4 billion minutes in 2010. This is the first year there has been a decrease in U.S. – billed minutes of this magnitude.
- Of the top ten countries with the most U.S.-billed minutes, India was the only country where traffic increased in 2010. U.S.–billed minutes to India increased 17% from 13.6 billion in 2009 to 15.9 billion in 2010.
- Total U.S.-billed revenues for international telephone, private line and other miscellaneous services (e.g., frame relay/ATM, packet switching, switched Ethernet, TDM/TDMA, virtual private network, and virtual private line decreased collectively 30%, from $6.6 billion in 2009 to $4.6 billion in 2010. Read more