health

Feds' red tape left medical devices infected with computer virus

The Conficker Internet virus has infected important computerized medical devices, but governmental red tape interfered with their repair, an organizer of an antivirus working group told Congress on Friday.

Rodney Joffe, one of the founders of an unofficial organization known as the Conficker Working Group, said that government regulations prevented hospital staff from carrying out the repairs.

Joffe, who also is the senior vice president for the telecom clearinghouse Neustar, told a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that over the last three weeks, he and another Conficker researcher identified at least 300 critical medical devices from a … Read more

Companies plan for possible swine flu pandemic

Following the outbreaks of SARS and Avian Flu earlier this decade, Sprint Nextel has taken the threat of a global flu pandemic very seriously. And in 2005, the company created a special group within its Emergency Incident Management team to plan what to do in such an emergency.

Late last week, when the World Health Organization started alerting the international community to the threat of the swine influenza that originated in Mexico, Sprint's four years of planning came into action and Sprint has been working through its checklist of actions. On Friday, it started posting information and updates on … Read more

Get to know yourself with Human Atlas for iPhone

The most I've paid for an iPhone app is $5.99. This is why I was so excited to get a a promotional code for the $19.99 Human Atlas and install the software on my iPhone 3G right away. The app also works on the iPod Touch.

Human Atlas offers 3D images and videos of 150 common medical treatments and conditions. After a few days of use, I think this is a great application for those who want to learn about their body and conditions ranging from allergies, muscle pain, high blood pressure, stroke, and tendon injuries to diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and more.

Basically, you will appreciate anything you can learn from this app.

What you won't appreciate, however, is its lacks of features. The Human Atlas app has two parts: 3D image and video. The images don't allow for rotating the body, you're stuck with the front of the object. This makes the images seems less "3D" than they could be. Also, you can't display the images vertically. While it's OK to watch the video with the phone put in the horizontal position, the images could benefit a lot more from the vertical display as you won't have to scroll as much.… Read more

CDC using Twitter for swine flu information

Just in case you're not getting enough up-to-the-minute news about swine flu, you can log in to Twitter to get updates from the government's Centers for Disease Control.

The CDC is using Twitter to spread the word on how not to spread or get swine flu. The CDC has several Twitter accounts including @CDCemergency, which is posting new recommendations, bulletins on confirmed cases, and information on antiviral drugs and other ways to deal with or prevent the disease.

The Associated Press reports that there have been more than 1,600 reported cases and the number of suspected deaths … Read more

Mayo Clinic, Microsoft deepen health record ties

The Mayo Clinic on Tuesday said it will build a personal health record service based on Microsoft's HealthVault technology.

The product, Mayo Clinic Health Manager, will initially focus on general pediatric and adult health issues, immunization records, pregnancy, and asthma. In the coming months, the clinic will add tools to help manage chronic conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

"Mayo Clinic Health Manager can help patients share information more easily with their doctors and manage their own health better between office visits," said Mayo Clinic doctor Sidna Tulledge-Scheitel, who also serves … Read more

Obama picks Virginia technology leader for CTO post

This post was updated several times after 12:30 PDT with industry reaction.

President Barack Obama, in his weekly address Saturday, announced the appointment of Aneesh Chopra to serve as the nation's first chief technology officer.

Chopra, who is currently Virginia's secretary of technology, "will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities--from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure," Obama said.

At the same time, Obama also announced the appointment of executive and management consultant Jeffery Zients to be the administration's chief performance officer. Zients, along with … Read more

Obama announces e-health records for vets

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are creating a joint electronic medical record system to allow the two departments to share administrative and medical information, President Obama announced Thursday.

The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record project will track soldiers' lifelong medical histories beginning the day they enter service.

"Currently there is no comprehensive system in place that allows for a streamlined transition," Obama said. "That results in extraordinary hardship for an awful lot of veterans," such as lost records or delays in processing disability claims.

The VA is currently grappling with a … Read more

Taking your health records online

roundup Many companies are working on efforts to make patients' medical records available on the Internet.

Wireless industry wants in on health care stimulus money Wireless industry is hoping it can reap the rewards of billions of dollars being spent on health care technology as part of the economic stimulus package. (Posted in Wireless by Marguerite Reardon) April 7, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Google Health expands deal with CVS Customers of CVS' pharmacy will now be able to import their prescription records into Google Health. (Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried) April 6, 2009 12:48 PM PDT … Read more

Google Health expands deal with CVS

Customers of CVS' pharmacy will be able to import their prescription records into a Google Health account as a result of an expanded deal between the two companies. The deal was announced Monday.

An earlier deal already allowed workers whose company uses CVS Caremark to handle drug benefits to use Google Health to store their drug records. The new deal expands this to customers of CVS' network of retail pharmacies.

"We now offer all of our consumers the ability to download their prescription and medication history into their Google Health Personal Health Record, whether they are CVS/pharmacy customers, … Read more

N.Y. hospital taps Microsoft to digitize records

In a win for Microsoft's health care business, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital said it will use the software maker's technology as part of a push to make digital health records available to its patients.

The hospital system will start making health records available online, initially to cardiac and cardiothoracic patients. Customers can view their records online, opt to copy them into a personal health record and then, if they wish, share that record with other health care providers.

"These really are the patients' records," said Aurelia Boyer, a former practicing nurse, who now serves as NY Presbyterian's … Read more