Editor
Areas of Expertise:
- free and open source software
- health IT
- writing
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Recent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
Andy blogs at:
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Ways to put the patient first when collecting health data
June 10 2013
The timing was superb for last week’s Health Privacy Summit, held on June 5 and 6 in Washington, DC. First, it immediately followed the 2000-strong Health Data Forum (Health Datapalooza), where concern for patients rights came up repeatedly. Secondly, scandals … read morePatients matter most, but technology matters a lot
June 04 2013
Computing practices that used to be religated to experimental outposts are now taking up residence at the center of the health care field. From natural language processing to machine learning to predictive modeling, you see people promising at the health … read moreThe elusive quest to transform healthcare through patient empowerment
May 21 2013
Would you take a morning off from work to discuss health care costs and consumer empowerment in health care? Over a hundred people in the Boston area did so on Monday, May 6, for the conference “Empowering Healthcare Consumers: A … read moreLooking ahead to a world of data-dominated decisions
May 21 2013
Measuring a world-shaking trend with feet planted in every area of human endeavor cannot be achieved in a popular book of 200 pages, but one has to start somewhere. I am happy to recommend the adept efforts of Viktor Mayer-Schönberger … read moreThree organizations pressing for change in society’s approach to computing
May 16 2013
Taking advantage of a recent trip to Washington, DC, I had the privilege of visiting three non-profit organizations who are leaders in the application of computers to changing society. First, I attended the annual meeting of the Association for Computing … read moreSurvey on the Future of Open Source, and Lessons from the Past
May 15 2013
I recently talked to two managers of Black Duck, the first company formed to help organizations deal with the licensing issues involved in adopting open source software. With Tim Yeaton, President and CEO, and Peter Vescuso, Executive Vice President of … read moreA very serious game that can cure the orphan diseases
May 02 2013
In the inspiring tradition of Foldit, the game for determining protein shapes, Fit2Cure crowdsources the problem of finding drugs that can cure the many under-researched diseases of developing countries. Fit2Cure appeals to the player’s visual–even physical–sense of the world, and … read moreData sharing drives diagnoses and cures, if we can get there (part 2)
April 29 2013
Editor’s note: Earlier this week, Part 1 of this article described Sage Bionetworks, a recent Congress they held, and their way of promoting data sharing through a challenge. Data sharing is not an unfamiliar practice in genetics. Plenty of cell … read moreData sharing drives diagnoses and cures, if we can get there (part 1)
April 29 2013
The glowing reports we read of biotech advances almost cause one’s brain to ache. They leave us thinking that medical researchers must command the latest in all technological tools. But the engines of genetic and pharmaceutical innovation are stuttering for … read moreBuilding native apps from JavaScript using Titanium
April 18 2013
In this interview, the author of Titanium: Up and Running describes how Titanium can be used to generate native mobile apps from JavaScript code. He distinguishes the Titanium platform from native API programming and from other popular JavaScript platforms for … read moreDesigning resilient communities
April 15 2013
In the open source and free software movement, we always exalt community, and say the people coding and supporting the software are more valuable than the software itself. Few communities have planned and philosophized as much about community-building as ZeroMQ. … read moreBroadening consults and narrowing queries: HealthTap’s social network
March 21 2013
Noting the power of social media in situations ranging from the marketing of sneakers to the overthrow of autocratic regimes, many health care thinkers have suggested a greater use of social media by doctors and people seeking information on health … read moreSaint James Infirmary: checking the pulse of health IT at HIMSS
March 11 2013
I spent most of the past week on my annual assessment of the progress that the field of health information technology is making toward culling the benefits offered by computers and Internet connectivity: instant access to data anywhere; a leveling … read moreSlow & Steady: looking toward a better health IT future at HIMSS
March 06 2013
After my funereal disparagement yesterday of the opening of the HIMSS health care conference in New Orleans, I decided to pick up the beat today and talk about some of the people and ideas I encountered with promise for the … read moreSingin’ the Blues: visions deferred at HIMSS health IT conference
March 05 2013
HIMSS, the leading health IT conference in the US, drew over 32,000 people to New Orleans this year (with another thousand or two expected to register by the end of the conference). High as this turn-out sounds, it represents a … read moreHarvard Medical School derives richer health research through patient app
February 26 2013
In a mobile, texting, socially engaged society, one would expect medical researchers to move beyond clipboards and phone surveys to make the most of technology. Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital are starting to do that with a series … read moreAndroid offers a standard platform for health care apps
February 25 2013
Video systems can streamline hospital care in all sorts of ways from displaying messages (“Quiet time is 1 to 2 PM today”) to taking patient surveys, showing patients their X-Rays, and helping patients view their records from their beds. But … read moreBringing the knowledge of best practices to the doctor’s point of care
February 11 2013
Impatience is said to be the stance of modern technology users, but a doctor sitting with a patient has good reason to be impatient. The afflicted person may be suffering from a condition where lost minutes could mean death, an … read moreLISA mixes the ancient and modern: report from USENIX system administration conference
December 14 2012
I came to LISA, the classic USENIX conference, to find out this year who was using such advanced techniques as cloud computing, continuous integration, non-relational databases, and IPv6. I found lots of evidence of those technologies in action, but also … read moreOpen source developers combine efforts in the health care field
December 13 2012
I had a chance to listen in a recent meeting of Open Health Tools, a trade association bringing together companies, academics, and standards bodies who create open source software tools for all stages of the health care field. Open Health … read moreThe MOOC movement is not an indicator of educational evolution
December 03 2012
Somehow, recently, a lot of people have taken an interest in the broadcast of canned educational materials, and this practice — under a term that proponents and detractors have settled on, massive open online course (MOOC) — is getting a … read moreNovember 05 2012
Veterans Affairs is collaborating with Fujitsu on a complex and interesting use of sensor data to help rehabilitate veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I recently talked about this initiative with Dr. Steven Woodward, Principal Investigator of the … read moreDoctors rate doctors in HealthTap’s medical quality project
November 01 2012
HealthTap, a network of physicians and patients, routinely breaks new ground and tries bold experiments in the area of generating trust. I remember how, in my first posting about the company, I questioned whether the company could sign up both … read moreHow to open an industry: data points from Strata Rx
October 19 2012
O’Reilly’s first conference devoted to health care, Strata Rx, wrapped up earlier this week. Despite competing with at least three other conferences being held on the same week around the country on various aspects of health care and technology, we … read moreTools for test-driven development in Scala
October 17 2012
Scala, a language designed for well-structured and readable programs, is richly provisioned with testing frameworks. The community has adopted test-driven development (TDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD) with zeal. These represent the baseline for trustworthy code development today. TDD and BDD … read moreSensor-laden glove brings medical examination to the masses
October 11 2012
Recently a group of three young entrepreneurs showed off a prototype of a glove that contained sensors useful for medical examinations. Their goals were not merely to make diagnosis easier, but to save the doctor/patient relationship from the alienation of … read moreOpen source software as a model for health care
October 09 2012
(The following article sprang from a collaboration between Andy Oram and Brigitte Piniewski to cover open source concepts in an upcoming book on health care. This book, titled “Wireless Health: Remaking of Medicine by Pervasive Technologies,” is edited by Professor … read moreDiscovering genetic associations using large data
October 09 2012
David Heckerman from Microsoft Research presents a summary of his work in the session “Discovering Genetic Associations on Large Data.” This was part of the Strata Rx Online Conference: Personalized Medicine, a preview of O’Reilly’s conference Strata Rx, highlighting the … read moreCombining patient data sets for better medical research
October 09 2012
I find Datalanche’s upcoming search application interesting because its database mixes public health data with patients’ clinical data from a private vendor. Practice Fusion opened up their data set of de-identified clinical information for a challenge that Datalanche won last … read moreAdvanced analytics for all in the health care system
October 09 2012
Arijit Sengupta presents a summary of his work as the CEO of BeyondCore in the presentation “Advanced Analytics for All: Enabling business users to act on length of stay patterns at a leading hospital system.” This presentation was part of … read morePrivacy concerns and regulatory challenges in personalized medicine
October 09 2012
Ann Waldo, a partner in Wittie, Letsche & Waldo, LLP in Washington, DC, presents a summary of her work in the webcast “Overview of Privacy Concerns and Regulatory Challenges Concerning Personalized Medicine — and Some Modest Suggestions for Change.” This … read moreOctober 08 2012
Four leading members of the House Ways and Means Committee tore away last Thursday at the polite, cautious, incremental approach that the Department of Health and Human Service has been taking toward key goals of HITECH act that was meant … read moreGrowth of SMART health care apps may be slow, but inevitable
September 13 2012
This week has been teaming with health care conferences, particularly in Boston, and was declared by President Obama to be National Health IT Week as well. I chose to spend my time at the second ITdotHealth conference, where I enjoyed … read moreThe many sides to shipping a great software project
September 09 2012
Chris Vander Mey, CEO of Scaled Recognition, and author of a new O’Reilly book, Shipping Greatness, lays out in this video some of the deep lessons he learned during his years working on some very high-impact and high-priority projects at … read moreThe future of medicine relies on massive collection of real-life data
September 05 2012
Health care costs rise as doctors try batches of treatments that don’t work in search of one that does. Meanwhile, drug companies spend billions on developing each drug and increasingly end up with nothing to show for their pains. This … read moreAnalyzing health care data to empower patients
August 29 2012
The stress of falling seriously ill often drags along the frustration of having no idea what the treatment will cost. We’ve all experienced the maddening stream of seemingly endless hospital bills, and testimony by E-patient Dave DeBronkart and others show … read moreSeeking prior art where it most often is found in software
August 28 2012
Patent ambushes are on the rise again, and cases such as Apple/Samsung shows that prior art really has to swing the decision–obviousness or novelty is not a strong enough defense. Obviousness and novelty are subjective decisions made by a patent … read moreSmart notebooks for linking virtual teams across the net
August 13 2012
Who has the gumption to jump into the crowded market for collaboration tools and call for a comprehensive open source implementation? Perhaps just Miles Fidelman, a networking expert whose experience spans time with Bolt, Beranek and Newman, work on military … read moreFive elements of reform that health providers would rather not hear about
August 09 2012
The quantum leap we need in patient care requires a complete overhaul of record-keeping and health IT. Leaders of the health care field know this and have been urging the changes on health care providers for years, but the providers … read moreTechnical requirements for coordinating care in an Accountable Care Organization
August 08 2012
The concept of an Accountable Care Organization (ACO) reflects modern hopes to improve medicine and cut costs in the health system. Tony MCormick, a pioneer in the integration of health care systems, describes what is needed on the ground to … read moreInside GitHub’s role in community-building and other open source advances
July 26 2012
In this video interview, Matthew McCullough of GitHub discusses what they’ve learned over time as they grow and watch projects develop there. Highlights from the full video interview include: How GitHub builds on Git’s strengths to allow more people to … read moreDemocratizing data, and other notes from the Open Source convention
July 25 2012
There has been enormous talk over the past few years of open data and what it can do for society, but proponents have largely come to admit: data is not democratizing in itself. This topic is hotly debated, and a … read moreSocial networks are not communities, and other discussions from the Community Leadership Summit
July 16 2012
The Community Leadership Summit this past weekend roused thoughts in me about the predictions and analyses I’ve heard over the past few years about social networking and to contrast them with what we were saying about community. I realized that … read moreThe key web technologies that work together for dynamic web sites
July 12 2012
The technologies that led to an explosion of interactive web sites — PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS — are still as popular today, and a non-programmer can master them quickly. read moreJuly 09 2012
In honor of the third health care track at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, I invite everyone to join me in five ways to have a healthy conference. read moreHealth records support genetics research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
June 26 2012
Michael Italia from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia discusses the tools and methods his team uses to manage health care data. read moreClinician, researcher, and patients working together: progress aired at Indivo conference
June 21 2012
SMART and Indivo offer a far-reaching platform for giving patients access to data and working seemlessly with other cooperating institutions. read moreHow the federal government helps health care standards evolve
June 20 2012
In this interview, Federal Health Architecture director Dr. Lauren Thompson discusses the state of health information exchange. read moreRecent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
Webcast: Crowdsourced news and professional journalists: pulling together to replace the tug-of-war
March 27, 2012
This webcast covers both the threat and the promise presented to professional journalism by citizen journalism, social networking, and other crowdsourcing. We'll look at some of the proposals made by leaders in journalism to modernize the practices...
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