Author Archives: Bob

Closer to Launch: Healthcare IT Q&A

Posted on September 2, 2010 by Bob

The reverse psychology I used in Failure to Launch: Healthcare IT Q&A is finally starting to work. The question definitions are complete and the commitment phase has begun: Go over and sign up today.

Posted in General | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A Threat Analysis of Networked Medical Devices

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Bob

Here’s an interesting analysis of security threats within a Windows-based hospital network for embedded medical devices: A threat analysis of critical patient monitoring medical devices. The threat models are fairly complex and clearly a product of wider enterprise network IT … Continue reading →

Posted in HIPAA, Medical Devices, Microsoft | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Technical Debt in Medical Software

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Bob

Software development is software development. Most of the life cycle and quality issues faced in medical software are the same challenges for any software product. Technical Debt in Medical Software points out what technical debt is: Complexity Code Duplication Documentation … Continue reading →

Posted in FDA, Programming, Software Quality | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Failure to Launch: Healthcare IT Q&A

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Bob

It seems like a great concept (to me anyway). Grow a community of like-minded Healthcare IT geeks that want to participate in an on-line Q&A site which rewards contribution and facilitates constructive dialog. As of today, it appears unlikely this … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

ISO 62304: The Harmonized Standard for Medical Device Software Development

Posted on June 5, 2010 by Bob

The FDA approved ISO 62304 as a recognized software development standard in 2009. Developing Medical Device Software to ISO 62304 gives a nice overview. Besides providing a globally accepted development process one of the other practical components is the assignment … Continue reading →

Posted in FDA, Medical Devices, Software Quality | Tagged | 7 Comments

The Software Quality Balancing Act

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Bob

Andrew Dallas’s article Caution: V&V May Be Hazardous to Software Quality touches on a number of good points regarding software quality best practices. Medical device software development V&V (also see here) and the documentation that goes with it have substantial … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, FDA, Medical Devices, Software Quality | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Interoperability is a Big Word!

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Bob

There was a statement in one of the HIStalk Readers Write 5/10/10 articles in that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. In Digging for Gold in your HIT Applications, Ron Olsen writes: One of the most … Continue reading →

Posted in EMR, Interoperability | Tagged , | 1 Comment

To Validate and Verify: Software Issues Solved

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Bob

Yours truly was interviewed for this article: To Validate and Verify: Software Issues Solved “V&V” is one of those topics that should be simple to understand, but for some reason is the source of a lot of confusion. This is … Continue reading →

Posted in FDA, Software Quality | Tagged | 1 Comment

Personal EEG-based Communications Device

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Bob

The IntendiX (by g.tec) is a BCI device that uses visual evoked potentials to “type” messages on a keyboard. The system is based on visually evoked EEG potentials (VEP/P300) and enables the user to sequentially select characters from a keyboard-like … Continue reading →

Posted in EEG, HCI | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Why Healthcare IT is Not a Game Changer

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Bob

Last week I attended the WLSA/Continua Mobile Healthcare Symposium and the opening day of the Continua Health Alliance Winter Summit 2010.  Also, a couple of weeks ago I attended a few of the FDA Workshop on Medical Device Interoperability: Achieving … Continue reading →

Posted in EMR, FDA, Interoperability | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment