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Mohammad A

Intel and J.P. Morgan Chase to Expand Indian Operations - 0 views

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    Intel, a major computer-chip maker and Chase, the investment banker thats gone global, are now planning on outsourcing many important tasks to India, leaving what will left in the United States as high-proficiency jobs. Many other companies such as Cisco are also following Intel and J.P. Morgan Chase's lead by sending "lower-proficiency" jobs and tasks to India, leaving more space for jobs here. Immense amounts of money are being spent by Intel (1 billion dollars in investments and 800 million dollars in research).
Elisavet M

Data Security Laws Seem Likely, So Consumers and Businesses Vie to Shape Them - 0 views

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    During 2005, political organizations advocated for strict laws implementing data security enforcement, as rising concerns stemmed out of alarming statistical studies and research, revealing identity theft, credit card frauds and hacking as emerging and terrorizing practices overtaking much of the internet realm. This article introduces the beginning of the rise in public awareness, as technology strongly began to redirect the business world into another more digital phase. It was during that year, the primary stakeholders, also known as the businesses ( participants of e-commerce that stored, verified and utilized private consumer data), vocalized their needs clarifying their desire for the creation of constraints in regards to the consequences or negative implications of passing certain bills (for data security). The past exemplifies the various influences the introduction of data security measures, passed by the government legislatures, had upon newly initiated businesses; among the most significant implications discussed were: the need to build a secure database for reliable storage of clientele digital data with the utilization of particular software as well as improving business organizational structure in order to maximize the rate of security notifications towards consumers based on a foundation of rigid security standards. Far from the adaptation to such implications, the political crisis of establishing solid ground for a new set of security data policies and standards became an overwhelming process for politicians, congress members in conjunction with consumer and data privacy groups that rivaled in attaining the responsibilities of passing the needed laws. The politicians (stakeholders, holding the role of administering governmental legislation to stabilize data security breaches), came into opposition with the concerns of many members of advocacy groups (stakeholders, holding the responsibility of supervising and publicly navigating the direction of th
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    continuation: the adjusted standards enforced by politicians). The problem of adhering to the instruction of newly created laws motioning businesses to appoint data security officers, draft policies, to comply with policies and procedures involving giving access to files in business databases for the Federal Trade Commission to check comes into collision with what most online businesses want to go through the process of doing. However, with the issue of security surfacing future consumer problems, as security breaches become major forces threatening the safe entering of digitally encrypted information (such as credit card codes), many companies become increasingly aware of the needed adherence to the strict security data laws, in order to continue profiting financially in order to keep the rate of consumer trust and payment increasing.
Kim T

Federal Telemedicine News: UTMB Responds to Disasters - 0 views

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    Even during natural disasters such as hurricanes, patients can get medical help because of telemedicine. The University of Texas Medical Branch have set up a consult service in the Houston Area in case of a devastating hurricane. The use of telephones in this situation is used to help provide people with medical attention. The doctors can have a consult to help them with triaging and diagnosing patients. This method however, is not reliable because it uses other industries' networks, which can cause problems with connecting. Data which is also backed up is also located far away from the site which may make it unreliable if it is forwarded manually. Then there are standards which must be applied to the use of the information being stored because there are health records of a general public and must be handled securely. 
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    Careful, when you say: "also located far away from the site which may make it unreliable if it is forwarded manually. " you make a faulty assumption about the causes of reliability problems.
Noreen C

New Toolkit for Disaster Response: Social Media, Mobile Tools & Telehealth - Features -... - 1 views

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    According to Alexander Vo, an associate professor in preventive medicine and community health, telemedicine is a helpful measure to be taken in order to help patients from a remote location. However, he says that problems have arose when telemedicine was used in relation to diaster relief. One example given is the earthquake in Haiti, when many technologies were donated by companies in order to promote the use of telemedicine for immediate disaster relief. Vo says that this technology was not used, especially within the first few weeks, because the locations were staffed with enough doctors. Further, even if the technology could be used, the doctors were not trained to use it, and there was no time to train them at that moment.Only after the voluntary doctors went back to their home towns could they be of any use in regard to telemedicine. The patients in need of special care could then connect with the doctors in the remote areas, however, there could be problems if the internet was down, or if the necessary hardware was destroyed due to the diaster. Even though the egagement in telemedicine was not the best for Haiti, it was seen to be of great help for a hurricane in Texas recently. Vo explains that telemedicine was successful because it was already established within the communities. The technology was available throughout the affected areas, and could be put to use immediately. The use of cell phones was also crucial, because many of the patients had pre-established access to doctors who could help diagnose and alleviate the problems of the patients in affected areas. Because the protocols were established prior to the disasters, the care was planed out to be available to the most amount of patients. Plans in advance can also taken into account the problem of damaged internet service, cables, and networks, and determine what the best plan of action is given the situation. Thus, the relief would allow the affected area to be back on track quickly, and efficientl
nicholas n

U.S. Tries Open-Source Model for Health Data Systems - NYTimes.com - 1 views

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    This article is about the idea of putting all existing medical records into electronic form. This would cut the costs needed for storage of such information, this would also increase how fast a medical official can access the records of a sick patient. However, as listed in Strand 1, there are many positive and negative social/ethical issues. One such issue is security. By making the records digitized and put into the hospital database, people without the proper authorization would not be able to gain access to the data. This can also coincide with authenticity. The information that relates to the patient should be accessible by the patient. The patient would need to be able to get through the encryption of the data. Another social/ethical issue would be the equality of access, this would allow only certain people the ability to look at the data. Even with these positive social/ethical issues there are some negative issue. One negative issue would be integrity. There are people who can hack the encryption of this data and tamper with it. This would cause the data to be different in other places and a breach in security. This would be a great help to organizing data. Using a paper file system, the doctor would have to go through a lot of papers and cabinets to find the patient's medical history. By using a paper file cabinet documents are more likely to go missing or get mixed up with another patient's records. However, by using a database this data is much more organized. There is a smaller chance of losing the patient's data, by using back-ups the data could be easily restored. There is also a much smaller change or mixing up multiple patient's data. If the wrong data was use for the wrong person, the person may not have the correct medical treatment they need. With databases the information is much more organized. The patient's data can be found very fast, compared to a paper file system (this could take more than an hour depending on the amount of patients).
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    Continued...The hardware involved with creating databases in the health industry would be a DBMS Engine. This is also known as a Database Managing System. This takes the logical request from DBMS subsystems and converts them to physical equivalents. This also requires interactive processing. This replaces batch processing. This allows users to interact with data through terminals and view values online in real time. By having real time the doctors can give the patients what they need at the moment the patient needs it. The stakeholders in this specific case would be the hospitals adapting the database managing system and the patients whose information is stored in this database. If the database is tampered and there are not back-ups the patient would not have his/her medical history. This could cause the patient to be on a delay for an operation that is extremely important to their life. This could also place a lawsuit on the hospital.
Mariam B

Privacy Issue Complicates Push to Link Medical Data - 1 views

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    This article deals with the use of electronic health records in order to record medical information of patients. Congress wishes to pass a bill to enforce the use of electronic health records, however issues regarding the privacy of patients and information stored on these databases have arose. Electronic health records are used to record personal patient information such as name, age, address along with health sicknesses and symptoms. This also allows doctors to send e-prescriptions to the patient. However the computerization of health records triggers obvious privacy issues which prevent many hospitals to completely switch to using these electronic databases. Stakeholders of this technology include the patients whose medical information is being stored and sent on the databases, the hospitals and doctors that use the databases to track and send prescriptions to their patients, along with policy makers such as Congress and President Obama who promote the use of electronic health databases. The major stakeholder is the patient, whose private information is at risk by using these databases. Doctors can also use the electronic databases to send prescriptions to their patients for medicines or further appointments. Patient databases include sensitive personal information that may be at risk of being hacked or seen by an unauthorized user. In the article, solutions to these privacy issues have been proposed such as increased spending and investments in order to create solutions to privacy issues. Measures can be taken to safeguard medical information such as using encryption technology to secure private information that is sent online or kept on the hospital's computer database. This encryption would prevent unauthorized users from accessing and using patient information. However, in cases where this encryption technology fails to protect patient information, policies have been created that the patient must be notified if their personal information has been h
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    continued: have been created that the patient must be notified if their personal information has been hacked or seen by an outsider. Other policies have been enforced that give patients the ability to control and prevent hospitals from sending private information for research without their permission. These policies help prevent private patient information from being seen by unwanted individuals.
nicholas n

Rural Doctor Finds Benefits in Electronic Medical Records - NYTimes.com - 1 views

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    In looking at this article and the other articles that I have post The main It IT system is a database to store the medical records of the patients of doctors. In theory this would be great for everyone. There will be less paper waste, and it would be easier to pull up patient information at the doctor's office. Its true potential can be achieved if each doctor's database can be connected to created to create a network so any doctor can access the patients information nationally or internationally. The primary issue however, is that the doctors have no standard. Some doctors are not willing to make a transfer because there are to many implications to actually becoming all digital. So that is the issue, since there are no standard the doctors are not willing to adapt. Now this issue can affect a number of stakeholder's. The doctors can see the benefits and draw backs of this standard issue. The doctor's who adopt EHR, actually save a lot of money in the long run, and are on better terms with insurance companies, in the cases where doctors don't use EHR and if a standard is developed they will suffer for it. They will not be able to process patient information quickly, and be on bad terms with insurance companies, and the U.S government(since the government wants to only have EHR or EMR). If a standard is not developed its the patient that will suffer the most. In this world that that we live in International travel is a common place, many people can get injured abroad a EMR can give life saving information to the doctors from the foreign country. This article displays the particular benefits of EMR, the article above me is the reasons doctors do not want to adopt to EMR, and the article before mine displays the governments interest to change all the paper records to EMR.
Noreen C

U.S. Tries Open-Source Model for Health Data Systems - NYTimes.com - 1 views

  • easily and securely share information
  • A fancy electronic patient record, unconnected, is just an expensive way to capture data.
  • Getting many different health care providers and suppliers of specialized software to agree on how to do that is no simple task.
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  • The solution the group agreed to is essentially Internet-based e-mail and public key encryption technology, tailored for health care.
  • For health care technology companies, the data-sharing standards, experts say, should stimulate the market for electronic health records and allow them to focus their efforts on making their individual offerings more affordable and easier to use.
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    This article is primarily about setting standards and protocols so that an electronic health records could world easily and securely for many health care providers and suppliers. The reason the introduction of an EHR hasn't worked before, is that there were no data-sharing standards, which would ensure that the data is transmitted securely across the internet. These standards are also in accordance of many of the interests of all of the health providers and stakeholders involved, which was a major problem previously. Without the issue of connecting the EHR from provider to provider, then the records would be a "fancy...way to capture data," and it's full potential would never be recognized. However, these new standards and protocols, filled with secure transactions based on encryptions, have made the introduction of an electronic health record possible. There are many benefits to the use of an EHR, including productivity and financial improvement for the companies and the employees. For example, doctors/nurses no longer need to spend time pulling a patient's file, or writing the details of the visit afterwards. There are also fewer repetitive tasks, and improved communication between doctor and nurse, or doctor and another doctor. Quality of care may also improve because doctors have quick access to a patient's information, there is better monitoring and discovery of chronic illnesses, and doctors can return phone calls/ provide medication refills immediately. Also, in general, the electronic charts allow for a more efficient office, which leads to a less stressful environment and more attention on the patients' care rather than searching for their charts. This can only be done through the introduction of an EHR, leading to easier queries, instant reorganization, and file management that could be transmitted to both the patient and any other doctors. This minimizes the ambiguity of not having tests results from one doctor, and allows all doctors treating a p
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    patient to see all of the patient's history. This is important in having a correct diagnosis and treatment. However, there are also some drawbacks. Initially, doctors who chose to engage in the implementation of a EHR, see some decreases in productivity. This is because entering information and learning how to use the software takes some time. Some doctors also do not have the money to invest in such software and accompanying hardware to, and others no not want to because they are accustomed to their hand-written charts. There are also some security issues, leading to greater privacy issues. The EHR maintains very personal data about a patient, and if the records are breached, then the privacy of the patient may be put at risk. There is also the issue of interoperability, which was brought up in the article. Many of the companies in different countries wishing to engage in the implementation of EHR have different standards involving the usage. This could harm the usage of an international EHR.
Mohammad A

Tech Companies Push to Digitalize Patients' Records - 0 views

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    This article is regarding the use of Electronic Health Records, and digitalizing medical documents for the "betterment" of the medical staff, and the ease of use that databases provide as a solution to the IT issues that these facilities face. Many health care policy makers within the government, including President Obama, are advocating for the major shift in the use of electronic health records, and digitalizing patient information. However, only a small percentage of medical treatment offices have done so (approximately 17%). Basically, electronic health records document personal information of the patients, for example name, address, age, and medical issues that they face, making it much more easier for doctors and medical staff members to get into the use of e-prescriptions, providing treatment electronically. However, as information becomes digitalized, often times, major issues such as reliability of the IT equipment becomes and important aspect of the scenario. Major companies such as Dell and IBM are in the run to provide electronic health record databases for medical facilities to use. To these major stakeholders, these databases, when set-up properly, are basically a tool for health care providers to use; they can reduce costs and improve the type of care that is provided for patients. They also have the patient's entire medical history, and other medications, along with lab tests that if properly connected to databases, can ease the treatment guidelines. Thus the benefits include less trivial tests, reduced health related errors, and better care with less costs for patients. The IT systems that are provided, including faster networks with improved wireless connections and more financially affordable computers are what will basically be used within the medical facilities running on electronic health records with digitalized information. Also, there will be more space for these new machines to be placed in, since all
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    continued... the paper documents are now going to be taking no physical space; entirely stored digitally. However these devices do not provide the solution of reliability that staff members may face when on the wireless networks and/or dealing with digital data. One solution that the article provides is the new Internet-based service model, known as cloud computing, in which much of the computing firepower and data reside in remote data centers, which doctors, nurses and staff would use via the Web browsers on their personal computers. Through cloud-computing, there is a more reliable and efficient way for medical staff members to document data without having system failures, and also if they ever plan on outsourcing, they can easily work with the database online.
Yuval S

New rules issued on electronic health records - 1 views

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    This news article talks about the new rules that are focused around EHR. The situation is that despite the push toward "electronic health records by Washington, the transition toward EHR still has a long way to go." Last year, the American Medical Association estimated that there were over 800,000 physicians in the U.S., said Practice Fusion, which offers a free Web-based system to doctors. But only 6.3 percent of them said they had a fully functional electronic medical records system in place. There was and attempt to resolve this by these rules. The government is hoping to clarify the conditions under which doctors and hospitals can collect payments by investing in electronic health records, or EHR, for the next few years. Calling the rules a "significant milestone," General Electric said they include important changes that make the objectives for incentive payments more realistic for medical providers. The exact rules that are going into place are: "One of the rules, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, defines the "meaningful use" objectives that medical professionals must meet to qualify for the payments. The goal of this rule is to provide greater flexibility by offering a menu of different objectives and procedures that providers can choose from to qualify. The other rule, issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, defines the standards that must be met by EHR technology so medical providers are confident that the equipment they use will actually perform all the required functions."
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