Validating Autologin....

Issues & Legislative Committee Report

April 12, 2005

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs)

Work continues toward completion of the voluntary ethics proposal aimed at avoiding legislation to regulate the GPO industry. It is still unclear whether the proposal will have sufficient oversight enforcement power for the Senate Judiciary Committee antitrust subcommittee. The subcommittee is on record as wanting the GPO’s proposal to self-regulate to include “addressing our objectives of obtaining a transparent and enforceable mechanism to assure the permanency of GPO reforms to prevent anticompetitive and unethical practices.”

Information Technology

Tadpole Improves Handling of Sensitive Information

April 7, 2005 − Tadpole Computer has announced the availability of a wireless mobile solution for government users, which is Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 compliant. Based on Tadpole's Comet line of wireless Sun Ray ultra-thin clients and Fortress Technologies' family of secure wireless gateways, the solution provides secure encrypted wireless networking for Federal network and communications systems.

UPS Has Big Plans for China and World

The package-delivery service takes a long-term view of global expansion that makes heavy use of IT and is tailored to each country it enters.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160700661

Storage Managers Cite Data Security as Top Concern

Few cite regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPPA as a major worry.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160700664

Microsoft Suits Target Illegal Software Distribution

Microsoft filed eight lawsuits in seven states against computer builders and resellers for allegedly distributing counterfeit and unlicensed software.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160700723

Intel on Track with Dual-Core Pentiums

Intel remains on track to ship in volume several more mainstream versions of dual-core Pentium processors in the second quarter of this year.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160700731

CMS launches New Website

Consumers now have the ability to check the voluntary quality reporting of hospitals in their area and compare one to another at the new www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Available in April 2005, the site compares three clinical categories of heart failure, heart attack, and pneumonia and allows consumers to view hospital specific data for up to 17 nationally recognized measures. In addition, the site features a brief description of each measure and its importance in providing care.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

A review of the white papers, “Building a Business Case for RFID at Dell,” by Mark Dinning and Edmund Schuster, and “RFID Tags and Privacy” by Jim Harper was given and are stated below.

Review of "Building a Business Case for RFID at Dell" White Paper

“This paper is written Mark Dinning and Edmund Schuster, whom we know from their bar-code work and the European Article Naming Service (EAN). The important feature of Auto-ID is that it is an open standard for both tags and readers. That means a “Chevy” reader can read a “Ford” tag. The author, I think accurately argues, that this openness will be essential to the widespread adoption of RFID. Proprietary systems will keep this a niche technology and never allow it to provide the benefits that are possible. The authors developed a “scorecard” for helping companies decide if RFID is appropriate for their needs now, never, or sometime later. It is a basic cost-benefit comparison examining whether the process to be automated is labor intensive, has a high rate of errors or has proven ineffective to optical scanning. RFID is best applied to areas that are both labor intensive and susceptible to high rates of errors. The authors also argue that limited implementation is ineffective. They use the analogy of a telephone system. You can’t measure the benefits of a telephone system if you only connect a small portion of your community. You only realize the full benefits when you have a nation-wide system. They argue if you are going to use RFID, that you apply it to an entire function, even if that function is small. At Dell they said there was potential for RFID in internal supply chain issues rather than home applications…in other words, tagging certain boards or hard drives. They also saw application in the customer service area. They hoped it could be used to tack and trace parts by serial number and calculate reliability of critical parts. Overall, a fairly good article.”

Review of "RFID Tags and Privacy" White Paper

“This article was written by a lawyer who runs the privacy advocacy site, Privacilla.org. His overall conclusion was that RFID has potential privacy concerns, but business, personal, governmental, and market forces will be strong limiters to undue privacy invasion. He said that current concerns were too much, too soon and we need to allow RFID to develop before we start limiting it. The article had a very good discussion of the basics of RFID and I’d recommend it just for that. He did not feel new laws were needed at this time. His first argument is economic incentives. Companies are driven by profit, and they will not invest in tags and information that does not help them turn a profit. As he points out, you won’t put a 5-cent RFID tag on a 50-cent candy bar because it represents 10% of the cost. Most tags are “passive,” meaning they have no power source of their own. You will put it on a $4000 TV so you can easily identify the item and the user, in case it is stolen. Tags won’t be made so small that they are hard to find because miniaturization costs money and reduces profits. These are by far the cheapest type of tag, but also they have very limited read range, usually about 6 to 9 inches. This is fine if you are scanning them in a store or by a doorway, but you have to get pretty close to activate them from further away. He also feels that consumer preferences will also limit RFID privacy concerns. He again points out a tag on a TV will be acceptable and probably desirable, where one on a shoe will not. He also thinks consumers will demand that some tags be “killed” when you exit a store, but feels market forces will shape this argument. Mr. Harper also feels that many/most tags can be disabled by the user with a razor blade or scissors. There are also sufficient privacy laws on the books to protect consumers from this new threat. Again, an interesting article, but it is unlikely that privacy advocates will agree with his conclusion that this is a low threat issue.”

Source: http://www.rfidjournal.com/whitepapers

Quality and Medication Errors

HIMSS Finds Concerns on Computerized Physician Order Entry Systems

Reports that despite a recent study in the March 9, 2005 issue of JAMA concluding that Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems can increase the risk of medication errors, analysis of the research results by HIMSS pinpoints specific concerns with the study methodology and its subsequent outcomes. These are:

Source: Healthcare Purchasing News Online, 3/10/2005.

Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR)

For more information and recent news on AMDR, visit http://www.amdr.org/.

Consumer-Driven Healthcare

Study on Device Technology

Device technology is changing to accommodate an aging population and managed care. A study can be found at www.greystoneassociates.org

Source: Healthcare Purchasing News Online, 4/6/2005.

Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E)

H2E has a new membership program called Endorser.  What does an H2E Endorser do? H2E Endorsers simply endorse the H2E program’s broad goals, in part by taking the Endorser pledge. The Endorser program is flexible and encourages participants
to design and implement efforts that work best for them.
http://www.h2e-online.org/endorsers/overview.htm