Cool Technology of the Week

Last week I had dinner with the CEO of a very successful software company.  He told me that 30% of all downtime for his products was caused by anti-virus software.Given the sophistication of today's malware, it's clear that a new approach is needed to anti-virus software.Intel introduced a virtualization component to their chipset a few years ago.   When they acquired anti-virus company McAfee, they collaborated to leverage their  "VT-x"...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - The Guinea Fowl Who Lost His Mojo

Running a farm with 50 animals is like having 50 children.   There are going to be bumps and bruises, stumbles, and occasionally serious injury.Last week, one of Guinea Fowl, named Piebald (because he's a patchy blend of black and white) flew into the male alpaca area which is guarded by our Great Pyrenees Mountain dogs, Bundle and Shiro.   Normally our dogs ignore our birds, since the dogs have lived with the poultry for most of their...[Readmore]

Rethinking Remote Access

As I travel the country, I find that CIOs everywhere are struggling with BYOD in particular but remote access more generally.   Who is responsible ifA personal unencrypted laptop with email containing personally identified/protected healthcare information is stolen?   The CIO of the institution providing email takes accountability and reports the theft to appropriate  government regulators.An employee prints a web page on their...[Readmore]

A Presentation to HIMSS in North Dakota

This morning, I joined a HIMSS group in North Dakota to discuss Meaningful Use Stage 2, Health Information Exchange, and Personal Health Records. Here are the slides I used.I was asked an interesting question about the transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2.The Stage 2 Final Rule notes that as of 2014, any provider or hospital attesting to Stage 1 must use Stage 2 certified technology.   Since the capabilities of Stage 2 certified technology are...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - Thanksgiving on the Farm

Today was our first Thanksgiving at Unity Farm.   Although I've discussed the farm in detail, I've not described the home.   We live at the farm in a house adjacent to the pasture.   My father-in-law lives in the in-law wing, we live in the first floor. and our daughter has an area on the second floor.The entire family selected vegetables from the farm and surrounding farms, then spent the day peeling, chopping, and preparing...[Readmore]

A Time for Giving Thanks

2012 has been a year of joys and sorrows.   My wife had breast cancer, my mother broke her hip,  my cat died of pancreatic cancer, I left my CIO role at Harvard Medical School to focus on BIDMC's emerging accountable care organization, and moved/consolidated two families from suburban houses into Unity Farm.Some would consider this amount of change and challenge to be overwhelming.I think of them as transformative.It may sound strange to...[Readmore]

The Patient Experience of EHRs

I'm often asked if the use of EHRs diminish clinician-patient interactions in the exam room.At BIDMC, Jan Walker and Tom Delbanco  have done focus groups with patients about technology. Generally, they found that patients will embrace technology that gives them access to information about their care.  At BIDMC, where we have both a patient portal and Wi-Fi throughout the hospital, doctors often arrive at the bedside to find a patient viewing...[Readmore]

A Novel Idea for Managing Consent

In 2008, I wrote about representing privacy preferences in an XML form that I called the Consent Assertion Markup language (CAML).At the November HIT Standards Committee we discussed the draft Meaningful Use Stage 3 Request for Comment (RFC), which includes a measure relating to query for a patient's record.  The RFC suggests an exchange of authorization language to be signed by the patient in order to allow retrieval of the requested information....[Readmore]

Cool Technology of the Week

My daughter and one of my blog followers recently told me about a Japanese cultural phenomena that is truly a cool technology.One of the hottest concert pop stars in Japan is an anime hologram with a vocal synthesizer.  Meet Hatsune Miku who appears in live concerts, despite the fact that she does not exist.She's a vocaloid created with software that anyone can use to create realistic rock performances.Ms. Miku is not alone.  She's...[Readmore]

Building Unity Farm - The Community

One of the most important aspects of choosing a farm property is the community around you* What is the zoning?* How will your neighbors react to wandering guinea fowl or an escaped llama?* Are there other farms nearby?For our farm, we chose Sherborn, a very agriculturally friendly town just west of Boston.The Sherborn town bylaws indicate that no agricultural pursuit can be restricted.   Of course, various wetland restrictions and environmental...[Readmore]

The Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

When I was 13 years old, the Altair 8800 appeared on the cover of Popular Electronics.   By 16, I was building enough hardware and software that I achieved the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours of competency by age 18.     By 19, I founded a company that produced tax calculation software for the Kaypro, Osborne, and new IBM PC.   Every week in the Silicon Valley of the early 1980's brought a new startup into the nascent desktop computer...[Readmore]

The November HIT Standards Committee Meeting

The 42nd meeting of the HIT Standards Committee began with an inspirational introduction from Farzad Mostashari.    He told us that the HIT Standards Committee members should keep their  "eyes on the prize and feet on the ground".   We should be aspirational in reviewing the Meaningful Use Stage 3 criteria, identifying standards recommendations for 2016 which are likely, which are possible with focus, and which are unrealistic....[Readmore]