Travis Leonardi .com

The Los Angeles Times (7/25, Maugh) reported, “The broad range of potential deaths highlights the unpredictability of flu viruses in general and this swine flu virus in particular because it hasn’t behaved the way researchers have expected.

CCHIT to release new programs in 90 days More than 225 volunteers with the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology are updating and broadening certification programs for electronic health record technologies.

New York Times (7/23, A4, McNeil) reports, “With pharmaceutical companies racing to have a swine flu vaccine ready for the fall flu season, the federal government announced Wednesday that the first clinical trials of vaccine candidates would start shortly.”

The agency warned, though, that the seasonal vaccine will not guard against a fourth, potentially more dangerous, strain spreading worldwide. This virus, a novel H1N1 influenza widely known as swine flu, has caused more than 40,000 cases and 260 deaths in the USA and its territories.Click here

Google Health puts ‘living wills’ online July 16, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

ALEXANDRIA, VA – A partnership between Google Health and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Caring Connections provides a way to store and access a patient’s advanced directives online.

The “living will” feature on Google Health enables users to download a free, state-specific advance directive and store the scanned documents securely online. Officials say this will help overcome a common barrier in emergency healthcare situations, where it can be difficult to access a patient’s advance directive when the patient is terminally ill and no longer able to communicate. This document provides specific information to healthcare professionals and can help guide family caregivers called upon to make decisions on behalf of that person.

 the WSJ (7/10, A4, McKay) reports, “government officials and manufacturers are preparing to produce as many as 600 million doses of vaccine against the new H1N1 virus, an effort that would dwarf seasonal-flu campaigns,” although they “must wait for the outcome of a series of clinical trials that will determine whether the vaccine is effective and if so, how many doses are needed.” click here

July 02, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor Healthcare IT News

WHITE PLAINS, NY – A class action lawsuit claims the stimulus act jeopardizes the privacy rights of the 65 percent of Americans who aren’t on Medicaid or Medicare by requiring healthcare providers to create an electronic health record of every person in the United States. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to protect personal health information and to prevent the defendants from disbursing the $22 billion budgeted for the electronic health records systems.

Lead plaintiff Beatrice M. Heghmann, a healthcare professional who has never been covered by Medicare and Medicaid, says because Title XIII of the stimulus act aims to have everyone’s medical histories in the system by 2014, their personal health information would be a “mouse click away from being accessible to an intruder.” click here