September 28 2014 to
October 1, 2014
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Meeting of the 36th Permanent Secretariat (Preparatory)
June 1st to 4th 2015
Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, FL
36 HEMISPHERIC CONGRESS
P R O G R A M A
Domingo 28 de
septiembre,
9:00 am Partida desde
Miami a Puerto Rico
6:00 pm: RECEPCION DE BIENVENIDA
Lunes 29 de septiembre, 9:00 am : SEMINARIO DE
COMERCIO EXTERIOR
1:00 pm Almuerzo - 3:00 pm Visitas Institucionales / Matchmaking8:00 pm Cena en Restaurante
Típico Martes 30 de septiembre, 9:00 am: REUNION SECRETARIA PERMANENTE 9:00 am a 5:00 pm: MATCHMAKING 12:30 pm Rueda de Prensa 1:00 pm
Almuerzo
8:00 pm Cena Clausura. Entrega "Galardón Sánchez a Sánchez a Smith"
Miércoles 1 de septiembre, 9:00 City Tour
7:00 pm Regreso a Miami.
Alex Howard is delighted by the modern technology at his dentist's office. He describes the dental tech he encountered during his recent visit and explains why it matters.
Thankfully, describing some technological changes is much less painful than pulling teeth, even when the experience in question is uncomfortably close to that literal action. I'm finding that to be true as I consider my trip to a new dentist's office in Washington, DC, where I unexpectedly encountered more technology during the visit than I had at any previous practice combined.
What I found more impressive was how that technology was integrated into the practice, not bolted on to show that this office "gets" it, or introduced in an effort to modernize that creates friction, not efficiency. I left poorer, cleaner, and impressed not only by the tech but by the excellent service at the front desk and skilled care by the hygienist and the dentist. Here's a quick rundown of what I encountered and why it mattered.
An iPad at sign in
When I first walked into the office and met the receptionist, she asked me if I'd filled in the new patient form online. Whoops! I admitted that I had not, kicking myself for not getting that done at home on a keyboard and steeling myself to fill out paper forms. Instead, the receptionist handed me an iPad, offered me water, and said to let her know when I was done. Five minutes later, I was done -- and the data was already in their systems.
"I haven't found a better way than paper, honestly. I can flip between screens on my iPad, but it's too slow and distracting, and it doesn't let me talk to the patient. It's fun if I can pull up a screen image of this or that and show it to the patient, but it just isn't that integrated into practice."
Younger doctors, armed with iPads in medical school, are going on to use them in their practices and in emergency rooms around the nation. In 2012, that was true of Dr. Gawande as well, with caveats:
"I do use the iPad here and there, but it's not readily part of the way I can manage the clinic," he said. "I would have to put in a lot of effort for me to make it actually useful in my clinic. For example, I need to be able to switch between radiology scans and past records. I predominantly see cancer patients, so they'll have 40 pages of records that I need to have in front of me, from scans to lab tests to previous notes by other folks."
In the dental practice I visited, after I'd entered my personal information into their system, checked it, and handed the iPad back, I was talking to a dental hygienist about my dental history as she read over my new patient record on her computer screen. As we discussed my teeth and gums, she updated a few fields in the record, added notes using a keyboard, and followed up on specific areas of concern that I'd highlighted. My experience was significantly improved over a paper-based system. At least one study suggests medical residents using iPads find improved efficiency as well. Score one for the tablet.
Digital x-rays
Over the past three decades of dental visits, I've grown used to radiography that use focused radiation and films to produce black and white x-ray images that the dentist slaps onto a backlit rack and discusses with me. This week, I encountered something new: digital radiography where a small sensor was used instead of photographic film.
According to the hygienist, the digital radiography and intraoral sensor combination uses 90% less radiation, an eye-opening figure that I was subsequently able to confirm through the Health Physics Society.
Image: Alex Howard
The images the sensor captured instantly showed up on the screen in the examination room, with no pause for chemical processes, and were stored in the practice's servers. If I need to get them sent somewhere else for a referral, they can be digitally transmitted. That's handy.
"Smile, You're on Candid Toothcamera!"
The experience most likely to stick with me was the unexpected screening of a short horror film, courtesy of the intraoral digital camera in the office. After I immediately dubbed the device "toothcam," I was alternately fascinated and horrified by the trip around my mouth, which unfortunately captured footage that wouldn't have been out of place on "The Walking Dead."
Image: Alex Howard
As with the digital x-ray, the pictures captured from the mouthcam were instantly on the big screen in the office and were saved to my record. When the dentist arrived, we were able to use the pictures to discuss what was at issue. Their diagnostic value may be exceeded by their motivational value for this patient: one still (not shared here) will keep me flossing, brushing, and using mouthwash daily for some time to come.
I could spend several more columns discussing the impact of ubiquitous digital photography on our lives, extending previous considerations of privacy, pill identification, the right to record law enforcement, real estate virtual tours, or the ethical questions surrounding its use. The mouthcam in the dentist office was, thankfully, less ethically challenging and more useful than many of those contexts.
The next generation of digital dentistry
The best integrated technology in the dental practice may have been the most humble: scheduling software on the computer in the exam room that enabled the hygienist to book my next appointment so it would coincide with the dentist's schedule and her schedule, and to provide me with the dentist's email address so I could follow up if I had any questions.
Despite the promise of robotic dentistry, there's still no replacement for a professional, kind human on the horizon any time soon.
Alex Howard writes about how shifts in technology are changing government and society. A former fellow at Harvard and Columbia, he is the founder of "E Pluribus Unum," a blog focused on open government and technology.
Business interests didn’t get everything they wanted in the Supreme Court’s just-ended 2013-2014 term, illustrating that a conservative majority doesn’t necessarily bring joy to parties with Inc. or Co. or Corp. after their names. That really shouldn’t be a surprise, since some of the most important business cases involve clashes that pit one company against another.
In what might be called the Jurisprudence of Mitt Romney, the justices added teeth to the failed 2012 Republican presidential candidate’s notorious campaign quipthat “corporations are people, my friend.” On June 30, the final day of the nine-month term, the high court’s conservative majority prevailed in a 5-4 decision holding that companies controlled by religious families can’t be forced by President Barack Obama’s health-reform law to cover contraception for women workers.
Among its notable aspects was the ruling majority’s assumption that corporations can be regarded as individuals for purposes of protecting constitutional rights—in this case, the First Amendment right to religious liberty. “A corporation is simply a form of organization used by human beings to achieve desired ends,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. “When rights, whether constitutional or statutory are extended to corporations, the purpose is to protect the rights of these people.”
That’s one way to look at it—the same way, in fact, that the high court majority viewed companies’ First Amendment free-speech rights when the justices loosened campaign-spending rules in the 2010 Citizens United case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg offered a disparate view, however, in her dissent in the Hobby Lobbycontraceptive decision. “The court forgets that religious organizations exist to serve a community of believers,” Ginsburg wrote. “For-profit corporations do not fit that bill.”
Broadcast television: In the widely watched TV case, the justices ruled 6-3 that internet startup Aero unlawfully captured and streamed broadcast TV programming to its subscribers.
Industrial polluters: The high court held that the Environmental Protection Agency may use its permitting power to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants and certain other large industrial facilities. The EPA’s victory amounted to a qualified backing of the Obama administration’s program to address climate change.
Courtroom liability: It will now be somewhat easier for publicly traded companies to defend against shareholder class-action suits alleging fraudulent management misstatements. The justices stopped short of tossing out a key 1988 precedent that opened the door to many such suits by relieving plaintiffs’ lawyers of the obligation of proving that their clients specifically relied on alleged misstatements in making decisions to buy stock.
Intellectual property: The justices ruled unanimously that software developers can’t get a patent simply for taking an abstract idea and implementing it on a computer. The decision rejected a bid by Melbourne-based Alice Corp. to patent a computerized system for limiting the risk that one party to a financial transaction will renege on its obligations. Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the patent improperly covered a “fundamental economic practice,” which a party can’t claim as its exclusive property.
Retailers and Internet businesses such as Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) had urged the court to use the patent case to weed out frivolous royalty demands. Software makers led by Microsoft (MSFT) had warned that strict limits on patents would reduce incentives to develop cutting-edge programs. Justice Thomas seemed to balance these concerns by saying the court wasn’t making it more difficult to obtain patents but was merely reasserting existing law.
Barrett is an assistant managing editor and senior writer at Bloomberg Businessweek. His new book, Law of the Jungle, which tells the story of the Chevron oil pollution case in Ecuador, will be published by Crown in September 2014.
What
Are They? Trade
leads include foreign companies who are interested in making direct
purchases from Florida companies, acting as a manufacturer's
representative or agent/distributor, and joint ventures. In
support of EFI's Africa Trade Expansion Program, we also provide
leads from African companies looking to sell their products or
services to Florida and the U.S.
Where
Do They Come From? The majority of
these leads are generated by our International Offices in 14 overseas
markets.
How
Can I Follow Up On These Leads?
If you wish to follow up on any of these leads, you can contact the
foreign company directly with the information provided on the
detailed report. We
ask that you also copy the International Office or Florida
staff-person that submitted the lead. Their
information is also included in the report. Please be sure to
mention that you received this information from Enterprise Florida.
Florida
distributors should be aware that they may be required to have the
right to distribute products in a particular country before doing
business there. Please contact the person who submitted the
lead if you have any questions.
