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The New York Times has an article today discussing a new study by the Harvard School of Public Health on the benefits of the adoption of electronic medical records and networked information technologies in health care. The article, entitled “ Little Benefit Seen, So Far, in Electronic Patient Records” study is entitled contains the following key conclusions: “The research also underlines the challenge facing the Obama administration as it seeks to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records through 2015, even though only about 20 percent of physicians now use them. And the research shows that installing the technology does not necessarily mean that the hoped-for gains in quality and cost containment will follow quickly.” Given the fact that so few hospitals and medical centers have utilized these technologies widely until very recently – and many still do not as the article notes – it should not be surprising that the results so far are hard to ...
A question that keeps coming up in the net neutrality debate turns around business models. Net neutrality advocates say that “openness” on the Internet is endangered and we need regulations to protect it. We have argued that this is not true, that there has not been a threat to the openness of the Internet and hence no need for regulation. But what I have also pointed out in a recent blog post is that getting beyond standard, robust Internet connections, there are a range business models today for accessing the wide range of data available whether it be voice, video or some other format. Some models are managed or provide consumers with perhaps less flexibility but often more simplicity and more protection from malware and other dangers that can be a part of the open Internet. Some people prefer the ability to configure everything themselves, use software or create content that is unique to them, and access any and all information on the Internet. There are business ...
While the fabled Dr Dave Farber was in Washington, DC, Link and I we able to get some time with him and capture video of our conversation. It was a beautiful Fall afternoon in our Nation‘s capital so we had the conversation in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. Dr. Farber is very clear about his views on net neutrality regulations, calling instead for “principles” and monitoring because of the complexity of the global network. He also says that attempts to rope wireless and wireline together in this effort is an “error.” I’ll be pulling clips out of this 15 minute chat but I wanted to get the entire conversation up first so anyone in the future can see its full context. Please excuse the traffic noise. The interview is posted in two parts: Part I is embedded below, Part II can be found here , and both can also be found on PolicyBlogTV’s YouTube channel .
I read through Harvard’s Berkman Center report which was led by Yochai Benkler . Okay, it was 232 pages so I “mostly read through it” to paraphrase a famous movie “The Princess Bride” (see it – there is a great scene where the hero is “only mostly dead”.) I did read the substantive analysis at the beginning (over 100 pages) and skipped only some of the country reports. Benkler and his team of investigators can be commended for the effort that went into what was no doubt a substantial undertaking. The report, however, seems to be very limited in its analysis despite the FCC’s original charge to “conduct an expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world to inform the Commission’s development of a National Broadband Plan.” While the report does look at a range of metrics related to broadband – especially price, adoption and speeds – it really does seem most focused on policy issues related ...
Below is the statement we released today: Verizon Statement on Federal Communications Commission’s Proposed Network Neutrality Rulemaking WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission today approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on network neutrality. The following is a statement by Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications: “The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announced today appears to be a substantial improvement from what we understand was in earlier drafts. This is a better starting point for the discussion of the policies that will govern the Internet. “We are nevertheless concerned that the NPRM implies there is a need for further regulation of the Internet. After listening carefully to comments from all of the advocates of regulation, one thing remains clear: The Internet ecosystem is serving consumers very ...
