What would you say to policymakers who are discussing the implementation of a national health information infrastructure? Here’s what I’d say: E-patients want access to tools and information. Many will find what they need, many will not. You can help.
policy issues
HIPAA’s Broken Promise
If you hate HIPAA, it’s your lucky day. Paul Ohm is handing you ammunition in his article, “Broken Promises of Privacy: Responding to the Surprising Failure of Anonymization.” His argument: our current information privacy structure is a house built on sand. “Computer scientists…have demonstrated they can often ‘reidentify’ or ‘deanonymize’ individuals hidden in anonymized data […]
Social Media’s Promise for Public Health
Federal agencies can, and should, be the first responders to health questions. Social media can help. That’s my summary of presentations from last week’s National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media conference, where I had the sense, once again, of a tribal meeting, but this one had the urgency of war council. The enemy […]
Open Access to Publicly-Funded Research: Let Them Eat Cake?
Update on 12/3/14: Nature re-ignited the access debate when they announced that they will make all their articles “free to view” (but if you read the fine print: it makes the “dark social” practice of #icanhazpdf and other access work-arounds illegal). To catch up, see my Storify: Five-alarm fire in Open Access Land. Marketplace aired […]
Personalized Medicine, the Next Frontier–Susannah Fox
Nancy B. Finn is a journalist with an expertise in the implementation of digital communications in health care. This is her second guest post on e-patients.net: When an individual patient visits his or her doctor with a problem, traditional clinical diagnosis is made and treatment is administered based on the patient’s symptoms, medical and family […]
Not Just a Pretty Picture–Susannah Fox
The Journal of the National Cancer Institute published health risk data in a way that only a researcher would love (Reason.com’s Hit & Run blog links to the subscription-only charts here in case you want to marvel at the ugliness). Luckily The New York Times took notice and painted a picture that everyone can appreciate. […]
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