I’m a news junkie. My homepage is set to Google News headlines. I read the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BoingBoing and anything that shows up in my feed reader under a variety of custom-configured search parameters. And say what you will about Twitter as a tool for outbound communications, but the hive [...]
Clarifying Complex Ideas
Tag Archive: healthcare
HITECH Puts New Emphasis on Healthcare Security
How safe is your patient information? According to Premier, Inc., approximately 10 million patient records were breached between 2005 and 2008. The average cost of each breach reaches into the millions.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) includes new provisions regarding protected health information (PHI). HITECH goes beyond [...]
What’s Wrong With Healthcare
A few weeks ago, I had an infected finger. I went to the doctor (one who I adore at a practice that I respect) and spent a grand total of five minutes with her. She gave me my options: high-powered oral antibiotics or a quick slice to drain the finger. Being allergic [...]
Eco-Friendly Healthcare IT
In most healthcare organizations, the data center is in crisis. Utility costs are increasing, squeezing out other elements of the IT budget, and as hospitals require more applications, resources and storage, data center space is increasingly limited.
The global recession has put a crimp in many ambitious plans for green initiatives. IT [...]
Quality of Life and Quality of Death
There are two health topics near and dear to me. The first is patient education. The second is palliative care. The first focuses on quality of life, while the second addresses quality of death.
If you have never been involved in the healthcare decisions of an older family member, I suggest that you [...]
Disruptive Innovation in Healthcare
I’m not, by nature, a germophobe. I am perhaps irrationally understanding of the number of creepy crawly germy nasties out there, and in general believe that my exposure to these germs makes me stronger, not weaker.
The exception to this rule is the doctor’s office or hospital. It doesn’t matter why I’m there, [...]
Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day
Today is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Day, a cause that is near and dear to me.
Nearly three years ago, a friend gave birth to a little girl with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). TOF is comprised by four findings, including: a large hole between the two pumping chambers of the heart (ventricular septal defect, [...]
Healthcare and the Elderly: Keeping Patients Informed
I got a call from my 90-year-old Nana tonight. She had a health scare last week. While waiting for the shuttle to take her to the supermarket, she passed out in the lobby of her assisted living facility. She is borderline diabetic (pre-diabetic) and takes medication. For reasons that they haven’t yet [...]
