Catching up

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but being busy means I’m working. Usually.

In this case, I certainly have been working hard for the last few weeks, but I’ve also been toying with the idea of going to Australia for the triennial MedInfo conference, which takes place next week in Brisbane. After much contemplation, story pitching and even a preliminary discussion with someone who may have been able to cover the considerable expenses until the boss said no, I will indeed be departing for Australia this weekend.

With 17.5 hours of flying time each way—not counting connection time—and the need to do a whole lot of work to pay for the trip, this could be the last blog post for a while. It probably won’t, however, since I have something else to write tonight or tomorrow that I believe warrants its own post.

As I finish up some lingering assignments and prepare for my latest junket, here are a couple of items of interest that I’ve been sitting on for a bit.

This week, Alaska became the final state to legalize e-prescribing, meaning that electronic prescribing is now legal nationwide, including in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Pharmacy connectivity network SureScripts has a map of e-prescribing status by state at http://www.surescripts.com/participant.aspx?ptype=pharmacy. At the right of the screen is a link to a high-resolution map showing where e-Rx laws have changed since 2004.

Then there’s this: A planned high-rise in New York would have 1 million square feet of space to showcase medical devices and other technology, with the goal of “making New York City the prime center of commerce and innovation for the US$260 billion global market for medical devices and diagnostics,” according to the press release.

The proposed World Product Centre would be at 11th Avenue and 34th Street in Manhattan, on the former site of the Copacabana nightclub, across the street from the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Is someone perhaps trying to lure the Radiological Society of North America annual conference to New York?