News

3D Printing: A Revolutionary Advance for the Field of Urology?

This article reviews the development of biological 3D printing, or biofabrication, within the field of urology and examines both the pros and the cons of this emerging technology. The cost implications of this technology for healthcare facilities are considered, as well as the entrepreneurial opportunities that arise from the emergence and evolution of 3D printing. Read More »

Google Glass Moves With Speed Thanks to Open Source

I recently got a Google Glass device through the Explorer Program. Once I got it in my hands, I linked it to my associated Gmail account and G+ account. Then, I got started. One of the first things I noticed was that I was presented with many open source software tools to work with. This was exciting. And, I soon learned that it was thanks to these open source resources that Glass development can be done quickly and successfully. Read More »

IT Consumerization: A Case Study of BYOD in a Healthcare Setting

This article focuses on the implementation of BYOD in a healthcare setting. First, the challenges of implementing BYOD in the healthcare industry are examined. Next, a case study of The Ottawa Hospital is developed to illustrate the practical benefits and hurdles that must be overcome when hospital staff begin using consumer IT devices in the workplace. Finally, recommendations are offered to help healthcare organizations develop and implement a successful BYOD strategy. Read More »

O'Reilly Report Explores Open Solutions to Health IT

Although many programmers and public interest advocates come to the concepts of free software, standards, open data, and transparent institutions out of idealism, modern businesses and governments are being driven to these same solutions out of the practical need to meet high expectations with diminishing resources. The ways in which the health care field has been incrementally adopting these paths are the subject of a new report, written by me and released by O'Reilly Media, called The Information Technology Fix for Health: Barriers and Pathways to the Use of Information Technology for Better Health Care. Read More »

State University of New York at Albany Launches VistA EHR Studies Program

The Albany Campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) has launched a new VistA EHR Studies program—the most comprehensive one of its kind in the United States. The program, which began on March 24, provides students the basis to learn and manage VistA’s fast-growing open source electronic health record (EHR) system. The decision to launch the full program follows a successful pilot course taught at the university this past fall. Read More »

Top 10 eClinical Trends

The drug development industry is facing a revolution in the way clinical trials are being planned and conducted. It’s an industry that experiences rapid changes in technology adoption and business models, from new ways of capturing clinical data to new outsourcing strategies. This paper focuses on ten essential eClinical trends in order to help you understand which direction the biotech industry is prone to take in the next few years. As both the means, and the ultimate motivation of clinical development, patients are the most fundamental assets during the clinical trial process. We have summed up five trends that are destined to give them a more important role in the conduct of clinical studies: Boosting Patient Engagement, Integrated ePRO (electronic Patient Reported Outcomes) Systems, Mobile Clinical Studies, Personalized medicine, and Risk-based monitoring. Read More »

Can Data Provide the Trust we Need in Health Care?

One of the problems dragging down the US health care system is that nobody trusts one another. Most of us, as individuals, place faith in our personal health care providers, which may or may not be warranted. But on a larger scale we’re all suspicious of each other... Read More »

Pursuing Adoption of Free and Open Source Software in Governments

Free and open source software creates a natural — and even necessary — fit with government. I joined a panel this past weekend at the Free Software Foundation conference LibrePlanet on this topic and have covered it previously in a journal article and talk. Our panel focused on barriers to its adoption and steps that free software advocates could take to reach out to government agencies. Read More »

Makers are the new industrial revolution

Following up on the recent review of the Maker's Manifesto, I ran across the book Makers: The New Industrial Revolution by Chris Anderson. Anderson is a former Editor in Chief of Wired and no stranger to the economic paradoxes of peer-production and open source. He has written about both in previous books The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More and Free: The Future of a Radical Price. Read More »

Open Data Can Drive Partnerships With Government

As governments and businesses — and increasingly, all of us who are Internet-connected — release data out in the open, we come closer to resolving the tiresomely famous and perplexing quote from Stewart Brand: “Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive.” Open data brings home to us how much free information is available and how productive it is in its free state, but one subterranean thread I found in Joel Gurin’s book Open Data Now highlights an important point: information is very expensive. Read More »