Government IT

Information technology without a doubt is helping to restructure the very fabric of society, business and government.  However, these changes do not come without challenges.  For instance electronic health records (EHR) may harm the patient-physician interaction and are susceptible to hacker attacks. A recent Fiscal Times article demonstrates how government programs often do not invest in IT infrastructure efficiently. Meanwhile,…

Consumer Satisfaction with Healthcare Websites

ForeSee released a study showing which kinds of healthcare-oriented websites do the best job satisfying customers. Their results show health insurance websites have dismal customer satisfaction compared to other kinds of healthcare sites (such as pharmaceutical sites, hospital websites, health information sites, etc.). A summary of the overall customer satisfaction rates are below. Health Information…

Is the web narrowing scientists’ expertise?

As an academic researcher, using the web has made my life significantly easier.  I can access millions of articles from academic journals in the click of a button.  Sites such as JStor and ScienceDirect have hundreds of journals located in the same place for easy use.  With so much more information online, I am able…

Google Health is up and running

Today, Google has made its Google Health program publicly available. You can get a tour of Google Health here and FAQs are available here. TechCrunch has a great comparison (“…Hands-on Look“) of Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault. “Whereas HealthVault’s strengths seem to lie in tying together different health information silos on the back end, Google…