January 15, 2010 | Diana Manos, Senior Editor

WASHINGTON – Members of the HIT Policy Committee wrestled with the fate of the Nationwide Health Information Network during their meeting on Wednesday.

Committee members said the NHIN, a federal interoperability initiative begun in 2004, must now align itself with the newer and more urgent timeline established in the HITECH part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed last February.

The HIT Policy Committee adopted the NHIN workgroup’s recommendation for a "conceptual" framework for the NIHN and what the NHIN should expect from federal agencies. The members don’t know how those recommendations will be turned into actions and deadlines.

David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT and chairman of the HIT Policy Committee, said the group will continue to expand its vision for the NHIN at upcoming meetings.

"The NHIN was developed before HITECH," he noted. "Is this sufficient, or should we be thinking more broadly?"

Blumenthal urged the committee to think of ways the government can promote meaningful use as part of the NHIN.

With providers who want to receive bonuses under ARRA expected to demonstrate meaningful use of healthcare IT by 2011, Blumenthal said of the NHIN: "If there are new investments we have to make, new aspirations we need to communicate, we have no time to lose."

The NHIN workgroup chairman, David Lansky, said the NHIN should enable the broadest range of providers to exchange information to achieve meaningful use and enable consumers to be able to access their health information. It should also provide access to states and other organizations that support providers.

The goals the committee approved for the future of the NHIN include:

• The federal government should focus on the minimum standards, policies and services needed for foundational exchange components to further meaningful use in the near-term.
• NHIN policies, standards and services should be structured so that intermediaries can provide required services for private and secure routing of health information.
• The federal government should work with stakeholders to improve and leverage directories for the NHIN.
• The federal government should define a core set of policies for the interoperation of trusted directories.
• The NHIN should build upon existing federal standards, policies and practices for authentication and identity proofing.

Uber Operations and NHIN: http://blog.uberops.com/2009/06/15/uber-operations-at-the-lista-d-c-forum/  and http://blog.uberops.com/2009/12/12/uberops-at-the-lista-2009-tech-leadership-summit/

Source: http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hit-policy-committee-considers-nhins-new-role

July 13, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

CHICAGO – Social networking tools are slowly making their way into the curricula of medical and nursing schools, according to a study published in the Journal of the Medical Library Association.

According to the survey, 53 percent of nursing schools and 45 percent of medical schools use Web 2.0 tools in their curricula. A separate survey conducted in 2007 revealed that medical students and practitioners would like more training to become proficient users of Web 2.0 tools.

Based on the results in the study, a greater percentage of nursing schools use Web 2.0 tools in their curricula, although a larger number of respondents from medical schools make greater personal use of the tools than do nursing school respondents – 55 percent of medical school respondents use the tools personally, while only 37 percent of nursing school respondents use them.

The survey shows that 58 percent of nursing schools plan to implement Web 2.0 tools in their curricula during the upcoming year, compared to half of all medical schools.

The most common Web 2.0 tools used in the curricula of both medical and nursing schools are blogs, wikis, videocasts and podcasts.
In nursing schools, Web 2.0 tools used in the curriculum include  podcasts (43 percent), academic support (43 percent) and videocasts (14 percent). In medical schools, the popular tools are podcasts (30 percent), wikis (30 percent), blogs (20 percent) and, at 10 percent each, videocasts and Moodle (a free Web application used by educators to create online learning sites).

Fifty-five people responded to the survey – which authors say makes it difficult to predict whether Web 2.0 tools "portends a growing trend in education or merely represents a passing fad."

If the popularity of social networking tools transfers into the fields of medical and nursing education, they said, then medical librarians will have an opportunity to train faculty, students and practitioners in the use of these tools.

Uber Operations and Social Networking:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?gid=45563773712&ref=ts

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/companies/230189/Uber+Operations%2C+LLC?trk=pp_icon

Twitter: http://twitter.com/uberops

As some of you may know, I (Eduardo Gonzalez Loumiet) have been eyeing a netbook…probably go with a DELL or Asus in the next few weeks….i found this article which talks about Netbooks in health care. Quite cool: http://www.mobilehealthcomputing.com/2009/05/what-role-will-netbooks-play-in.html

Ronald James Panis
11.05.2009 kl 15:55 | IDG News Service

Emphasizing on how electronic health records (EHRs) can give healthcare in the Philippines its much-needed shot in the arm, several speakers of the first Philippine eHealth and Telemedicine conference and exhibition highlighted the efficacy of Free Open Source Solutions (FoSS) in bolstering the delivery and organization of this critical digital medical information.

Emphasizing on how electronic health records (EHRs) can give healthcare in the Philippines its much-needed shot in the arm, several speakers of the first Philippine eHealth and Telemedicine conference and exhibition highlighted the efficacy of Free Open Source Solutions (FoSS) in bolstering the delivery and organization of this critical digital medical information.

In one of his talks during the recent two-day event held in Ortigas, director of UP Manila – National Telehealth Center and International Open Source Network Southeast Asia Dr. Alvin Marcelo stressed on how FoSS can liberate hospitals from the limits and costs that come with proprietary systems usage.
Comparing FoSS to a car with a hood that can be opened, letting owners examine and fix the engine, Marcelo meanwhile depicted proprietary systems as having that hood welded shut. Owners have no choice but to ask the manufacturers for assistance, which is guaranteed to be pricey.
Citing the definition of a free software since the 80s, Marcelo said that a free software allows users to run it on any way he/she user prefers, study its workings, modify its behavior, and then distribute copies of that modified version. An open source system means that hospitals can be free from the pangs of insufficient budgets when installing more proprietary software in other parts of its infrastructure or customizing it according to their needs to efficiently streamline delivery and storage of eHRs.
Echoing the tremendous benefits that come with FoSS is Joachim Mollin, general manager of hcc gmbh, founder of the open source myCare2x Network, and also a speaker during the event. “IT systems in healthcare are key considerations – but it is normally very expensive,” Mollin lamented. Sharing the situation in Germany, his country, Mollin reported that hospitals in several regions there have to rethink their strategy because the money is not enough to install in every system as well as for training the people.
“The future is open source which can [encompass] a large number of hospitals without licensing costs,” Mollin said, noting that the open source Internet-based solution myCare2x is designed specifically for people working in the healthcare system, and can be integrated on any existing system, be it Microsoft or SAP.
FoSS also proves integral in data consolidation among clinics and hospitals. Alison Perez, who is among the developers of the locally-made open source public health electronic medical record Community Health Information Tracking System (or CHITS), cites the advantages of a unified, paper-less medical data in his session. Indicating how the health centers scattered across the more than 41K barangays in the Philippines are required to submit reports for its vertical programs, Perez noted: “imagine the level of consolidations these reports have to go through.”
Redundant data input on the other hand, as health centers need to put in information on several logbooks, can eat up precious time of the medical people especially when backtracking. He shared how health centers are required to allot only 15 minutes per patient to maximize its consultations for the day. An open source system makes the entire process easier without shelling out too much.
“Quality data and proper data management process will churn out realistic information, which is basis for actions. At the end of the day, the goal is to deliver quality healthcare,” said Perez.

By Kristen Green, Globe Correspondent | May 10, 2009

At a time when it seems no one is safe from layoffs, can you find job security?

Perhaps lifetime employment is nonexistent in some traditional fields, but job placement experts say other careers hold more promise. The key, they say, is to identify growing and emerging industries, such as healthcare, life sciences, technology, alternative energy, and higher education in Massachusetts. Then, they say job seekers have to adapt their skills to fit the needs of those industries.

Marilyn Santiesteban, a career coach at Waltham recruiting and career coaching firm King & Bishop, suggests job seekers ask themselves: What exactly is it I do? Who needs that done? What are the skills I have called upon in another field?

“You want to move to industries that are in a growth mode, or at least flat, not shrinking,” said Santiesteban, who advises her clients to stop thinking about their job titles and focus on skills.

By not focusing on job title, Andrew Appler, 24, was able to transfer his skills to a completely different industry. Appler had worked as a financial analyst for a mutual fund company since he graduated from college in 2006. But with financial services hard hit by the recession and shedding thousands of jobs, he figured his chances of landing a new job with a financial company as he relocated to Somerville from Maryland weren’t good. So, he expanded his job search to other types of businesses, including a beer producer, insurance companies, and biotech firms.

After looking for three months, he landed a job doing business analysis at Boston Medical Center. The work is similar to what he was doing in financial services, but it still requires him to adjust a bit. He’s working on patient financial services, as opposed to doing revenue and expenses like he did at the financial company. And he’s learning the ins and outs of the healthcare industry.

“It will definitely be a new set of vocabulary,” he said. “I had to train myself to change from the term ‘client’ to ‘patient.’ “

As job seekers explore new industries, they also must adapt their search techniques, job placement specialists say. Kip Hollister, chief executive of Hollister Inc., a Boston staffing agency, said that a few years ago skilled workers could post their resumes on the job search website Monster.com, get 10 calls from employers, and land a job in no time. But not anymore.

“Now they post and nothing happens,” Hollister said. “The times have changed, and we’re in the new real. People need to adapt to the new real.”

Job seekers should keep in mind that jobs in emerging fields such as alternative energy tend to be “undercover,” meaning openings won’t be posted on job websites, Hollister said. So, people need to network: Hollister suggests using Twitter to engage the community in the target field, joining groups on LinkedIn, or networking with organizations like the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, a regional professional organization for the Internet business and marketing industry.

In addition to networking, job seekers need to turn the gloom and doom of a layoff into a positive outlook, said Hollister. Rather than panicking, they should look at unemployment as a time of possibility.

“The people who are laid off and now reemployed say, ‘It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I wasn’t happy anyway. I am going to have a life change,’ ” Hollister said.

That’s where Jeff Cabral, 38, of Winchester finds himself after getting laid off from a technology company in September. Though he worked in the financing department as a pricing analyst for technology companies for years, it wasn’t a great career fit because he didn’t think the job took much ingenuity. He prefers to “get new ideas brewing.”

“I never felt really involved. I might have just been doing the day-to-day,” he said. “I never really felt passionate about it.”

He is now looking for work in alternative energy or a green business. He is an advocate for recycling and reduced energy consumption and is excited about the field. He already volunteers with Sustainable Winchester, a nonprofit in his town that educates and raises awareness about sustainability.

“I feel enthused,” Cabral said about volunteering for the nonprofit. “I feel needed and wanted.”

He is looking for a job in client services or as an account representative, either of which would be a good fit with his experience working as a conduit between departments. He has been going to conferences, seminars, and WIND networking events for New England professionals in transition. He’s also scheduled a few informational interviews.

Cabral said when he is networking, he feels good about his prospects, but sometimes being at home, when the phone’s not ringing, he gets down. Still, he believes he will find a job that is a good match.

“I’m sure it’s just meeting up with the right person,” he said.
© Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

May 8th, 2009

Posted by Dana Blankenhorn @ 10:29 am
As the initial fear of H1N1 flu subsides, Internet resources are becoming key to both moderating the panic and maintaining a mounting concern.
The New England Journal of Medicine deserves special mention here. While frequently criticized for hiding articles behind firewalls to protect its business model, this flu has the Journal creating a special page linking every new article it gets on the subject, full-text.
What this means is that doctors and reporters can stay abreast of the latest research in the field as it is approved for use by the Journal’s editors.
As of today the U.S. has more cases, 1,639, of this influenza strain than Mexico, which has 1,364. The death count, however, has reached 45 there and still stands at 1 here.
Studies of past pandemics indicates why concern is still warranted, and why vaccines are already being developed. Flu outbreaks often happen in waves, with the risk of young, healthy people dieing from the disease rising in later waves.
One reason for the disparity might be because the new flu is displaying differently than common influenza. The Journal is now tracking when it started (in the 1990s) and when it began spreading (2005).
Not only has the Journal accepted the need for more services in front of its firewall with this pandemic, but other online monitoring tools are also now widespread. These may be the kindest words about the online world yet produced by the NEJM so savor them:
Though traditional official and media communication channels remain in place, Web-based mapping, search-term surveillance, “microblogging,” and online social networks have emerged as alternative forms of rapid dissemination of information.
The silver lining in this pandemic may be the emergence of a real alliance between old school journal-based medical publishing and the online world.

LINK: http://h1n1.nejm.org/

SOURCE: ZDNET