In a previous blog post I announced that the fifth edition of Health Informatics: Practical Guide for Healthcare and Information Technology Professionals had been released February 2012.

For those faculty members who use the textbook to teach Health/Medical Informatics we want to offer an electronic (PDF) Instructor's Manual at no…

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) just released several datasets, to include how our HIT Regional Extension Centers (RECs) are doing with the promotion and adoption of electronic health records. ONC funded the creation of 62 RECs in the United States with the goal of promoting HIT adoption, particularly among primary care physicians who practice in rural underserved areas. 

As of April 2012…

In the March issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings I noted an article about 33 cases of Anaplasmosis being reported in a Massachusetts suburban hospital over a six month period. Not only does that mean we now have three tick borne diseases on the East Coast we need to know/worry about,  they changed the name from Ehrlichiosis to Anaplasmosis without me knowing. While many of these…

All evidence points to technology being a major cause of sedentary behavior, particularly watching TV, computers and gaming. Inactivity contributes to obesity, which in turn contributes to heart disease and cancer. Early emphasis has been on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), with the recommendation of 150 minutes/week for adults. Unfortunately, only 5% of adults in the US only achieve this.

In the past several years we have learned that sedentary activity (1-3 METS) is an…

Last week the requirements for stage 2 meaningful use were published in the federal registry. The public has 60 days to respond and the changes won't likely take effect until 2014 at the earliest. The document is 455 pages long and in summary: more core objectives are required; the thresholds for current core…

I wanted to let Forum readers know that we just published (February 2012) our textbook on Health Informatics. For this edition we added many more national and international authors. Two authors, Ken Masters and John Sharp are frequent…