user: No End in Sight for Oil Glut
When oil prices started to edge down a year ago, most energy mavens thought the drop would be small and short-lived.

Instead, the price of crude has plunged by about 60% from its 2014 peak—and suddenly looks likely to stay low for months and maybe years to come. The reason: In the global battle for market share, nobody has backed down. Nobody has even blinked. Not Saudi Arabia, not the U.S., and not even troubled producers from...
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When oil prices started to edge down a year ago, most energy mavens thought the drop would be small and short-lived. Instead, the price of crude has plunged by almost 60% from its 2014 peak.


Q: Could a Facebook for Doctors Improve Your Care?

Your accountant can email a specialist for advice about a specific issue in your tax return. Your doctor, however, doesn’t necessarily have the same access to easy collaboration. There may, however, be a Facebook-like solution in the wings.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) prevents doctors from sharing patient information without “reasonable safeguards.” For the most part, this shuts down the instantaneous email exchanges through which other professionals collaborate. Physicians can consult with each other about a patient’s condition via email, but they can’t involve medical test results or a patient’s medical records in the discussion.

While it’s good that patient privacy is protected, these restrictions have contributed to the fax machine’s mainstay as a major form of communication between doctors. The rest of us are bouncing messages between us instantaneously while doctors are receiving faxes. One medical center estimates it receives roughly 50,000 and sends another 10,000 fax pages each month.

A new doctors-only network called Doximity wants to free doctors from the fax machine and bring social media into the field. The company started as a LinkedIn for doctors, and it quickly grew to 30,000 members. Recently it added a Newsfeed feature that, like Facebook, allows doctors to post messages to colleagues with whom they are connected on the platform.

Doximity Founder and CEO Jeff Tangney says the idea of the feature is to give doctors a safe place to collaborate.

“You can get fired for being a physician on Facebook,” he says. “It becomes really difficult to collaborate all of these things when you can’t send a patient photo or any discussion of a patient legally over email.”

A doctor in California, for instance, has a teenage patient who recently came down with an uncommon infection, so he contacted another doctor in Texas who had led studies on a treatment for that infection. Another specialist from Boston chimed in, and together the three came up with a new way to treat the patient.

In the digital age, this kind of collaboration makes a completely underwhelming story. But in the medical field, it’s something of a difficult task to pull off. On Doximity, Tangney says these doctors could freely exchange details because the communication is HIPAA-compliant.

While there’s no official HIPAA-compliant certification, the company says it has worked with independent consultants to ensure it isn’t violating the law. There’s a three-step verification process for doctors to establish a profile on the site that involves a credit check and a verification of credentials against the American Medical Association database. There is also a multiple-step sign-in process similar to one you may have encountered at your bank’s website.

Tangney didn’t say how many doctors were currently enrolled in the program, but he did say that it was more than 7% of physicians in the U.S. That should put it at about 40,000 doctors.

That participation fuels Doximity’s business model — locating health specialists for non-medical advisory roles and billing for their time — but it also opens up the possibility of social media shaping medicine as it has other professions.

Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, pixdeluxe
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: Doximity wants to retire the fax machine by giving doctors a social media site that doesn't violate patient privacy regulations.


Log Cabin Republicans' leader fights 'don't ask, don't tell'

R. Clarke Cooper is watching the clock on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The leader of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group of about 19,000 members, is pressing the three branches of government to end the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in uniform.

The Army reserves captain, who is suing the federal government, was at a recent meeting with President Obama and other activists to discuss strategy, and this week he is lobbying Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Days before the lame-duck session starts, Cooper is finding himself up against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the war hero and former presidential candidate who once supported repeal but is now trying to strip it from the massive defense authorization bill that sets Pentagon policy. McCain has said he wants it cut to ensure quick passage of the bill, according to his aides.

A Pentagon report on repealing "don't ask, don't tell" is due to Obama on Dec. 1, leaving little time before the holidays for lawmakers to consider the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) supports ending the ban, according to aides, but will not proceed without Republican support.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said she will vote for repeal if Reid can ensure a fair debate and will allow Republicans to introduce amendments.

The liberal Center for American Progress said Tuesday that at least 10 senators of both parties are waiting to read the Pentagon report before making their decision. In anticipation, the Human Rights Campaign and other Democratic-leaning gay rights groups are pressuring senators on both sides of the aisle.

In a meeting with gay activists two weeks ago, Obama said he remains committed to ending the military ban this year, and Cooper said he urged the president and his aides to more actively seek out GOP lawmakers willing to vote for repeal.

"If they're serious about repeal, they'll start picking up the phone," Cooper said. "They may be surprised to find how many votes might be out there."

The White House continues to speak with congressional leaders about including a repeal in the defense bill and the administration is opposed to passage of a defense bill that doesn't repeal it, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Cooper isn't naming the senators he's targeting this week for fear of spoiling potential support.

Summary: R. Clarke Cooper is pressing to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The Army reserves captain is suing the federal government, lobbying lawmakers and meeting with President Obama to discuss strategy.


Q: Apple's Shares Drop as Slowing Growth Builds on Investor Worries

Apple Inc. shares fell as much as 12% Thursday as slowing revenue and profit growth further fanned investor concerns about the company's momentum and consumer demand for its devices.

In its highly anticipated December quarter report, Apple reported its slowest sales growth in more than three years, despite introducing a new smartphone and a smaller tablet. Meanwhile, Apple's flat earnings reflected the higher costs the Cupertino, Calif., company is facing as it tries to keep up with growing competition, which may be cutting into the iPhone's market share.

"We suspect Apple's results will do little to assuage investors' concerns about ...

A: Apple's shares fell as much as 12% as slowing revenue and profit growth further fanned investor concerns about the company's momentum and consumer demand for its devices.


Bus union say drivers 'too upset to work'

Many Brisbane bus drivers will be too upset to work following a fatal attack on a council driver who was set alight at the wheel, the union says.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union Queensland state secretary Tom Brown said the 29-year-old's death on Friday morning was a terrible tragedy.

Mr Brown said grief counsellors would be available at bus depots including the main station in Sherwood.

"Many will be too upset to work," Mr Brown said.

"The safety of our members remains our first priority."

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the driver was a casual worker who had only been employed for a few months.

Mr Quirk said flags would be flown half-mast at council facilities on Saturday as a sign of respect for the victim.

Summary:

assistant: Grief counselling is being offered to bus drivers following a horrific attack that claimed the life of a young worker behind the wheel in Brisbane.