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OpenSpecimen Streamlines Management of Biospecimen Data

OpenSpecimen is an open source biobanking informatics platform that permits users to enter and retrieve data concerning the collection, storage, quality assurance, and distribution of biospecimens. Its most important feature is the ability to collect high-quality, standards-based data specific to a disease or set of study requirements. OpenSpecimen, previously known as caTissue, was initially developed with U.S. National Cancer Institute funding under the caBIG program. When the caBIG program closed down in 2011, Krishagni Solutions continued the development and support of caTissue while maintaining the open source nature of the product. In 2014, Krishagni renamed the product to OpenSpecimen to indicate that the product can support any disease (i.e. not just cancer) and any specimen type (i.e. not just tissue)...

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OSEHRA 2014 Summit Shows the Future for Open Source EHR's— US Government IT Procurement

The recent 2014 OSEHRA Open Source Summit: Global Collaboration in Healthcare IT, held September 3-5 in Bethesda, MD, was a huge success and clearly marks a watershed moment for open source health information technology (HIT), as well as a transformation in the way that US government agencies procure technology. The Summit featured more than 120 speakers addressing 90 separate sessions over three days. According to Seong K. Mun, President and CEO of OSEHRA, “this Summit demonstrated solid growth in both the depth and breadth of the OSEHRA Community.” Read More »

OSEHRA 2014: Tweed, Rhodes and Timson Receive Awards During Open Source EHR Summit

Press Release | OSEHRA | September 18, 2014

The Open Source Electronic Health Record Alliance (OSEHRA) announced today the recipients of the 2014 OSEHRA Awards presented at the widely-attended 2014 OSEHRA Open Source Summit. Three outstanding individuals were recognized by the OSEHRA community for their leadership and contributions to health information technology and innovative healthcare. Read More »

Rapid Humanitarian Research Fund Kicks In For Ebola

An emergency call for research projects on Ebola that will tap into a humanitarian crisis fund is being launched today by UK-based medical research charity the Wellcome Trust and the Department for International Development. The call aims to better inform the fight against current and future Ebola outbreaks and is open to researchers worldwide in fields including anthropology, clinical management, diagnosis, disease control and prevention, ethics, health systems, social mobilisation, surveillance and treatment. Read More »

Revealed: Google AI Has Access to Huge Haul of NHS Patient Data

Hal Hodson | New Scientist | April 29, 2016

It’s no secret that Google has broad ambitions in healthcare. But a document obtained by New Scientist reveals that the tech giant’s collaboration with the UK’s National Health Service goes far beyond what has been publicly announced. The document – a data-sharing agreement between Google-owned artificial intelligence company DeepMind and the Royal Free NHS Trust – gives theclearest picture yet of what the company is doing and what sensitive data it now has access to...

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Superbugs Killing More People than Breast Cancer, Trust Warns

Katie Morley and Madlen Davies | The Telegraph | December 10, 2016

The superbug crisis is killing more patients than breast cancer as the Government is relying on flawed figures which mask the true scale of the problem, health experts have warned. The Department of Health estimates that 5,000 people die each year due to drug resistance, but Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, claims the true figure is around 12,000. The number of deaths is rising each year as more bugs that lead to blood poisoning are becoming resistant to antibiotics...

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The Challenge of Saving Lives with 'Big Data'

Staff Writer | BBC News | February 7, 2016

Every day, more data about our lives is being generated than ever before. When it comes to saving lives, the bigger the data the better - but what to do with it all? Ninety per cent of the data in the world has been created in the past two years alone, experts estimate - and the reason for that is technological innovation. The internet, mobile phones, cameras, sensors, bank cards and social media are just some of the items responsible for the massive volume of "big data" that is currently amassed every single second...

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Top 5 Misconceptions About Open Source In Government Programs

On March 15, 2013, ComputerWeekly.com, the “leading provider of news, analysis, opinion, information and services for the UK IT community” published an article by Bryan Glick entitled: Government mandates 'preference' for open source. The article focuses on the release of the UK’s new Government Service Design Manual, which, from April 2013, will provide governing standards for the online services developed by the UK’s government for public consumption... Read More »

Tracking Deadly Superbug Infections Across Europe with Web-Based Open Tools that Use Genome Sequencing and Open APIs

Press Release | Centre for Genomic Pathogen Surveillance, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute | May 5, 2016

For the first time, scientists have shown that MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other antibiotic-resistant ‘superbug’ infections can be tracked across Europe by combining whole-genome sequencing with a web-based system. In mBio today (5 May 2016) researchers at Imperial College London and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute worked with a European network representing doctors in 450 hospitals in 25 countries to successfully interpret and visualise the spread of drug-resistant MRSA...

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U.K. Official Urges U.S. Government To Adopt A Digital Core

Elise Hu | NPR | October 23, 2013

When he read about the technical failures plaguing HealthCare.gov, Mike Bracken said it felt like a real-life version of the movie Groundhog Day. During the past decade, the government in the United Kingdom faced a string of public, embarrassing and costly IT failures. Finally, a monster technical fiasco — a failed upgrade for the National Health Service — led to an overhaul of the way the British government approached technology. Read More »

UCL Press Releases Innovative Open Access Book Formats to Improve Scholarly Research

Press Release | UCL Press | June 16, 2016

UCL Press is delighted to present its open access books online in three new distinct and innovative formats: enhanced digital editions, monographs with scholarly functionalities, and BOOCs (books as open online content). Developed by Armadillo Systems (producers of the award-winning Turning the Pages system and Digital Bodleian), UCL’s platform offers new ways of publishing digital scholarship and responds to the needs of scholars working in non-traditional formats...

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Universal Healthcare Doesn't Mean Waiting Longer to See A Doctor

Olga Khazan | The Atlantic | November 19, 2013

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund shows that people in other industrialized nations get doctors' appointments faster than Americans do. Read More »

US and UK working to strengthen use of health IT for better patient care

Press Release | US Department of Health and Human Services | January 23, 2014

As the use of health information technology (health IT) grows in both the United States and the United Kingdom, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.K. Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt today signed a bi-lateral agreement for the use and sharing of health IT information and tools. The agreement strengthens efforts to cultivate and increase the use of health IT tools and information designed to help improve the quality and efficiency of the delivery of health care in both countries.

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VistA Is A Rival to Epic and Cerner in Major Deployments of EHR Systems

According to a recent article in Healthcare IT News, Intermountain Healthcare has just signed a multi-year contract to deploy Cerner electronic health record (EHR) systems. The article claims that "only two companies – Epic and Cerner – seem to be in competition for the large and complex deployments."  However, there is a third option that constantly goes unrecognized - the widespread deployment and use of the world reknowned 'open source' VistA system by large scale healthcare provider organizations in the U.S. and overseas. Read More »

What are the options for electronic patient records in the NHS after NPfIT?

SA Mathisson | Computer Weekly | January 1, 2015

It is a common assumption that the NHS can’t do IT. This is untrue: most GP surgeries are computerised, the health services of the UK’s constituent nations have decent technology infrastructure including secure networks and email, and many hospitals departments have good specialist IT. What is true is that many hospitals lack comprehensive electronic patient record (EPR) systems. Read More »