Category: Healthcare
November 20th, 2009
Friday's Throw out the trash day and Polls for the week of Nov 20th
This week wasn’t a slow one for news, but it certainly had some bizarre stories. Some headlines for you and all the polls that I’ve posted throughout the week are listed here for those of you who haven’t (yet) read all my postings.
Senate Hearing hears testimony that 80% of cyber attacks are preventable. Really?
According to the British Government, they are leading the world in the use of technology. If that’s so then why are they losing so much data? Perhaps they should have senate hearings too….
To prove my point, a doctor in England claims over 100,000 X-Rays went unchecked and were stuck in closet…
But hey if you can’t get a country to create laws to ensure peace and democracy, pay them instead. The EU is giving Nigeria a BILLION Dollars to end corruption. How does this work again?
Polls of the week:
Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ... Loading ...Website of the Week: Vancouver Winter 2010 Olympic Games Website
November 17th, 2009
The Queen could better manage security of personal information than civil servants are
Her majesty’s servants seem to be lacking any sense of responsibility these days. Information in the health care sector, voter information are being either stolen or misplaced on a regular basis. Hundreds of incidents are occurring.
It’s one thing for a leak to be politically motivated, but quite another when it’s careless. In an article I wrote two weeks ago about an U.S. Ethics Committee staffer file sharing a sensitive file investigating members of Congress and winding up in the hands of the Washington Post ,many talk back readers suggested it was intentional. England on the other hand, seems to have poor training and staff that have little respect or understanding of what they are dealing with.
Last week, the BBC reported that in the U.K., health records are being ‘lost’ in unprecedented scale:
“Unacceptable amounts of data are being stolen, lost in transit or mislaid by staff. Far too much personal data is still being unnecessarily downloaded from secure servers on to unencrypted laptops, USB sticks, and other portable media.”
Companies and public bodies that recklessly or deliberately break the rules face fines of up to half a million pounds from 2010. The Ministry of Justice is considering allowing the ICO to impose fines in the most serious cases.
Fines? How about PRISON instead? Nobody seems to budget for training or make individuals aware of the consequences if data is ‘lost’.
Organized crime seeks out data and coordinates such thefts. In a recent FBI investigation, they nabbed a ring that stole over $9 million with individual and commercial banking information compiled over an extensive period of time and found vulnerability in the bank network. The plan was then executed in less than 12 hours. The three masterminds were caught and yes - they ARE going to prison.
But when civil servants have proper control of the information they are dealing with, patient records and other database formats of personnel records and are lax in the way they handle, manage and secure the data there seems to be a complete lack of discipline for their actions. The bottom line is that nobody seems to care. They have inquiries, investigations and commissions of what went wrong, but in recent history, NOBODY has been fined or prosecuted for what appears to be absolute contempt for security of individuals’ information.
In England it’s almost on the verge of bizarre. The Home Office Minister, MP Hanson wants every ISP to monitor and enable them track where a user has been and what they are downloading - but they can’t seem to even dismiss an employee for losing or locking down memory sticks or laptops with complete data records of individuals that is far more damaging in terms of potential financial ruin of an individual. The Right Honorable MP Hanson needs to check his backyard before worrying about what happens in public. The need to be heavy handed seems to be used on trivial things, like spying on a city council member that may or may not live within city limits - 21 times! Perhaps it’s time that Scotland Yard bring back Paul Temple and MI6 pull 007 out of retirement and wring somebody’s neck and throw them in jail, let alone be fired. This week, in yet another complete lack of security protocol, 4 laptops go ‘missing’ in a single event. One of the laptops has voter information — with sufficient data to ruin an individual’s identity with the information contained on the laptop.
Files contained names, addresses, dates of birth, signatures, postal vote forms and statements used to confirm the identity of 14,673 voters. Councillor Julian Daly, whose details were on the missing laptop, said the situation was “troubling”.
The data was protected by two levels of security, the council said, but admitted there was a “slight risk” it could be accessed.
Hackers have time - it’s not a slight risk, it’s a DEFINITE risk.
Everyone affected is to receive a letter to inform them of the situation.
Inform? What good is that going to do? Their identities have ALREADY been compromised.
Mr Daly, who is leader of the Conservative group at the Lib Dem controlled council, added: “That’s all the information you need to set up a bank account. It’s classic identity theft territory. “It is troubling that the data was on a portable machine and it was accessible for someone to walk off with it.”
Bureaucrat Understatement of the year:
Daniel Goodwin, the council’s chief executive, said: “I would like to apologise to residents and reassure them the council takes its responsibility to look after their personal data very seriously.”
Seriously - then Mr. Goodwin should take responsibility for complete lack of training of staff under his management and turn himself in and go to jail. It’s going to take that kind of punishment before somebody figures out that people have to follow some pretty basic COMMON SENSE rules and regulations or face the consequences. Either that or go to jail.
It would appear that the common trait among all these incidences in training or even having a security practice in place when such information is being used by employees, contractors and administrators. And clearly there is no sense of responsibility by any of the staff using the information. I sense HRM Corgi’s could manage security of the information better than some of the administrators in charge.
Loading ...November 13th, 2009
Life insurance may prove difficult to get if you contract H1N1
President Obama wants to ensure health insurance companies cannot deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition. This has key component of the President’s health care reform package going through the U.S. Congress. He may have another challenge lying ahead - life insurance. Already some insurance carriers in Canada, because of the pandemic H1N1 Virus, are asking on application forms if they have contracted it. In a Sun Media / Peterborough Examiner news article, this could lead to future profiling of consumers health and may eliminate the ability to get life insurance for some.
This may also force strict guidelines on health information privacy that a health insurance provider has in its database and ensuring that life insurance companies do not have access to it. It is legal to ask about a consumers current health and personal lifestyle habits such as smoking, but it does not bar you from getting coverage, only that it may have affect on what your monthly or yearly premiums will cost.
The debate this opens up is more than a few simple questions and no easy answers.
Loading ...November 5th, 2009
Flu pandemic disproportionately infects, kills young people; are some getting preferred treatment?
The Vancouver Sun reported that a study analyzing the first 1000 H1N1 cases in the State of California, reveals younger people were dying at a higher rate. This Flu season is one of the worst on record.
“If you’re under the age of 50, this is a bad flu. This might be the worst flu experienced in 50 to 100 years,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, acting chief of the emergency preparedness and response branch of the California Department of Public Health
“If you are a teenager or younger, the chances of dying from this flu are much, much higher than any other flu we’ve seen maybe since the 1918 flu.”
The Center for Disease Control website indicates that 2,025,700 doses of vaccine have been sent to California so far with more being shipped daily. Governments across all boundaries have ramped up to ensure everyone gets vaccinated. Web portals dedicated to Health in each region are plastered with information putting the H1N1 Flu as the #1 topic and primary focus ensuring that information is readily available.
Source of Graphic: Center for Disease Control
January 26th, 2009
Tech stimulus: $20b for health care records
That $825 billion stimulus package contains a mere $37 billion for tech in three main areas: $20 billion to computerize medical records, $11 billion to create smarter electrical grids and $6 billion to expand high-speed Internet access in rural and underserved communities, The New York Times reports.
The tech requests could result in 900,000 jobs in 2009, according to a study produced for the transition team by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
“The appeal of these kinds of investments is that you not only get the stimulative effect but also build a platform for productivity gains and long-term growth,” said Blair Levin, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission who was a technology policy adviser on the Obama transition team.
You’ll notice that these three areas don’t really scream out, “Silicon Valley.” Indeed, aside from the scientific/engineering design work at the top, these jobs are pretty much spread out around the country.
“There is a huge implementation phase to the adoption and use of these kinds of technologies locally,” said John Irons, an economist and research director at the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “The jobs involved do tend to span the spectrum of skills and income levels. And they are not going to be outsourced offshore.”
The investment in health records may be a wedge towards health industry reform as well as an important infrastructure improvement.
“Paying to put computer hardware and software in physicians’ offices isn’t going to do anything unless you change the incentives in the system,” said Dr. David J. Brailer, former national health information technology coordinator in the Bush administration.
Those incentives could change rapidly. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced HR 676 for universal health care.
All individuals residing in the United States (including any territory of the United States) are covered under the USNHI Program entitling them to a universal, best quality standard of care. Each such individual shall receive a card with a unique number in the mail. An individual’s social security number shall not be used for purposes of registration under this section.
January 14th, 2009
Will govt throw bucks at health IT without understanding the goals?
When he testifies to Congress tomorrow about the Obama Administration’s proposed health-records digitization plan, Microsoft’s Peter Neupert plans to emphasize focusing on “outcomes” not spending – even though Microsoft stands to realize a big chunk of the $50 billion being considered.
Neupert, former CEO of drugstore.com, told News.com:
When we decided to go to the moon, we didn’t say let’s build a great…rocket. We said let’s go to the moon…I feel a little bit of the conversation is lets build a great rocket and hope we get to the moon.
Digitized health records are a national asset, not an IT acquisition, he wrote on a Microsoft blog:
If the country is going to invest $50B in incremental health IT — we all want it to be invested wisely. The question is; what will generate the most benefit and how can we accomplish it? We should be building an asset with this investment - and the asset is not an application per se — but a health data asset that can be used to improve both individual outcomes and the performance of the institutions and the system overall. Individuals should be encouraged to create and manage their health data asset and to learn how to share it to achieve better outcomes and interactions with the health delivery system.
June 5th, 2008
CA to launch prescription database
California will create an online database of drug prescriptions in an effort to stop drug dealers from collecting pills from multiple doctors, InfoWeek says.
Every year thousands of doctors try to check their patient’s prescription history information but California’s current database is difficult to access,” Attorney General Jerry Brown said during a news conference.
“If California puts this information online, with real-time access, it will give authorized doctors and pharmacies the technology they need to fight prescription drug abuse which is burdening our healthcare system.”
Doctors and pharmacists send in 60,000 requests a year on patients’ scrip history but the state currently deals with them by fax and phone. The database should improve that situation.
“If doctors can easily check their own patients’ prescription history, it will reduce the number of people who are able to obtain large quantities of narcotics from many different physicians,” Brown said.
August 3rd, 2007
PTSD symptoms treated with virtual reality
Odd as it may seem, doctors are using virtual reality to treat post traumatic stress syndrome among Iraq veterans, The Washington Post reports.
Virtual-reality therapy provides doctors with a tool that uses visual, auditory and thermal cues to set the stage for treatment of veterans with the disorder, which causes nightmares and flashbacks. It can be so severe that some victims withdraw from society.
In clinical studies, eight Iraq veterans with PTSD underwent virtual reality treatment and six showed a reduction of symptoms, said Dr. Albert Rizzo, a University of Southern California psychologist developing a virtual reality system.
“We’re very enthusiastic that this is really going to start to make a difference,” Rizzo said.
Treatment involves interviewing the soldier to what triggered PTSD and customizing a VR scenario for that person.
“You really can do a lot of things … to heighten the level of realism of the experience,” said Mark Wiederhold, president and director of Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego.
“The issue is you want to access the fear hierarchy in patients,” Wiederhold said. “Only about 15 percent of people are good imaginers. They have difficulty maintaining that state of imagining a scenario. Virtual reality is a much more vivid experience.”
March 29th, 2007
ME's HealthInfoNet picks 3M to build system
Planners of Maine's ambitious HealthInfoNet project, or HIN, three years in the planning have moved another step towards reality with the selection of 3M to build the system, The Bangor (ME) Daily News reports.
HIN would gather essential health information about individual patients from Maine hospitals, doctors, clinical labs and other sources and make it available to clinicians at other participating locations through a secure Internet system. The goal is to reduce medical errors, keep patients healthier and help hold down costs.
HIN may save $40 million to $50 million in health care spending each year in Maine. An initial two-year trial could begin as early as the end of this year, at a projected cost of about $6 million.
Maine is one of nine states chosen by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to get some administrative support for developing an electronic health information system, Culver said. The other states are Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, Indiana, Colorado, Tennessee, California and Utah. Each state is developing its own system, sharing successes and failures along the way.
"We bring our good thoughts to the table and gain insight from others who are doing well," said Culver.
March 6th, 2007
CA website provides hospital data to public
A new Web site launched today makes hospital care quality data available to all Californians, the Contra Costa Times reports.
CalHospitalCompare.org is the culmination of a three-year, $14 million project that sifts through state data, patient charts and consumer surveys from 212 California hospitals, accounting for 70 percent of hospital admissions in the state."We anticipate and hope that CalHospitalCompare becomes the gold standard for hospital information," said Dr. Bruce Spurlock, chairman of the steering committee overseeing the project.
The site ranks hospitals in 50 areas, including cardiac care, maternity services and pneumonia treatment. It has 36 patient satisfaction and experience measures. People can search the site by zip code, city, county, hospital name or medical condition. The Web site allows consumers to compare up to five hospitals at once, side-by-side.
The site may be of limited use this year, as participation is strictly voluntary, and many hospitals balked at the cost of compiling all the necessary data. Fifteen omitted hospitals pledged to opt in next year, said Maribeth Shannon of the California HealthCare Foundation. In addition, children's hospitals were excluded from the site this year, but will be invited next year.
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