LinkEHR has uploaded  a number of education videos to YouTube:

Reviews of the National Programme for IT have been made available under the freedom of information act:

In response to a FOI request it has received, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has agreed to disclose its Gateway reviews of the National Programme for IT.

These relate to issues which were examined through the Gateway Process at key decision points in order to provide assurance that they should progress to the next stage.

The purpose of Gateway reviews is to challenge assumptions and explore any perceived weaknesses. They are expected to be critical of certain aspects.

This is part of best government practice and has meant that the NPfIT has been able to assess which activities needed to change and which issues should be addressed.

The reviews cover a period between 2002 and 2007. Given that the material is older than two years, it has been possible to make public almost all of the content, with the exception of certain personal information covered by the exemption at Section 40 of the Act. The Department of Health has agreed that the reviews should be made public via the NHS Connecting for Health website.

Read the reviews here.

Tom Bowden, Chief Executive of HealthLINK talks to CanadianEMR about New Zealand’s EMR adoption in primary care.

Listen to the podcast here.

GE are offering financing for doctors buying EMR systems:

GE Healthcare today launched Stimulus Simplicity, a new financing and product-certification program that will offer zero percent interest loans to physicians’ offices, hospitals, clinics, and other organizations. The concept is to help them cover investments in electronic medical records (EMRs). It’s the first concrete offering in the GE’s much-publicized “healthyimagination” initative, a $6 billion investment the company is making into creating low-cost, easily accessible healthcare products and services. The company will offer $100 million in loans.

Link

Lots of videos from the House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare hearing on Health IT Adoption and the New Challenges Faced by Solo and Small Group Healthcare Practices:

E-Health Insider is reporting that Martin Bellamy is to leave NHS Connecting for Health:

Martin Bellamy, the head of NHS Connecting for Health, is to leave his position as director of programme and systems delivery for a new position at the Cabinet Office.

His departure comes as part of a wider shake-up of NHS Connecting for Health that will see the IT agency become directly managed by the Department of Health Informatics Directorate.

Newt Gingrich talks about the “Paper Kills” book edited by David Merritt:

The Proceedings for the MEFANET conference have been published in hard-copy and online.

MEFANET is an organisation that has been set up to develop e-learning tools and foster links between european medical schools.

I presented at the conference via video link from the National Institute for Health Innovation at the University of Auckland and I helped to edit the Proceedings.

The website for our m-Health conference is now live:

Video of doctors responding to the Obama AMA Speech: