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... read more →
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... read more →
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... read more →
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... read more →
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... read more →
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... read more →
I have long been an advocate of reasonable and measured reaction to “privacy scare tactics”. I have argued, for instance, that it was a good thing that HIPAA does not cover PHR systems. But that does not mean that I do not think privacy is important. In fact there has... read more →
Google.org, which is the philanthropic arm of Google, has released Google Flu Trends to great fanfare and criticism. Google Flu tracks searches for flu symptoms on Googles search service. So if I type “achy headache” into Google, it might count the search as evidence that I, or someone I was caring... read more →
Express Scripts, one of the nations largest pharmacy benefit management companies, is being blackmailed with the release of private health information. The blackmailer proved that he/she has access to the data by providing information on 75 Express Scripts customers. The company has done a fine job of swallowing this bitter... read more →
There are more and more examples of how standard hacking techniques apply in healthcare, with serious consequences. Recent issues include RFID hacking and interference issues. Recently, a talk at BlackHat regarding hacking medical devices, including pacemakers, has begun appearing in popular blogs. What is most dangerous about this is not... read more →