Panel Set to Study Safety of Electronic Patient Data

A look at the week of December 13, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channel

This week, questions about medical safety arise as electronic medical records (EMRs) gain traction.  Legislation was introduced in the Senate requiring minimum cybersecurity standards for all government and private sector devices that connect to the Internet.  The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed a list of IT reforms as well as policies to encourage and expedite the adoption of cloud computing within the government.  

Panel Set to Study Safety of Electronic Patient Data — Electronic medical records (EMRs) are increasingly attracting concerns that computer errors, design flaws and breakdowns in communication will endanger patients, the New York Times reported.  According to the Food and Drug Administration, mistakes have been made where EMRs disappeared or were saved in the wrong file and drug allergies and blood pressure readings were posted incorrectly. To address such concerns, the Institute of Medicine created the Committee on Patient Safety and Health Information Technology to run a yearlong study and issue recommendations.

Cybersecurity Standardization Measures Introduced in Senate — Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) has introduced a bill that would require the Federal government and the private sector to require minimum cybersecurity standards for devices that connect to the Internet. The Internet and Cybersecurity Safety Standards Act would require top government officials to determine the cost-effectiveness of requiring Internet service providers and others to develop and enforce cybersecurity safety standards, reports InformationWeek .

OMB Outlines IT Reforms — According to Tech Daily Dose, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rolled out more than two dozen information technology reforms Thursday, including a "cloud first" policy aimed at taking advantage of potential cost savings from delivering hosted services over the Internet.  To begin this effort, OMB is calling on agencies to identify three services that can be moved to the cloud.  The agency wants to move one of those services to the cloud within 12 months and the remaining two within 18 months.