Morning Headlines 3/22/16

CareKit Is Apple’s Ambitious New Health Monitoring and Tracking Tool

Apple unveils CareKit, an open-source app development platform that extends functionality found in ResearchKit and HealthKit, but designed to help hospitals and patients track medical treatments and share medical information between providers.

FCC auction will scramble patient-monitor airwaves

Despite objections from the medical community, the FCC will move ahead with plans to auction off rights to airwaves within the 600MHz spectrum, a frequency band once reserved almost exclusively for wireless medical telemetry systems.

Petition Calls for Unique Patient Identifier Solution

AHIMA starts a Whitehouse.gov petition calling for the development of a voluntary national patient ID system and the removal of the federal budget ban prohibiting HHS from participating in this effort.

Scripps Health moves to reduce workforce, expenses

Scripps Health (CA) reports a 12 percent increase in operating costs for fiscal year 2015, and announces cost saving measures that includes cutting 100 jobs and restructuring its management team.