medical errors
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The Biggest Mistake Doctors Make
Misdiagnoses are harmful and costly. But they're often preventable. [...] Such devastating errors lead to permanent damage or death for as many as 160,000 patients each year, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Read More »
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The Dubious Promise Of Digital Medicine
GE, Google, and others, in a stimulus-fueled frenzy, are piling into the business. But electronic health records have a dubious history Read More »
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The Evolving Role of Open Source Software in Medicine and Health Services
In this article, we highlight the barriers to progress and discuss the dangers of pursuing a standardization framework devoid of empirical testing and iterative development. We give the example of the openEHR Foundation, which was established at University College London (UCL) in London, England, with members in 80 countries....We argue that such an approach is now essential to support good discipline, innovation, and governance at the heart of medicine and health services, in line with the new mandate for health commissioning in the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), which emphasizes patient participation, innovation, transparency, and accountability. Read More »
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The Flaws Of Electronic Records
Drexel University's Scot Silverstein is a leading critic of the rapid switch to computerized medical charts, saying the notion that they prevent more mistakes than they cause is not proven. Read More »
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The Importance Of Usability In Healthcare Technology
Patients use technology to manage and coordinate their care now more than ever before. As Meaningful Use stages 2 and 3 approach, this will only increase. Patients will be using patient portals, for example, to glean information from their records and make informed decisions regarding their health. They will view, question and validate provider remarks, thus improving accuracy, awareness and patient /provider relationships. Read More »
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The latest update to the Hospital Safety Score for U.S. hospitals
The latest update to the Hospital Safety Score (A, B, C, D or F scores) assigned to U.S. hospitals based on preventable medical errors, injuries, accidents, and infections, shows that hospitals are making some progress, but many still have a long way to go to reliably deliver safe health care. Read More »
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The Right Way to Modernize VA's VistA EHR: Shift Development to the Private Sector and the Cloud
While changes to VistA are warranted and necessary, trashing the entire system because one component may be flawed makes little sense from technological or financial perspectives. The VA scheduling scandal was the product of an agency overwhelmed by veterans returning from two theaters of war. In that scenario, the scheduling system became a scapegoat for organizational and human resources challenges that were bound to manifest in one way or another.The VA should not heed calls to replace VistA for these key reasons...
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The Rise Of Medical Identity Theft
If modern technology has ushered in a plague of identity theft, one particular strain of the disease has emerged as most virulent: medical identity theft. Read More »
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The Third-Leading Cause Of Death Is Preventable, But Candidates Don't Mention It
It is more likely to kill you than terrorism. It has profoundly impacted virtually every American family. So this election year, why aren’t politicians at all levels of government talking about the third-leading cause of death in America—preventable errors in healthcare? The statistics are staggering: more than 500 patients per day are killed by errors, accidents and infections in hospitals alone. Medical errors kill more people annually than breast cancer, AIDS or drug overdoses...
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Thomas Verbeck: Sharing Medical Data Saves Lives
As a former chief information officer with a long career in information technology, my focus has intensified since the Department of Defense announced plans to spend $11 billion on a new EHR system - one that can seamlessly exchange health data for the country's nearly 10 million employees, military personnel, retirees and their families. But the DoD's plan will fail. That's because most of today's EHR systems, including the bidder finalists, are designed only to work within their own system. That allows them to charge physicians and hospitals outside their system for access to your data. DoD can demand a system that seamlessly connects health data with civilian hospitals - or the VA - but it has failed to do so.
Three Areas Where Health Information Technology Needs to Get its House in Order
Health reform is taking off, thanks to pressure from insurers, the promise with which innovative technologies tease us for low-cost treatments, and regulatory mandates dating back to the HITECH act of 2009. Recent hopeful signs for wider adoption of health technologies include FDA forebearance from regulating consumer health apps, calls for more support for telemedicine, and new health announcements from tech giants such as Apple and Google. While technologists push forward in all these areas, we need to keep in mind that several big unsolved problems remain. Let's not get lost in the details--these major issues have to be tackled head on. Read More »
Uncontrolled Health Care Costs Traced to Data and Communication Failures
The previous section of this article provided whatever detail I could find on the costs of poor communications and data exchange among health care providers. But in truth, it’s hard to imagine the toll taken by communications failures beyond certain obvious consequences, such as repeated tests and avoidable medical errors. One has to think about how the field operates and what we would be capable of with proper use of data. As patients move from PCP to specialist, from hospital to rehab facility, and from district to district, their providers need not only discharge summaries but intensive coordination to prevent relapses. Our doctors are great at fixing a diabetic episode or heart-related event...
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UnitedHealth Recalls Digital Health Record Software
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) has recalled software used in hospital emergency departments in more than 20 states because of an error that caused doctor’s notes about patient prescriptions to drop out of their files. Read More »
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Unreported Robot Surgery Injuries Open Questions For FDA
When Sheena Wilson, 45, underwent robotic surgery for a hysterectomy in May, she didn’t know the Intuitive Surgical Inc. system used by her doctor was previously tied to a variety of injuries for the same procedure. Read More »
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VA Looks To Apply Innovation To Better Care And Service For Veterans
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs launched a new innovation center to solve big problems. Read More »
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