News From Around the Web
> Mountain View, Calif.-based biopharmaceutical company VIVUS has launched the Q and Me application, a no-cost mobile app available through iTunes and Google Play Store designed to help patients meet their weight loss goals. Q and Me can be used by anyone wanting to develop skills that can lead to lasting weight loss. The new Q and Me app for Apple and Android-based devices now allows users to access tools while on the go: Food Log, Activity Log, and BMI Calculator. According to Michael Miller, senior vice president and chief commercial officer of VIVUS, "the Q and Me app can help make the weight loss journey more manageable by empowering people to make changes that may lead to meaningful weight loss." Announcement
> On March 14, San Diego-based mobile health solutions provider Humetrix presented the U.K. version of its iBlueButton mobile platform at the National Health Service Innovation Expo 2013 in London. The latest version of iBlueButton will ultimately enable U.K. citizens to use their smartphones to access and share their personal health records with healthcare providers at the point of care. The U.K. version of the iBlueButton platform is expected to be available for consumer use by fall 2013. Announcement
> Enterasys Networks, the New Hampshire-based provider of wired and wireless network infrastructure and security solutions, recently conducted a worldwide study regarding adoption and usage of Wi-Fi by healthcare organizations. Among the interesting data points from the survey: 78 percent of hospitals allow some physicians to utilize personally-owned devices at the point of care, 63 percent of respondents said their Wi-Fi is critical to their success in achieving government regulations like Meaningful Use, and 32 percent of those surveyed said they are not using technology to enforce Bring Your Own Device policy on their Wi-Fi. Blog post
EMR News
> An unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in Southern California is suing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, alleging that agents executing a warrant stole medical records for 10 million Americans. Those affected could include every state judge in California, as well as "prominent citizens in the world of entertainment, business and government, from all walks of life," according to the complaint. Fifteen IRS agents executed a search warrant on March 11, 2011, for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the company, however, "it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter." Article
Healthcare IT News
> While new sensor technology developed by Chilean researchers holds promise for improving cancer diagnosis efforts, European researchers hope sensors also can eventually aid in treating the disease. For the former, researchers at Chile's Centro de Estudios Científicos created a molecular sensor with the ability to detect lactate levels in individual cells in real time. Lactate, according to the researchers, can be used to determine metabolism processes in such cells, and the researchers found that tumor cells produced lactate three to five times faster than non-tumor cells. Article
And Finally… Try telling this to your boss. Article