Fred Trotter

Fred shapes our software development and data gathering strategies, which doesn't stop him from getting elbow-deep in the code on a regular basis. He is co-author of the first Health IT O’Reilly book Hacking Healthcare, and co-creator of the DIRECT protocol mandated in Meaningful Use. Fred’s technical commentary and data journalism work has been featured in several online and print journals including Wired, Forbes, U.S. News, NPR, Government Health IT, and Modern Healthcare.
Software crumple zones
It’s time to recognize and appreciate highly engineered health information systems. Have you had an auto mechanic look at your wrecked car and sigh, “they just don’t make them like they used to”? Darn right they don’t make them like they used to. Old cars were much better about surviving wrecks, but at the expense…
Read MoreWho owns patient data? Look inside health data access and you’ll see why “ownership” is inadequate for patient information.
Who owns a patient’s health information? The patient to whom it refers? The health provider that created it? The IT specialist who has the greatest control over it? The notion of ownership is inadequate for health information. For instance, no one has an absolute right to destroy health information. But we all understand what it…
Read MoreLeft and right and wrong Political and process disconnects show up everywhere, including health IT.
Sometimes I find a picture or a blog post that leaps off the screen at me and says “your readers must see this as it applies to health IT.” Normal Modes, a solid UX company based in Houston, sends me fairly good UX tips on a regular business. The last one featured this photo (used…
Read MoreAI will eventually drive healthcare, but not anytime soon
TechCrunch recently published a guest post from Vinod Khosla with the headline “Do We Need Doctors or Algorithms?“. Khosla is an investor and engineer, but he is a little outside his depth on some of his conclusions about health IT. Let me concede and endorse his main point that doctors will become bionic clinicians by…
Read MoreThe rise of programmable self
Quantifying your changes + motivational hacks = programmable self. Programmable self is a riff on the Quantified Self (QS). It is a simple concept: Quantify what you want to change about yourself + motivational hacks = personal change success. There are several potential “motivation hacks” that people regularly employ. The simplest of these is peer…
Read MoreAre EHRs Safe?
Electronic health records are fundamentally dangerous. They’re also safer than the current model. Are electronic health records (EHR) safe? No. EHRs are not safe. They are fundamentally and irreparably dangerous even during normal use. EHRs will kill people. Lots of people. EHRs have been killing people for years. They will kill even more people as…
Read MoreEpatients: The hackers of the healthcare world
I help build open source software tools that patients can use to have greater control and influence over their own healthcare (like the Direct Project and Your Doctors Advice). As as result, I’ve become quite familiar with other tools that do the same sorts of things. There is a community of patients who are deeply…
Read MoreProgrammable Self Reading List
I am preparing for my talk at Quantified Self about my work on Programmable Self. I was asked to make a “reading list” for the people who were interested in this subject so I wanted to create that here. Please add links in my comments section for titles that I have omitted!! Requirements for inclusion…
Read MoreOpen Letter to the tiger team
This is an open letter to the tiger team from HIT Policy Committee as well as the committee generally. Recently a group from HITPC gave recommendations to the NHIN Direct project regarding which protocol it should choose. I realized as I heard the comments there, that this group was reading the NHIN Direct Security and…
Read MoreThe Burden of Trust
I am a vocal participant on the NHIN Direct Security and Trust working group. Its a perfect place for me. I love Open Source healthcare, but my background was in InfoSec… and we never really forget our first love.. do we? At the NHIN Direct Security and Trust workgroup, I get to exercise all of…
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