Personal health records are in the spotlight at center stage now that two technology giants—Microsoft and Google—have both launched high-profile projects to support PHRs. The debate on what long-term role — if any — PHRs will play in improving the quality of health care while cutting costs is intensifying. Some observers suggest all the hype about PHRs is extremely premature, given that the vast majority of doctors’ offices don’t yet have their own patients’ records automated. PHR proponents, however, say consumers are demanding better access to data, and even a partial PHR is better than nothing.
 Privacy advocates are declaring “not so fast” as they point out that Microsoft, Google and a growing list of other technology vendors are not “covered entities” under HIPAA and thus cannot be held accountable for complying with this federal law’s data privacy and security rules. They are cautioning consumers to take an extremely close look before they leap into PHRs from these vendors.
 Howard J. Anderson from Health Data Management discusses this issue....

Sermo is Latin for conversation. Here, physicians aggregate observations from their daily practice and then - rapidly and in large numbers - challenge or corroborate each others opinions, accelerating the emergence of trends and new insights on medications, devices and treatments. You can then apply the collective knowledge to achieve better outcomes for your patients.
Gain insights from colleagues as they happen instead of waiting to read about them through conventional sources; discuss your new clinical findings, report unusual events, and work together to dramatically impact patient care.

This is how it works.  Through a simple conversation, Sprigley learns about you and thousands like you. Sprigley pools what it learns to help you and to help others. The more you talk with Sprigley, the more Sprigley can help you and help others. Sprigley turns these conversations into personalized information and customized resources. Knowledge you can use today. Make better decisions. Accomplish your own goals. Help others.

In theory, the RFP sounds like a good idea for a medical practice to 'sort out' 3 or 4 short listed vendors who may be in the running to provide a system to that practice. However, how does a busy physician create an RFP that is meaningful and will provide the ability to compare apples with apples when making the short list decision? Does the average physician who is seeking an EMR have the ability to read the RFPs and interpret the answers appropriately? How many RFP responses (of multiple 100s of pages) are simply scanned and set aside as the physician looks for easier ways to identify a potential EMR vendor?

Alan Brookstone from CanadianEMR discusses this issue...

Open source software benefits professionals in all industries: government, Internet, business, education, and even health care. Expensive software and subscriptions for anti virus systems, supporting electronic medical records and even phone or e-mail communications can put on a strain on small clinics as well as larger hospitals. Open source tools are free, highly customizable, and secure enough to handle the sensitive data that medical professionals often work with.

No one ever said being a doctor was easy. School and training go on seemingly forever; once graduation arrives, doctors work long hours and are faced with life-and-death decisions daily. But there were rewards. For decades, doctors earned hefty paychecks, had autonomy and respect. But those benefits are fading, and as a result, so is the number of doctors. Within the next 15 years, the United States will experience a shortage of between 90,000 to 200,000 physicians, according to the recently published "Will the Last Physician in America Please Turn Off the Lights: A Look at America's Looming Doctor Shortage".

Tara Weiss from Forbes.com lists a few reasons why not to become a doctor...

Researchers at McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) have performed the world’s first totally automated administration of an anesthetic. Nicknamed “McSleepy,” the new system developed by the researchers administers drugs for general anesthesia and monitors their separate effects completely automatically, with no manual intervention. "We have been working on closed-loop systems, where drugs are administered, their effects continuously monitored, and the doses are adjusted accordingly, for the last five years,” said Dr. Thomas M. Hemmerling of McGill’s Department of Anesthesia and the Montreal General Hospital, who heads ITAG (Intelligent Technology in Anesthesia research group), a team of anesthesiologists, biomedical scientists and engineers. “Think of “McSleepy” as a sort of humanoid anesthesiologist that thinks like an anesthesiologist, analyses biological information and constantly adapts its own behavior, even recognizing monitoring malfunction."

Canadian healthcare IT leaders have formed a task force to accelerate and promote the transition to a new set of pan-Canadian health information technology standards. The task force, made up of representatives from Canada Health Infoway, the Canadian Healthcare Information Technology Trade Association and the Association of Health Technology Industry will work to promote the adoption of pan-Canadian standards, especially with point-of-service systems, by engaging clinicians, healthcare providers and vendors. Officials from all stakeholder groups said collaborative planning is required to ensure the interoperable electronic health record is leveraged and the adoption of pan-Canadian standards is accelerated.

The Doctor’s Channel (www.thedoctorschannel.com) is a Web site that allows doctors to learn from each other – fast. The time-saving site includes short one- to two-minute streaming video clips designed to get to the point, with insights and opinions from experts in 35 different specialties, as well as community and lifestyle features that help doctors stay on top of the latest news, ideas and information.