Trotter promotes software called VistA (no relationship to the Microsoft OS) that was originally designed by Veterans Administration coders to improve care in hospitals once infamous for mistakes and mix-ups. They’ve since become some of the best in the country, in part because of VistA, which was designed collaboratively by the hospitals’ own coders rather than outside companies, said Trotter.

Commercial EHRs are “designed to get paid,” he said. “If you free yourself from that, which happens with the Kaiser and VA model, then you can do more things with EHRs.”

If you think about it, this is why the Internet flourished on open standards and open source. It wasn't IIS or even Netscape Server that exploded the internet. It was Apache. It wasn't PowerBuilder and Oracle. It was PERL and MySQL. Throwing GE or Allscripts as the "leaders" in this space is hazardous and ultimately a misappropriation of taxpayer money (like that hasn't already happened).

Obama’s Computerized Hospital Vision May Have Blind Spot | Wired Science | Wired.com

Our agenda puts the interests of America’s farmers, families and communities ahead of the fast-food industry’s. For that industry and its apologists to imply that it is somehow more “populist” or egalitarian to hand our food dollars to Burger King or General Mills than to support a struggling local farmer is absurd. Yes, sun food costs more, but the reasons why it does only undercut the charge of elitism: cheap food is only cheap because of government handouts and regulatory indulgence (both of which we will end), not to mention the exploitation of workers, animals and the environment on which its putative “economies” depend. Cheap food is food dishonestly priced — it is in fact unconscionably expensive.

This is an amazing article that I highly urge you to read through. There are many facets covered, and it is sweeping in the issues that it raises and guilds, but I can't help but think that food is the absolute most important thing to get "right". It impacts our health, the environment, our culture and society, our security, our economy, and the land that we live on. Lots of things might seem 'closer' at hand to needing to be fixed, but food cuts through them all. Please read.

The Food Issue - An Open Letter to the Next Farmer in Chief - Michael Pollan - NYTimes.com

So far, she has collected 119 filters from all over the country. She hopes it won't take too long for Clorox to start recycling.

Yes, and the carbon footprint for shipping these filters? THINK people!

Clorox on Brita cartridge recycling: Not so easy

Reed Tuckson, the principle clinical sponsor of the report for the UHF, said the rankings should encourage individuals to "make appropriate personal health choices, actively support local community-based organizations and institutions, and advocate with elected and public health officials for necessary resources."

REALLY? No shit.

The Health of the Nation: State By State

Hello? I won a trial gym membership? How did you get my name? You pulled it out of a fishbowl? Do you have any idea who I am? I don't have any legs. And I have only one hand. I lost them over in Iraq. No, don't worry about it. I'm fine now. But I probably won't use it, so you might want to give it to someone else.

The next time you think you have problems, read this.

What I've Learned: Sgt. Bryan Anderson

This weekend I had a hole drilled through my skull. I read that this increased one’s consciousness permanently. I read about the supposed de-conditioning properties. I read about more parts of the brain working simultaneously as there would be more blood up there to help this happen. The arguments for it all seemed to be quite lengthy, quite detailed, thought out and researched, and very intelligent. The arguments against it were based solely on the opinion that it is ‘crazy’ and talk like, "What’s more conscious than conscious?". I heard from an acquaintance on telephone that she was glad she had done it, felt more mental energy, and had days of brilliance. I came to believe that the key to a permanent consciousness increase was a hole in the skull, to restore the full brain pulsation of infancy. After several months of research, discussion, speculation, watching surgical videos and trepanation documentaries, and even an actual viewing of a trepanation, I decided I certainly did want to be trepanned, and sought a way to do it.

I'm reminded of the great line from Ghostbusters:
Vinkman: "Remember that time you tried to drill a hole in your head?"
Egon: "That would've worked had you not stopped me."

Trepanation

Women's unwillingness to take their bosom by the reins could stem from an unwillingness to celebrate one's sexuality, at least as it is defined by the D cup stereotype — does anyone over 30 want to be the Hooters girl, as it were? It could be that we're slightly afraid of our boobs— after all, over time they do seem to develop a mind of their own — or it could be we don't like what larger-than-average (though not that much larger than average) breasts invite: attention, whistles, shade.

Ha! "Shade"! :-)

For girls because [alas!] no pictures for the boys: A quick, funny read about the latest Oprah-catalyzed brain hemorrhage.

-janelane, Hooters girl

TIME.com: If Your Bra Doesn't Fit, Go Shopping

There is no other industry in the world that uses so many different approaches to the same thing and in which these differences don't relate to better results.

Actually that's not true. The IT industry is another shining example of this. Enter any IT shop, big or small, and you will see a dizzying distribution of techniques and methodologies used to attempt an outcome, including (and usually) no methodology at all.

This is a really great article on what the opportunities are in the health care space that most IT players (and VC's, and entrepreneurs) are for the most part completely missing.

IT remedies for US health care: An interview with WellPoint's Leonard Schaeffer

The U.K. government has said the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in a parrot that died in quarantine

Is it just me or does this seem like it should've been an updated Python skit?

U.K. Says H5N1 Form of Bird Flu Found in Dead Parrot

But for all the complaints, scientists know surprisingly little about what causes chronic insomnia, its health consequences and how best to treat it, a panel of specialists brought together by the National Institutes of Health concluded Wednesday.

um, tell me about it!

Chronic Insomnia baffles sleep experts