Fred Trotter

Google.org, which is the philanthropic arm of Google, has released Google Flu Trends to great fanfare and criticism.
Google Flu tracks searches for flu symptoms on Googles search service. So if I type “achy headache” into Google, it might count the search as evidence that I, or someone I was caring for, had the flu. Enough […]

The incomparable Joseph Conn has an article up about the potential fate of CCHIT under the Obama administration.
I do not believe that it should be refunded under its current form. For several reasons.

First, CCHIT favours proprietary EHR business models vs FOSS EHR business models.
CCHIT favours kitchen sink EHRs vs. niche EHR models.
CCHIT favours expensive EHRs […]

Recently ComputerWorld released an otherwise good article entitled: Old code proves key to modern IT at Midland Memorial Hospital.
The first paragraph reads in part:
For Midland Memorial Hospital, this came in the form of 1970s-era code unearthed via the Freedom of Information Act.
This is really frustrating. VistA is old. But it is not older than Unix […]

Medsphere just announced that they have won a contract with Indian Health Services for a 5-year and 9.7 million.
With deals like that, maybe they do not even need further financing.
-FT

A while ago I was contacted by the folks at Health IT Transition (hittransition.com) regarding some NPI development. We decided to collaborate. They turned me on to the intricacies of the NPI database, and I have been doing skunkworks on the NPI database ever since. Sadly, they have been waiting on me since then, hopefully […]

Express Scripts, one of the nations largest pharmacy benefit management companies, is being blackmailed with the release of private health information. The blackmailer proved that he/she has access to the data by providing information on 75 Express Scripts customers.
The company has done a fine job of swallowing this bitter pill. They have done exactly the […]

An important part of the reason why (some) people respect what I have to say with regards to FOSS Healthcare IT is that I do not pull punches. I also do not hesitate to admit when I am wrong.
Recently, Mike Doyle from Medsphere called me. I have a lot of respect for Mike, just about […]