News from other sources...

Safety,​ quality​ and​ clinical​ practice

House backs measure barring mandatory vaccines for foster children | The Texas Tribune

The Texas House has backed a bill that prohibits mandatory vaccines for foster children, with some Republicans saying the vaccines are unnecessary and do not qualify as emergency care.

U.S. hepatitis C cases soar on spike in heroin use | The New York Times

New cases of hepatitis C were up almost 300% between 2010 and 2015, driven by a rise in the use of injection drugs, including heroin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Government

Poll: Just 21 percent approve of House's Obamacare repeal bill | Politico

Only 21% of Americans surveyed in a Quinnipiac University poll approve of the American Health Care Act, and 56% said they disapprove of the legislation. Two thirds said they disapprove of how President Donald Trump has handled healthcare.

Information technology

VA digitizing old paper records to speed veteran disability claims | Health Data Management

In a drive to cut down on processing times for disability claims, the Department of Veterans Affairs is digitizing millions of paper records, an effort that will save the VA $150 million over 10 years.

Edico Genome raises $22M to accelerate adoption of genomic analysis platform | Medcity News

Edico Genome raised $22 million to help with adoption of its Dragen genomic data analysis platform. The series B funding round was led by Dell Technologies Capital.

Medical devices

Study: Apple Watch paired with deep neural network detects atrial fibrillation with 97 percent accuracy | Mobihealthnews

Using heart rate data from the Apple Watch, start-up Cardiogram's algorithms can detect atrial fibrillation with 97% accuracy, suggesting that consumer health trackers may soon be able to be used as screening devices.

In other news

Your sense of smell is more powerful than you think | The Washington Post

Humans have a better sense of smell than many claim, with the same number of neurons in the scent areas of the brain as mice, capybaras, and star-nosed moles.