M.L. Baker

MercuryMD Inc., a software company that supports mobile devices for hospitals, has added a 48th health system, Bayfront Health System, to its list of clients. The companys Mdata Enterprise System allows physicians to use handheld devices to access patient data wirelessly. Physicians can also use other wireless devices to access information securely when off campus. […]

In a recent survey, CIOs say integrating information technology into health care infrastructure is a task similar to building the US highway system. Central to its success is computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and electronic medical records. But the endeavor still faces a long, hard road, the experts say, describing what they see as the […]

Medicare providers have only a few days left to file electronic claims that do not contain all of the information required by HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had said it would treat electronic claims that dont comply with HIPAA as paper claims starting July […]

Last week, the American Medical Association and a consortium of medical journal editors called for a national registry of clinical trials, one that would require drug companies to submit results of all their studies, both favorable and unfavorable. /zimages/7/28571.gifClick here to read “Drug Makers Support Clinical Trial Disclosure.” These groups are thinking, quite rightly, in […]

Life-sciences computing made headway in the TOP500 Projects latest listing of the worlds fastest supercomputers, announced on Sunday at the International Supercomputer Conference in Heidelberg, Germany. This summers list kept the Earth Simulator, built by NEC Corp., in the top spot. But two of IBM Corp.s Blue Gene prototypes, developed to solve biological problems, are […]

Responding to pressure from physicians groups and editors of medical journals, two of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies said Friday that they support making results from late-stage clinical trials available to the public, even if they reveal unfavorable information about a drug. The announcements came just days after the American Medical Association said the Department […]

Lee Hood, one of the worlds leading molecular biologists, has a vision. In addition to a cell phone that can take pictures and organize your day, we just might have devices that prick your thumb, analyze dozens of components, and transmit data to databases that can alert doctors to change your prescription. The pricking and […]

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson praised mandatory moves toward bar codes on drugs at the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization Monday, but said additional technology could ensure greater safety. While bar codes can make sure that the right drug gets to the right patient at the right dose, RFID technology […]

Many physicians would never want to part with their handheld computers, though they report very different reasons for their enthusiasm. Thats according to an article in last months BMJ, a peer-reviewed periodical for physicians. However, the researchers also found that many doctors are uncomfortable with a new technology and fear it may blunt their skills […]

The Protein Data Bank was established in 1972 as a public repository for solved protein structures; this information reveals the precise shape of proteins and is invaluable in figuring out how they work and in designing drug molecules that bind to proteins in certain ways. Today, scientists at drug companies routinely search the PDB for […]