As part of a larger transparency initiative at UMBC and in the University System of Maryland, the Student Government Association sponsored the Student Fee Advisory Board this semester as part of their dedication to fee increase transparency.

During his term as the student representative to the Board of Regents last academic year, Collin Wojciechowski advocated for a policy to implement this Student Fee Advisory Board.

Wojciechowski, a senior political science major, wrote in a BreakingGround blog post, “... my goal was to make students an active part of the conversation by making sure they understood their bill each semester and had a say in what was on it.”

As Student Regent, Wojciechowski worked during his term to amend the Board of Regents’ policy on student fees to ensure universities have a body like the Fee Advisory Board. Wojciechowski’s work culminated in the passage of an amendment to the Regents’ policy in June 2012.

Check out the rest of the article here and learn more about the Student Fee Review Board!

Transparent, shape-changing plastics could make touch screens and keyboards that stimulate users’ sense of touch.

A very thin keyboard that uses shape-changing polymers to replicate the feel and sound of chunky, clicking buttons could be in laptops and ultrabooks next year. Strategic Polymers Sciences, the San Francisco-based company that developed the keyboard, is working on transparent coatings that would enable this feature in touch screens.

Steve Daviss, MD, DFAPA Clinical Assistant Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 16, 7:10 pm Location: ITE 456, UMBC

Abstract: Guest lecturer Steven Daviss MD, clinical assistant professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine, will discuss his experience in using HIT in his practice as the Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland's Baltimore Washington Medical Center. Dr Daviss will share the many hats he wears as he navigates the HIT landscape, and will address practical issues that face HIT workers, including change management, governance, project management, engaging patients and health care professionals, clinical decision support, CPOE, patient safety, and regulatory and policy development and compliance. His bio is at http://fusehealth.org/steve. He tweets as @HITshrink.

Short Bio: Steve Daviss is a physician double-boarded in Psychiatry and in Psychosomatic Medicine, which is the intersection of primary care and psychiatry. He is the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Baltimore Washington Medical Center since 2004, and is Clinical Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he also attended medical school. He trained at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He completed an NIMH-funded clinical research fellowship in schizophrenia at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Dr Daviss is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is Chair of the APA Committee on Electronic Health Records, APA Assembly Representative for Maryland, Past-President of the Maryland Psychiatric Society, and is active in the Legislative Committees for Medchi and for the MPS, where he is often called upon to analyze legislation and testify before the Maryland General Assembly. His experience includes patient-centered health care policy, health informatics, and use of health IT and social media in health care. He has served as past co-chair of the CCHIT Behavioral Health Work Group, where he helped direct the development of certification standards for behavioral health electronic health records with a diverse group of clinical, informatics, and vendor stakeholders. He has served on URAC's Health Standards Committee since 2004, where he helped develop mental health parity (MHPAEA) compliance standards for URAC's Health Plan accreditation in preparation for the Affordable Care Act's Health Benefit Exchange programs. He also serves on the Maryland Health Care Commission's Health Information Exchange Policy Board, on the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Behavioral Health Integration Work Groups, and on the Clinical Committee for the Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients (CRISP), Maryland's state-designated HIE. Dr Daviss is the Chief Medical Information Officer for M3 Information, LLC, a DC-based mobile mental health IT company that developed the peer-reviewed, multidimensional, patient-centered mental health screening tool, WhatsMyM3. He recently helped his hospital implement and switch from Cerner to Epic. Enthusiastic about merging his clinical and administrative experience with health care policy, informatics, and health care reform efforts, his goal is to integrate behavioral healthcare with physical healthcare to save costs and improve healthcare quality and outcomes.

Dr Daviss is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Informatics Association, American Association for Technology and Psychiatry, American Medical Association, Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, American Society of Addiction Medicine, HL7, HIMSS, Maryland HIMSS, Maryland Psychiatric Society, Medchi, and the Southern Psychiatric Association. He serves on the Boards of the nonprofit organizations, Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry and the Anne Arundel County Mental Health Agency, Inc.

The new Facebook-centric Android app for smartphones builds on other efforts to court mobile users internationally.

Facebook Home, a new collection of apps that makes the social network dominate Android phones, might have limited appeal to users already besieged with smartphone options—but it could fit nicely into Facebook’s efforts overseas, where the focus is on capturing first-time users.