One of the main stumbling blocks in the American health care system, many experts say, is the inefficient use of computer technology to manage medical records.
Now, in Santa Barbara County, a network of hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and doctors is pioneering new technology that will allow medical professionals with different computer systems to share clinical information. The initiative may well be a first step toward the creation of a national patient-care data bank.
Monthly Archives: March 2005
Doyle’s iPod Tax
Steven Walters on Governor Doyle’s proposed sales tax on electronic downloads. Taxing certain internet activities and giving others a pass is simply absurd. We should apply the sales tax to all transactions, including newspapers and services….
Better Bad News Show on Google’s Autolink (or Adlink)
Well done! Check it out and send the link around.
BadgerNet: State Contractor Who Evaluated Bids hired by Winner – SBC
Patrick Marley does a nice bit of work:
A computer network consultant who evaluated bids for a $116 million state project ended his government work in the midst of final contract negotiations to work for SBC – the firm that had landed the huge deal two months earlier.
Tom Fenton: Networks no longer in the news gathering business
Diane Rehm show: former CBS correspondent Tom Fenton says that the networks are no longer in the news gathering business. Via Dave.
Wilco Live Concert Online via NPR
NPR’s All Songs Considered webcast a live Wilco concert from Washington, D.C.’s 9:30 club. Listen to the concert here.
Buffett Bets on A Weak Dollar
Warren Buffett has 21.4 billion in forward foreign exchange contracts.
UPDATE: Buffett’s recent letter to his shareholders.
John Coltrane’s Giant Steps
Michael Levy takes a fascinating look at John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. A great compliment to Elizabeth Van Ness’s question: Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New MBA?
Still more, Ms. Daley, the U.S.C. Cinema-Television dean, argues that to generalize such skills has become integral to the film school’s mission. More than 60 academic courses at U.S.C. now require students to create term papers and projects that use video, sound and Internet components – and for Ms. Daley, it’s not enough. “If I had my way, our multimedia literacy honors program would be required of every student in the university,” she said.
What’s Missing from News is News
Frank Rich nails it:
What’s missing from News is the news. On ABC, Peter Jennings devotes two hours of prime time to playing peek-a-boo with U.F.O. fanatics, a whorish stunt crafted to deliver ratings, not information. On NBC, Brian Williams is busy as all get-out, as every promo reminds us, “Reporting America’s Story.” That story just happens to be the relentless branding of Brian Williams as America’s anchorman – a guy just too in love with Folks Like Us to waste his time looking closely at, say, anything happening in Washington.
Even NPR. I woke up the other morning at 6 and Morning Edition’s lead story was Martha Stewart (not Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, the dollar’s ongoing meltdown, or any of a number of domestic issues).
Inspiration + Taking Risks + Execution = Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum
A glorious view, worth the flight and/or drive. Visit. I continue to believe that this is a much, much better long term investment than Miller Park. Perhaps new Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio can make something happen…. (Baseball downtown would have been so much better).