News Clips

iEHR Will Be in Place 4 to 6 Years From Now, Says Baker

David Perera | Fierce Government IT | May 31, 2011

A joint, integrated electronic health record between the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs should be in place 4 to 6 years from now, said VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker during a May 27 press call. Read More »

HL7 International Appoints ONC’s Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, to the Board of Directors

Press Release | Health Level Seven International | May 31, 2011

Health Level Seven® International (HL7®), the global authority for interoperability and standards in healthcare information technology with members in 55 countries, today announced the appointment of Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, director of the Office of Interoperability and Standards, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), to the HL7 Board of Directors. Read More »

ClearCanvas Releases First Commercial Version of Widely Used PACS; Integrated RIS/PACS to Follow

Press Release | ClearCanvas Inc. | May 31, 2011

ClearCanvas Inc., an innovative medical imaging informatics company, today announced the commercial release of their radiology PACS offering, ClearCanvas PACS, Team Edition. Read More »

CSIR Launches Private Company

Press Release | CSIR, CSIR-Tech | May 31, 2011

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), of India, in a long awaited move to commercialize its innovations and research skills launched its private company, CSIR-Tech, in Pune, India on May 2, 2011. Read More »

FDA Signals It Will Regulate Medical Apps

Pamela Lewis Dolan | amednews.com | May 30, 2011

A handful of developers has sought and received Food and Drug Administration clearance for their mobile apps considered to be clinical devices. And the FDA, which hasn't involved itself in regulating or enforcing any rules that might be related to clinical app development, has indicated that it will be more proactive in monitoring that class of product. Read More »

Text Messages to Help Centuries-Old Choco Mining Tradition

Adriaan Alsema | Columbia Reports | May 30, 2011

Artisanal mining traditions and culture dating back to when the Spanish first brought African slaves to mine the region known today as Choco, are being reintroduced into the 21st century marketplace with the help of a text message. Read More »

FierceGovernmentIT FOIAs OMB TechStat Meeting Info, Part II

David Perera | Fierce Government IT | May 30, 2011

Either we can accept the lack of access as a quirk of the current administration, or we can try to do something about it...And so, we're presenting the results of our second round of Freedom of Information Act requests about OMB TechStat meetings. Read More »

The Guardian: Yes, But of What?

Glyn Moody | ComputerWorld UK | May 30, 2011

I'm excited that patent reform legislation is slated to be reintroduced today by Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch and Representatives John Conyers and Lamar Smith. 

Read More »

Honoring Our Heroes

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | Huffington Post | May 30, 2011

For many of the brave men and women who have fought on the frontlines, returning home means trying to navigate a complicated and bureaucratic Veterans Administration benefits system.

Read More »

New Report Highlights Open Technology Best Practices in the Military

John Scott | opensource.com | May 30, 2011

In particular, the U.S. military must have software that is easily adaptable to changing mission needs and can be evolved rapidly and delivered quickly at lower costs to meet mission requirements in a timely manner. Read More »

How the VA Looks at Population Level Data to Analyze Outcomes

Suchita Shah | KevinMD.com | May 30, 2011

The VA isn’t perfect, but definitely is better than other health care systems I have worked in so far.  It embraces the idea of patient-centered medical home, where a primary care physician coordinates and takes responsibility for a patient’s care … the old-school definition of good medical care that has recently become popular again, especially because of its emphasis on preventive care and continuity of care. Read More »

Federal Government Loosens Its Grip on the BlackBerry

Michael S. Rosenwald | Washington Post | May 30, 2011

The flashy consumer products that have been adopted in the corporate workforce — upending BlackBerrys for iPhones, Microsoft Outlook for Gmail, and lately laptops for iPads — are now invading the federal government. The change may damage companies long associated with Washington work culture, but officials say the shift will make workers more productive while slashing billions from the $80 billion spent annually on information technology. Read More »

Bill Seeks to Increase Enrollment in VA System

Neale Gulley | The Tonawanda News | May 29, 2011

A new bill aims to hold the federal government responsible for making sure an estimated 720,000 New York veterans get the benefits they’re entitled to receive. Read More »

EHRs Needed For Comparative Effectiveness Research, Too

Ken Terry | Fierce Health IT | May 28, 2011

A year-old consortium of academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies, and information technology firms is trying to find a way to harness electronic health records for clinical research...As important as this undertaking is, however, there's another project that could have a far greater and more immediate impact on public health.

Semantic 'lego': an information framework to drive drug discovery

Press Release | Open PHACTS | May 27, 2011

A new consortium of European organisations unite to support next generation drug discovery by providing a single view across data sources, bringing the semantic web to drug discovery. The Open PHACTS consortium, funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative, will reduce the barriers to drug discovery by applying semantic technologies to available data resources, creating an Open Pharmacological Space. Read More »