WV Law Blog: Welcome BR Employment Law Blog

A welcome to West Virginia's newest law blog, BR Employment Law Blog, by the Bowles Rice Employment Law Group. The blog plans to provide information useful for employers with an emphasize on news from the region of West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland.

The team of employment law bloggers at Bowles Rice is lead by Beth Walker, a partner in the Charleston office who focuses her practice on labor and employment law.

Congratulations on the launch and welcome to the blogosphere!

Drug and Device Law: Herrmann's Farewell Post

Farewell and congratulations go out to fellow health law blogger, Mark Herrmann, (formerly) co-author of the Drug and Device Law Blog and author of The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law.

In Mark's Farewell Post he announced that he is leaving Jones Day after 20 years to become the VP and Chief Counsel - Litigation at Aon Corporation. Fellow co-author, James Beck, has this to say (Long Live the Blog) about Mark's departure. He also announces 3 new lawyers joining the blogging team to replace Mark. Wow! 3 lawyers to replace 1. What a complement.

Although not much of my practice focuses on drug and device work, I have been a periodic reader since the early years of blogging. Why? Because I've always loved the tone of their posts - informal, practical and lighthearted. Great to see Beck link to a post that I remember reading (and liking) about why big firms don't blog well. Great advice for any law blogger.

Thanks to the Likelihood of Confusion post that tipped me on Mark's departure.

ONC: Health IT Buzz

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has launched a second blog called the Health IT Buzz Blog.

Just a few weeks ago ONC announced the new Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog).

The initial post by Dr. David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, talks about the importance of using technology to continue the conversation on Health IT and create a forum for engagement.

Dr. Blumenthal's post goes on to state:

We intend to address a wide and diverse range of timely topics relevant to the “why’s and how’s” of efforts to support the secure and seamless exchange of electronic health information. We will discuss our ongoing work to protect patient privacy, secure information, and implement standards. We’ll also be using the blog to provide additional information regarding our new grant programs. And the conversation wouldn’t be complete without discussing the meaningful use rulemaking and incentive programs, clarifying our vision and addressing key challenges.

We want to hear from citizens, patients, health professionals, managers, policymakers, technology enthusiasts and technology skeptics. We can’t succeed unless we understand the wishes and concerns of the many constituencies we serve. So join us.

Tip to @ahier who pointed out the new ONC Blog.

Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog)

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has launched a new blog called the Federal Advisory Committee Blog (FACA Blog).

The initial post by Judy Sparrow discusses that the FACA Blog will be uses in a spirit of transparency and collaboration to help open a broader dialogue on the issues before the Health IT Standards Committee and the Health IT Policy Committee. The post also provides some background on the role that Federal Advisory Groups play under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The second post by Aneesh Chopra, Federal Chief Technology Officer, spells out the planned process for an open conversation that will take place over the next couple of weeks with various committee members blogging about a variety of topics (Proposed Standards, Interoperability, Vocabularies, Privacy, Security, Quality, Implementation Cases Studies).

The FACA Blog allows individuals to share public comments on each post and has an RSS feed. Great to see ONCHIT using a blog platform to quickly and efficiently distribute information about the ongoing work being done by the committees to further the health information technology efforts under HITECH.

Blog World New Media Expo 2009: Medical and Health Care Bloggers

Today I received the speaker list for the MedBlogger Conference associated with Blog World New Media Expo 2009 from Kim McCallister of Emergiblog, co-organizer of the event along with Dr. Val of Better Health.

Blog World New Media Expo 2009 will be held October 15-17 in Las Vegas. The MedBlogger Sessions will be held on October 15. A special thanks to Johnson & Johnson and MedPage Today who are sponsors of the MedBlogger Sessions. More information along with how to register for the conference will be available on the Blog World website in the coming weeks.

I was honored to be invited to be a part of the event and look forward to participating in a great discussion at the conference. Below are the panels and speakers confirmed for the MedBlogger Sessions.

Panel #1 The State of the Health Blogosphere: We've Come A Long Way, Baby
Moderator: Kim McAllister, Emergiblog
Panelist: Kevin Pho, Kevin MD
Panelist: Nick Genes, Blogborygmi
Panelist: Kerri Sparling, SixUntilMe

Panel #2 Staying On The Good Side of HIPAA: Safe and Ethical Blogging Practices
Moderator: Mike Sevilla, Doctor Anonymous
Panelist: Rob Lamberts, Musings of a Distractible Mind
Panelist: Debra Farber, IBM
Panelist: Bob Coffield, Health Care Law Blog

Panel #3 Blogging For Change: How To Influence Healthcare Through Blogging
Moderator: Val Jones, Better Health
Panelist: Gary Schwitzer, Schwitzer Health News Blog
Panelist: Terri Polick, Nurse Ratched's Place
Panelist: Gene Ostrovsky, Medgadget

Panel #4 The Value of Blogs To Hospitals, Industry, and News Organizations
Moderator: Gary Schwitzer, Health News Review
Panelist: Marc Monseau, Johnson & Johnson 's JNJBTW Blog
Panelist: Bob Stern, MedPage Today
Panelist: Paul Levy, Running A Hospital