This HND piece examines the vital importance that "moving pictures" of all sorts have on health care. While it certainly helps providers, the biggest impact is--and will continue to be--on patient education.
Also included are plenty of good links, and some precepts on how one can evaluate the accuracy and utility of the constant stream of scientific—especially health-related—information.
Read the complete article.
This HND piece walks through memory lane, and references the first web page ever created, while taking the reader through some basics. As always, content is king.
Of course, these days, creating that website is a whole lot easier, based on cool CMS (Content Management System) products, such as WordPress. A number of solid tips, garnered from experts, are presented.
Read the complete article.
Plenty of disturbing info is coming out--not that Facebook particularly wants its users to know about it.
This HND piece explores network discovery, as it applies to both computer networks and networks of people. Interestingly, the two worlds intersect quite readily in the field of health care. One example is how social network discovery ("social network" here refers to the people, rather than the websites that link them) enables epidemiologists to trace the source of infections—to better prevent them from recurring.
On the computer side, we spotlight IPsonar, a leading product for determining what is on your network, to better protect your data. As we found out, most organizations are aware of only about 80-85% of what's really on their network.
Read the complete article.
This HND piece takes another look at Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and what we must do to secure them. The public got fooled a bit by HIPAA and HITECH into thinking that "privacy" in health records just meant keeping the details of your treatment away from prying eyes. If only...
The real problem is preventing medical identity theft, and far too little has been done about this growing problem. We highlight a company that is bringing new directions into the matter of access control.
But, besides that, if docs are going to rely completely on computerized records, the system better be reliable, and we take a look at by delving into colocation. As in letting the pros host your server, in a secure facility with data and power backup.
Read the complete article.
This HND piece examines how publishing has become somewhat less proprietary, and skewers the big lie about why textbooks need to be so expensive. We also highlight a new e-publishing platform, that promises to be a real breakthrough---especially for smaller users and educational outlets.
Read the complete article.
Our friends at Interscan have completely revised their comprehensive website---and we think they've done a pretty good job!
Check it out.
One of the most highly publicized aspects of Obamacare involves the forced implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Billions of dollars have been set aside to encourage health care providers to develop "meaningful use" of EHRs.
My latest HND piece takes a hard look at EHRs, and the general impact of technology on health care. I note, for example, that health care is the only field of endeavor whereby technology has increased, rather than decreased costs. I delve into the dark side of why the government is really pushing EHR implementation, and how they are missing the boat on monitoring outcomes.
Also included is a plug for an up-and-coming computer tech support company, based in New England.
Read the complete article.
There are numerous articles on the Web about the Facebook IPO fiasco, which ended up making money for only a very few insiders. I had wondered—from the outset—how the geniuses behind this social networking giant figured on monetizing their website.
The secret way, of course, would be to sell private user information to businesses. The public way would just be to sell advertising. How original!
Compare search engine advertising, which targets people actually looking for a particular product or service to Facebook's plan, which at best can only target vague demographics, who may or may not have any intention of buying anything. And, as it is, with more users accessing Facebook via smart phones, the ad possibilities are even more limited.
More than that, people are making way too much of all this personal data coming from Facebook's users. What, pray tell, is a marketer really going to do with it? Perhaps the technology does exist to intercept messages indicating an imminent purchase, which will then broadcast a relevant ad at that moment. How do you think the average consumer would react to such an incredibly intrusive move?
Advertising is only tolerated when it can be ignored, and that proverb seems to have been lost on the brain trust. Maybe Zuckerberg should propose a paid version of Facebook with no ads. Then, we would see just how essential Facebook really is. At least the spammers "like" it.
A recent HND piece examines the interaction between health records, computer networks, and security. As with most overarching federal mandates, HIPAA, HITECH, and the like are quite flawed. Big surprise.
As to security...good luck. You'll especially like the findings from a survey done as few years ago by Palo Alto Networks. As I say in the piece: "Sadly, no matter how robust the security, the most likely source of breaches tends to be from the inside, and not all of them are necessarily malicious."
And, no matter how high your estimate of employees wasting bandwidth on non-business activities, I'll bet you're wrong, based on the Palo Alto Networks report.
Read the complete article.