The HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a report on HRSA’s progress in implementing EHRs through grant funds made to Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCN). HCCNs are a group of health centers that use group purchasing power and shared resources, infrastructure, and training to adopt and implement health IT in a more cost-efficient manner. (more…)
Mayo’s Ties to DOD
Mayo Clinic has opened the Mayo Clinic “Department of Defense Medical Research Office” located in Rochester Minnesota. The objective is to be able to use a single point of contact that is able to link the research needs of DOD with Mayo Clinic investigators to improve access to funding to better serve DOD R&D priorities. (more…)
“Health Technology 101” on Capitol Hill
The Capitol Hill “Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics kick-off program “Health IT 101” held for new and returning Congressional Health Technology staffers brought them up to speed on many of the fast evolving policy issues in the field of telemedicine, telehealth, and health IT. Some of the leading trade organizations presented their specialized viewpoints on some of the health technology issues facing the healthcare and medical community. (more…)
Treating Pediatric Brain Cancer
Treating pediatric brain cancer can be a challenge since the brain has ways to protect itself from drugs taken orally or intravenously. One solution is to develop and use a miniature implantable infusion pump that is no bigger than two small cookies stacked together. The implantable pump not tethered to an outside power source would make it possible for humans using the pump to move around and experience daily life. (more…)
Medical Telecomm Equipment Grants
The Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin’s Telecommunications Division is accepting applications for Medical Telecommunications Equipment Grants for fiscal Year 2014. This is a new grant program adopted for the first time in the recent 2013 state budget to award up to $500,000 in grants during FY 2014 to improve broadband communications services in the state and there are plans to award $500,000 for FY 2015. (more…)
Biological Systems Research
The University of California at Santa Barbara’s (UCSB) Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies (ICB) since 2003 has received over $118 million in funding from the Army to do bio-inspired research. Recently the Army Research Laboratory within their Army research office announced that they are providing an additional $48 million over three years to support research inspired by biological systems. (more…)
Canada Sending Secure Data
Canada has established their first multi-disease electronic record surveillance system that provides de-identification of personal health information when submitted to a central repository. Called the Privacy Analytics Risk Assessment Tool (PARAT), the tool de-identifies personal health information for each network and then the data is sent to a central repository. (more…)