Whenever there is a natural disaster, there is a criminal waiting for the opportunity to cash in. The FBI yesterday announced that an existing fraud tip line is now accepting information from the public about suspected fraud associated with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As seen with Hurricane Katrina and the earthquakes in Haiti [...]
The Health and Human Services is allocating $220 million to 15 communities to pilot test the adoption of emerging health IT. The awards are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds totaling a $2 billion effort to promote the implementation of electronic health records by 2014. Vice President Joe Biden said the selected [...]
John J. Garing, director of strategic planning and information at Defense Information Systems Agency, announced April 30 his plans to retire from the agency, according to Washington Technology. Garing made the announcement during an internal staff meeting; however, further details have not been released. Washington Technology reports that according to a DISA spokesperson, Garing had [...]
A new report suggests that while the use of electronic health records systems may lead to lower mortality rates for certain conditions, the new technology does not save hospitals money or reduce patient complications, according to the Arizona Republic. Researchers at the Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business looked at 326 hospitals in [...]
While some physicians throughout the United States have decided to become meaningful users of electronic health records by 2011 when Medicare and Medicaid begin extra payments to meaningful users, many others remain undecided, said Dr. David Blumenthal, national health IT coordinator. Last week, Blumenthal wrote on the Health IT Buzz Blog how almost 200,000 doctors [...]
Speaking yesterday at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space Convention at the Gaylord Convention Center in Maryland, Department of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said sailors and Marines must have morals, physical courage and integrity, and they must think “creatively and boldly.” “They must have the vision and insight to see that the world and technology [...]
Last week, President Obama signed an executive order requiring Federal CIO Vivek Kundra and Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra to create a website to track agency progress in meeting goals for small business opportunities. The order also authorized the creation of a task force to increase the effectiveness of small-business set-asides. As anyone who has worked [...]
In an effort to promote transparency and help stem nuclear proliferation, the United States released newly declassified details about its nuclear stockpile yesterday, including progress made in dismantling warheads. According to a senior defense official who spoke to reporters yesterday, the nation had 5,113 warheads in its nuclear weapons stockpile as of Sept. 30. This [...]
The Department of Defense last week unveiled a hallway in the Pentagon dedicated to the foundation of the U.S.-Canadian defense relationship: the North American Aerospace Defense Command. For more than half a century, this bilateral command has been responsible for keeping the airspace over the two countries and the waters surrounding them safe from enemies [...]
Federal agencies will this summer start sending real-time automated data feeds on cyber threats to the Homeland Security Department’s national cybersecurity division, which then will analyze the information and offers advice to agencies on ways to address vulnerabilities and defend against cyber attacks, according to federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. To allow agencies to [...]