Mike Miliard

Insecure IT systems have left hospitals lousy with viruses and malware. Implantable medical devices are vulnerable to hackers and cyber criminals. How real is the danger? And what's being done to fight it?

UPMC announced May 12 that it is the first health system in Pennsylvania to commit to the purchase of wind power energy credits equal to its data facilities' annual energy usage.

Ironically, Andrew Watson's first telemedicine procedure was with a rural patient who was a Mennonite. At first, the patient and physician looked at each other warily.

The American Telemedicine Association's 18th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show kicked off with a flourish on Sunday in Austin, Texas, as the trade organization works to drive adoption of distance-based care and prepare for rapid change as new virtual models are embraced.

The deployment of clinical and business intelligence tools is evolving, according to researchers at HIMSS Analytics, who increasingly see organizations "doing their data analytics are seeing their practice patterns," seeing what works and what doesn't, and then delivering that information to the bedside.

With nearly half a billion dollars raised in venture capital funding for health information technology, the first three months of 2013 represented a "record quarter," according to Mercom Capital Group.

Axial Exchange, a developer of patient engagement technologies, unveiled this week its Patient Engagement Index, which ranks U.S. hospitals based on how involved their patient communities are with their own care.

At the third annual Healthcare Experience Design conference on March 25, several hundred designers, developers and other creative thinkers put their minds to drawing up better experiences for patients and providers alike.

With big data promising enormous clinical and financial rewards for healthcare, but posing just as many technical and strategic challenges, the Institute for Health Technology Transformation (iHT2) has published a study mapping the way forward for providers at the starting line.

At the Healthcare Experience Design conference, which takes place March 24-26 in Boston, designers, technologists, product managers and entrepreneurs will explore the ways healthcare and design intertwine -- looking for ways to improve the digital interactions of patients and providers alike. Healthcare IT News spoke with HxD's founder about about the challenge and promise of user-centered design.