Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim yesterday signed a new defense cooperation agreement, which Gates said “offers a transparent, positive model for engagement throughout the Americas.” “This agreement will lead to a deepening of U.S.-Brazil defense cooperation at all levels and will demonstrate how much more effectively we can confront [...]

Healthcare will soon become more patient-friendly and customized to encourage more people to take responsibility for managing their health, and new tools and health IT will provide consumers with opportunities to take charge, according to a newly published report. Released last Tuesday, “HealthCast: The customization of diagnosis, care and cure” is the result of a [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency is pouring more than $2 million into job training for brownfield clean ups. The Brownfields Job Training Program will train people to redevelop the brownfield properties, which include various polluted areas such as abandoned industrial sites, abandoned gas stations, or old textile mills. These training programs will be focusing on areas [...]

The Department of Navy IT 2010 East Coast Conference is fast approaching. This is one of two DON IT conferences held each year.  It will be held Monday, May 10, 2010 to Thursday, May 13, 2010 at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. It will be held at the same time and place as the Joint [...]

The Certification Commission for Health IT announced Monday its new chair, Karen M. Bell, who is a former senior vice president of health IT services at Masspro and a board-certified internist. “I am honored to have this opportunity to lead the Certification Commission as we enter a new phase of health information technology certification – [...]

Last week, we looked at the new definition of “Inherently Governmental” that OFPP plans to adopt on May 31.  The question is: how long will it take DCMA to implement it? The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) is the agency responsible for management and oversight of government contracts, so it’s most likely the agency that [...]

Last night during her keynote address at the IRMCO Conference, GSA Administrator Martha Johnson revealed the new mission statement of GSA. It is a part of the GSA transformation and we had the opportunity to chat with Johnson about the some of the goals of this year’s conference and the new emphasis in the mission [...]

“Urbanization and Health: Urban Family Matters” was the theme of this year’s World Health Day. The goal of last Wednesday’s World Health Day was to remind citizens that those who live in cities are at the most risk for poor health. The Department of Health and Human Services has a priority of bettering the health [...]

The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services last week launched a website that tracks how much it spends on Medicare patients in hospitals for the most treated illnesses and conditions, according to Government Health IT. HHS announced April 7 several online programs it plans as part of the administration’s Open Government directive to make government [...]

President Obama met with Prime Minister Singh of India, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Zuma of South Africa yesterday on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit. In a press briefing, Obama publicly complimented Zuma on his administration’s efforts in addressing the international problem of the threat of nuclear weapons. Obama said, “The central [...]