Apparently the Senate has passed a bill called the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act, S.2679, the “Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act of 2018,” which amends the Small Business Act to provide veteran-owned small businesses access to surplus property owned by the Federal government.
Where this could really be a boon to Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs), is the ability to get stuff from .gov from surplus/DRMO. Desks, chairs, maybe some office equipment, who knows. But it would be stuff that the VOSB didn’t have to pony up money for initially…
If you know a veteran that owns a small business, you might want to pass the information along.
HERE is the link to the actual verbiage, and the official notification.
And then there is this, from Apple. While I applaud the effort, I’m not sure I want that on my phone…
Apple has announced that military veterans treated by VA will soon be able to access their medical records on the iPhone Health Records app. It’s the latest major collaboration between Apple and a health care system, and a sign of the company’s growing interest in the world of electronic health records.
Electronic health records are a famously contentious sector of the health care system. For many patients, the tangled evolution of e-health technology has led to a fragmented paper trail filled with gaps, which makes it hard to bring their own health information from one network to another and can slow down their treatment. The new collaboration would allow the 9 million veterans served by the VA, which is the largest medical system in the country, to see their aggregated medical records – including conditions, vaccinations, lab tests, medical procedures, and diagnoses – in one place.
The long-rumored VA collaboration continues Apple’s efforts to partner with as many institutions as possible. A year ago, Apple announced that users would be able to
access records from over 100 hospitals in 39 health care systems through its app. According to a November Wall Street Journal report, the eventual goal might be for
patients to share their data with other health apps that can provide services like prescription refills and then give Apple a cut of the profit. Apple isn’t the only company interested in health records. Amazon recently announced that it will start selling software that can read medical records and make suggestions for improving treatment or saving money. And Google applied for a patent for a system that uses artificial
intelligence trained on electronic health records to build models that could warn doctors of dangerous medical events.
“…models that could warn doctors of dangerous medical events.”
Doctors… or police.
When cell phones AND the medical records become 100% hack-proof, I might agree to consider matching them up.
No, never mind. Ain’t gonna happen.
Stencil- I hadn’t gone there, but you’re right… Use=abuse when the .gov plays…
Rev- Agreed!
Thanks for the heads-up on the bill; passed it along to some folks who might be able to us it!
Thanks for the heads up!:)
Wing/Angel- You’re welcome!
I wrote my senators several years ago when I found out what they did at Ingleside in Corpus. My neighbor helped decommision it. Sleldgehammers to brand new mowers, cut coax for comms antennas into chunks so it was worthless, even though brand new. I wrote that there were enough poor vets that could use that stuff that it was immoral to ruin it. I hope I had some part in that decision.
My wife’s new Samsung phone has a “Samsung Medical” app that can’t be deleted. Apparently some healthcare providers have a deal with Samsung.
Remember, the whole “electronic medical record” was part of Clinton’s “healthcare plan” back in ’92. When Congress rejected Clinton’s National ID Card proposal, making the National Health Card your de facto Federal ID was rolled into the plan.
> Apple has announced that military veterans treated by VA will soon be able to access their medical records on the iPhone Health Records app.
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And you thought that HIPAA had something to do with medical privacy?
What happens is, “if you voluntarily choose to use us for any medical service, you thereby consent for us to sell or otherwise monetize any of your formerly-private information we can find a buyer for.”
“Welcome to the real world…”