health care - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• IBM's Watson supercomputer to diagnose patients

  Watson, IBM's game-show playing supercomputer, will soon try its hand at assisting physicians in the WellPoint health care plan in diagnosing and treating patients.

• FTC: No, your smartphone can't heal acne

  Smartphones can help you record video clips, compose music and find the nearest Ethiopian restaurant, but they can't cure acne, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said.

• EHR use by doctors will foster personal health record uptake

  A lack of electronic medical data from doctors, complicated setup processes and the static nature of personal health records (PHRs) have caused U.S. consumers to shun the products. But PHR use should increase as more doctors use electronic health records (EHRs) and tech vendors develop offerings that are easier to use.

• Fired techie created virtual chaos at pharma company

  Logging in from a Smyrna, Georgia, McDonald's restaurant, a former employee of a U.S. pharmaceutical company was able to wipe out most of the company's computer infrastructure earlier this year.

• Collaboration and mobility in the mental health sector

  Despite leading a six person IT team that serves 600 staff members and earning substantially less than if he were working in the private sector, Mind Australia’s director of IT services, James Kent, says he wouldn’t work anywhere else.

• Healthcare industry leads market in IT hiring

  Flush with federal funds and under the gun of federal regulatory deadlines, the healthcare industry is leading the market in IT jobs creation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics job placement services.

• Mitek extends check imaging tech to health care, insurance

  Mitek Systems' Mobile Capture imaging software has long allowed banks to offer customers mobile banking capabilities. Now the company is turning the technology toward the health care and insurance industries as well.

• 10 questions for RemitData CFO Joel K. Wood

  Name: Joel K. Wood

• Microsoft looks to business tools for health care

  Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, demonstrated some applications on Thursday that apply current technologies to problems facing the health care industry.

• Feds move toward health claims database despite privacy fears

  Despite lingering privacy concerns, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is plowing ahead with plans to build a massive centralized database containing detailed healthcare claims information on millions of federal employees and their families.

• Can the iPad cure what ails us?

  A neurology patient at a Texas hospital may soon find doctors handing him an iPad with game-like apps on it to test his motor skills. Nurses will be able to roam bedsides while remotely checking electrocardiograms, or EKGs, on their iPads. Doctors are already sharing medical records on iPads with their peers, in order to discuss patient care.

• Bluetooth touts itself as the cancer-free wireless tech

  If you're worried that your cellphone might be giving you cancer, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has a solution for you: Use Bluetooth.

• Hospitals compete for IT talent with funding at stake

  Health care providers in the U.S. are encountering a lack of qualified candidates as they race to meet federal government deadlines for EHR (electronic health record) and health IT use.

• 20nm flash chip means more mobile-device features, smaller SSDs

  By reducing its NAND flash chip size by as much as 40 per cent, Intel and Micron have opened the door for tablets and smartphone manufacturers to use the extra space for product improvements such as a bigger battery, larger screen or adding another chip to handle new features.

• Windows servers hacked at The Hartford insurance company

  Hackers have broken into The Hartford insurance company and installed password-stealing programs on several of the company's Windows servers.