Again, in the last week, I have come across a few reports and news items which are worth passing on.
These include first:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22225026-23289,00.html
Girls seek thinspiration on web
Helen Nugent, London | August 11, 2007
CHARITIES involved with eating disorders have called for tighter controls on the internet after it emerged that sites such as MySpace and YouTube were being used to promote anorexia.
Pro-anorexia websites, on which girls exchange extreme dieting tips and view "thinspiration" videos featuring alarmingly thin women, had always been difficult to find and the people posting on them had remained anonymous.
But pictures and footage of underweight teenagers are appearing on more mainstream sites, reaching a potential audience of tens of millions.
On Facebook, some groups extol the virtues of anorexia as a lifestyle choice.
Thousands of people have viewed film clips of emaciated teens and 20-something women on YouTube which, along with the other networking sites, has rules against posting harmful content. The two-minute to 10-minute videos often feature the more slender celebrities such as Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss, and show images of underweight women in their underwear.
Eating disorder charities have called on social websites to look closely at their online material.
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of the charity Beat, said: "Pro-anorexic sites weren't easy to find and most responsible internet providers would cut them out. But on the networking sites, there isn't the same control over them.
…..( see the URL above for full article)
This is a worrying article on a trend where really stupid people try to exploit you insecure teenagers on the web – oh and buy the way we will make money out of their distress. Pretty sad.
Second we have:
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/it-business/services-sourcing/news/index.cfm?newsid=4422
iSoft will deliver NHS system to CSC 'in new year'
Troubled software supplier confirms Lorenzo handover timetable
By Tash Shifrin
Troubled NHS software supplier iSoft will deliver its Lorenzo care records system to CSC by early 2008, it has said. This will leave the way clear for CSC to start rolling it out to the NHS National Programme for IT from mid-2008 onwards.
It set out the timetable in posting a 13% drop in revenues to £175.2m and a 50% fall in “normalised operating profits” as it limps towards its acquisition by German firm CompuGroup.
The software supplier is contracted to provide the Lorenzo care records system as the core part of the NHS’s £12.4bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in three out of five regions where CSC is the lead contractor.
But the turmoil surrounding the company has increased concern about the delivery of Lorenzo, which is already running more than two years late.
Last month, iSoft announced its shock sale to CompuGroup, abandoning previous moves to sell to Australian firm IBA.
The full-year figures for iSoft figures a pre-tax loss of £22m, mainly as a result of restructuring efforts, but this is down from the dramatic £343.8m loss posted by iSoft last year.
…..( see the URL above for full article)
It seems the outcome with iSoft is pretty much settled and it now seems at least hopeful that the regions who were to get iSoft software will now get a working product. We can only hope so. For IBA the time has now come to work out what is best done with the additional capital they now have for the benefit of their shareholders (of which I am one).
Further information is found here:
http://www.whatpc.co.uk/computing/analysis/2196243/lorenzo-software-vital-isoft
Lorenzo software vital to iSoft's future
Healthcare supplier relies on NHS developments for future revenue growth, reports Dave Friedlos
Dave Friedlos, Computing 09 Aug 2007
…..( see the URL above for full article)
Third we have:
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070808/FREE/308080001/1029/FREE
Six EMRs have CCHIT seal of approval so far
By: Andis Robeznieks / HITS staff writer
Story posted: August 8, 2007 - 5:59 am EDT
So far, six ambulatory electronic medical-record products have passed muster with the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology's 2007 criteria for functionality, interoperability and security.
Those products are:
- Auburn, N.Y.-based Community Computer Service's Medent 17.
- Austin, Texas-based e-MDs' Solution Series 6.1.2.
- Carrollton, Ga.-based Greenway Medical Technologies' PrimeSuite 2007 R2.
- Alpharetta, Ga.-based McKesson Provider Technologies' Practice Partner 9.2.1.
- Horsham, Pa.-based NextGen Healthcare Information Systems' EMR 5.4.29.
- St. Louis-based Purkinje's CareSeries EHR 2.0.
Some 89 ambulatory EHR products were certified under the 2006 criteria. If vendors want to continue marketing those EHRs with the 2006 CCHIT seal of approval beyond a 12-month period, commission spokeswoman Sue Reber said they will need to pay a $4,000 "maintenance" fee. Vendors seeking to keep old products certified and eligible for the 2006 seal while submitting new versions of the product for testing under the new criteria will need to pay a $4,000 maintenance fee plus the $28,000 fee for the certification test.
…..( see the URL above for full article)
Just a reminder that the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology in the US is steaming on progressively improving the quality and usability of ambulatory systems available to US clinicians. Good if was saw such a rational process set up on OZ!
Fourth we have:
Preventive steps could save 100,000 U.S. lives: study
Tue Aug 7, 2007 3:29 PM ET
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Increased use of just five preventive services would save more than 100,000 lives every year in the United States, health experts said in a report released on Tuesday.
Of the five prevention tips, the biggest impact would come if adults took a low dose of aspirin every day to prevent heart disease, a step that could save 45,000 lives a year.
The report by the Partnership for Prevention, a nonprofit health policy group, also calls for renewed efforts to help smokers quit, more colorectal cancer and breast cancer screening and annual flu shots for people over 50.
"This shows so dramatically the potential impact of prevention," said Dr. Kathleen Toomey of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped fund the study along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the WellPoint Foundation.
"These are really very modest, low-cost interventions that have such potentially dramatic impact on improving the health of the public," Toomey said in a telephone interview.
The study underscores the tendency in the United States to treat disease, rather than prevent it.
"Our nation has never truly invested in prevention," Toomey said.
…..( see the URL above for full article)
A useful reminder of the importance of preventative health care – which, of course – is an area where e-health applications can make a major difference.
Fifth we have:
http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/2935/ireland_to_invest_euros_500m_in_e-health
Ireland to invest Euros 500m in e-health
08 Aug 2007
The Irish Government will commit almost half a billion Euros of investment to e-health when it publishes its National Development Plan for health.
Investment will be focused on systems that improve patient care in hospital or community settings, with a particular focus on supporting community-based health professionals.
As part of the National Development Plan (NDP) the Irish Government plans to invest Euros 490m in e-health over the next seven years, at a level of Euros 70m a year.
After a lengthy planning and tendering process, the new investment programme will be formally announced when Ireland unveils its Health Information and Communication Technology sub-programme in the NDP for 2007-2013.
The six-year investment plan is intended to provide the funding to deliver Ireland's National Health Information Strategy, first published in 2004. The document is expected to lay out detailed updated plans for implementing the 2004 e-health strategy.
…..( see the URL above for full article)
An now we have countries with only 4.1 million people planning to actually get moving in e-health. If scaled to the size of the Australian Population this amounts to $2.5 Billion Euro (i.e. $A 4.0 Billion). Nice it we had a national government with similar vision.
Lastly we have:
http://www.govhealthit.com/article103468-08-10-07-Web
Report: EMRs should have anti-fraud features
A contractor is recommending that the Health and Human Services Department beef up its anti-fraud efforts with respect to health information technology and medical billing.
The contractor, RTI International, delivered to HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT a report listing 14 kinds of features that should be built into electronic medical records to prevent fraudulent billing and help spot fraud once bills have been transmitted for payment.
Of the 14 recommended features, nearly one-quarter already are being required for certification by the Certification Commission for Health IT, an HHS-sponsored organization that reviews EMR products to determine whether their functionality, interoperability and security meet certain standards.
…..( see the URL above for full article )
The report – which is available at www.dhhs.gov/healthit - is well worth a review. It shows how ONCHIT, CCHIT and commerce are working together to get incremental improvement in the systems used by American Clinicians – again a useful idea for OZ!
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Highly Recommended.
All in all not a bad lot to start the week!
More next week.
David.
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