Morning Headlines 3/24/17

Mortality and morbidity in the 21st century

A study on mortality and morbidity among middle-aged, white non-Hispanic Americans finds that mortality rates are decreasing for those with a college degree, but are increasing for those without, leading authors to conclude that poor job prospects and low levels of education are driving up drug overdoses, suicide rates, and alcohol-related liver mortalities, or in the authors words “deaths of despair.”

Information Blocking: Is It Occurring and What Policy Strategies Can Address It?

Results from a survey on information blocking find that half of respondents report that EHR vendors routinely engage in information blocking, while 25 percent of respondents report that hospitals and health systems also do.

FHIR Release 3 Posted

HL7 releases FHIR 3.0 which adds support for key clinical workflows, clinical decision support, and CQMs.

GE to Invest $500 Million in Healthcare Unit

GE Healthcare plans to invest $500 million over the next three years, hiring 5,000 additional software developers.