HHS’ ONC to Require Health IT Cost & Limitation Disclosures From Developers
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HHS’ ONC to Require Health IT Cost & Limitation Disclosures From Developers


health infosecThe Department of Health and Human Services‘ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released updated transparency requirements that obligate health IT providers to file full disclosures on product costs and limitations.

ONC Policy Office Director Elise Sweeney Anthony and Steven Posnack, standards and technology lead, co-wrote in a blog post published Wednesday the regulation applies to all health IT systems certified to the 2014 and 2015 edition of standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria.

Developers should identify costs and technical and contractual restrictions of IT products on both their websites and in marketing materials to comply with the ONC Health IT Certification Program’s new disclosure policies, Anthony and Posnack wrote.

Health IT providers must also submit a transparency attestation on whether they will take voluntary actions to promote transparency and answer all requests to disclose information on their offerings, the blog posts says.

ONC-authorized certification bodies are conducting surveillance on disclosures and non-compliance could lead to corrective action and termination of health IT certifications, Anthony and Posnack said.

Product disclosures are posted on ONC’s Health IT website.

ONC looks to urge professional associations, product researchers and stakeholders to utilize the developers’ product disclosures and transparency attestations.

NIEHS Picks 8 Recipients for Infectious Disease Response Training Grants
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NIEHS Picks 8 Recipients for Infectious Disease Response Training Grants


medical health doctorA National Institutes of Health organization plans to award $9 million in grant funds to eight institutions to conduct safety training sessions for clinicians and other workers that can potentially be exposed to infectious diseases.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several other agencies to launch the Ebola Biosafety and Infectious Disease Response Training program, NIH said Wednesday.

The three-year initiative is part of NIEHS’ Worker Training Program and aims to educate healthcare, waste management, mortuary, transportation personnel about environmental infection control and hazard recognition methods.

“We need to ensure that we have a workforce ready to contain these and the next infectious disease threats,” said Linda Birnbaum, NIEHS director.

“This new training program will help workers, who do so much to protect others, stay safe when working with patients or people in high risk situations,” Birnbaum added.

Grant recipients are:

  • Duke University
  • Emory University
  • Indiana University
  • International Chemical Workers Union Council
  • Laborers’ International Union of North America Education and Training Fund
  • Rutgers School of Public Health
  • Steelworkers Charitable and Educational Organization
  • University of Alabama at Birmingham

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CBO: House Bill that Would Require NSF to Audit Research Facilities Would Cost $10M Over 5 Years
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CBO: House Bill that Would Require NSF to Audit Research Facilities Would Cost $10M Over 5 Years


BudgetA new Congressional Budget Office report says a proposed House bill that would require the National Science Foundation to subject its research facilities to audits would cost approximately $10 million from fiscal years 2017 through 2021.

CBO said in the report published Tuesday that the passage of the NSF Major Research Facility Reform Act of 2016 would not result in on-budget deficit growth “in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.”

The proposed legislation also lacks private-sector or intergovernmental mandates based on the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not have an impact on revenues and direct spending, CBO noted.

According to the report, the House bill contains provisions that would direct NSF to provide its staff with additional training and education to protect employees that report possible misappropriation of funds and require the foundation to pay management fees related to research awards.

The agency made the cost estimate based on the request of House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on April 27.

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OPM Seeks CIO to Manage Agency’s Digital, IT, Cybersecurity Programs
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OPM Seeks CIO to Manage Agency’s Digital, IT, Cybersecurity Programs


JobAdThe Office of Personnel Management looks for a full-time chief information officer to oversee the agency’s information technology operations as well as its digital transformation and cybersecurity efforts.

OPM said in a USAJobs notice posted Wednesday the CIO will be responsible for the development, implementation and management of IT systems that will form the backbone of human capital functions in the federal government.

The chosen candidate will also develop DevOps, agile development and bi-modal IT models as well as implement a workforce strategy for OPM to attract and retain professionals who can help secure the agency’s infrastructure.

The new CIO will also support an interagency team to establish a National Background Investigations Bureau as part of federal security clearance and investigation reform efforts.

He or she will succeed Lisa Schlosser, who has served as OPM CIO in acting capacity since March 17.

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Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina: US Army Supports Counter-IED Programs in Africa
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Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina: US Army Supports Counter-IED Programs in Africa


explosive-disposalU.S. Army Africa officials have said the military organization is helping to train African soldiers to detect and counter improvised explosive devices, Army Times reported Tuesday.

Michelle Tan writes U.S.’ African allies asked for assistance from USARAF to carry out IED threat awareness training and mitigation operations as Islamic militant groups increase their use of homemade bombs to conduct attacks across the continent.

“The African countries have seen how involved we’ve been in Iraq and Afghanistan and how much we’ve learned… and they’re trying to tap into us and share some of our lessons learned,” Lt. Col. Anthony Barbina, engineer plans and operations chief at USARAF, told the publication.

The report said USARAF established a counter-IED fusion cell focused on supporting partner nations of the U.S.

U.S. forces teach African troops how to spot and safely dispose of roadside bombs, perform forensic exams on those devices and disrupt IED networks, according to Tan’s article.

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Rep. Suzan DelBene Proposes to Extend US Digital Services Agency for 10 Years
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Rep. Suzan DelBene Proposes to Extend US Digital Services Agency for 10 Years


digital governmentRep. Suzan DelBene (D-Washington) has proposed to extend the life of the U.S. Digital Service in an effort to help federal agencies increase their usage of technology and address government service quality.

DelBlene’s office said in a release published Friday the U.S. Digital Service Act would extend the authorization of the USDS program for another 10 years.

“The U.S. Digital Service was formed as a way to temporarily bring the technical know-how of industry experts to the tech-challenged federal government,” said Delbene.

“The U.S. Digital Service is working to identify, fix and prevent large-scale technology issues within government so that taxpayers can get the return on investment they deserve,” she added.

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John Thompson: Census Bureau Selects ‘Hybrid’ Commercial, In-House Platform for 2020 Census
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John Thompson: Census Bureau Selects ‘Hybrid’ Commercial, In-House Platform for 2020 Census


U.S. Census Bureau logoThe U.S. Census Bureau plans to integrate a commercial off-the-shelf platform with systems developed by in-house experts to collect and process data for the 2020 census.

Census Bureau Director John Thompson wrote in a blog post published Thursday that the bureau’s development teams are working on prototypes that could aid digital data collection for 2020 census field tests and help the bureau evaluate COTS products.

Thompson added the Census Bureau decided on an integrated COTS platform as a result of the efforts of in-house teams and the input of partners from Carnegie Mellon University and the National Academy of Sciences.

“This approach meets our data collection and processing goals for the 2020 Census and builds the infrastructure to support all of our censuses and surveys in the future,” said Thompson.

The director added the timing of the decision is part of efforts to meet schedules for the overall operations and systems integration tests in 2018.

The “hybrid approach” also works to support the bureau’s proposal to save $5.2 billion in the 2020 census compared to the 2010 census, Thompson noted.

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Army Sets Up New Cyber Directorate Within G-3/5/7 Office
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Army Sets Up New Cyber Directorate Within G-3/5/7 Office


cyberA future directorate within the U.S. Army‘s G-3/5/7 office will focus on cybersecurity and electronic warfare under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Patricia Frost, FCW reported Friday.

The upcoming directorate is an effort by the Army to utilize the “overlap” of cyber and electronic warfare operations, Sean Lyngaas writes.

Frost is a former Army Cyber Command deputy commanding general for operations and is eligible for promotion to major general, the report said.

“Bringing in a new directorate under a new two-star position, that brings two-star weight to the table to all of those discussions about doctrine, policy, organization [and] budget,” Col. Jeffrey Church, senior electronic warfare officer at the Army, told FCW.

“Now you have a two-star general officer who is going to focus specifically on cyberspace [and] electronic warfare.”

Col. Carmin Cicales, former chief of cyberspace and information operations at Army headquarters, said in the report that the expected appointment of Frost, a potential general, as the directorate lead will help the Army’s cyber, electronic warfare and information operations.

Lyngaas reports the new directorate is scheduled to have initial operating capability within June.

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LaVerne Council: VA Aims to Simplify, Secure IT Processes With Cloud Tech
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LaVerne Council: VA Aims to Simplify, Secure IT Processes With Cloud Tech


LaVerne Council
LaVerne Council

LaVerne Council, chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, highlighted the VA’s plan to buy cloud computing services and its other information technology modernization efforts during an interview with FCW published Friday.

She told FCW the department issued a request for information on cloud support services as part of a procurement strategy aimed at simplifying IT management.

“We are looking at the cloud as our way of bringing on some new [buying] capability,” Council noted in the interview.

“Our requirements may be a little more extreme than some, but certainly, if there’s an opportunity where we can [partner], we will.”

She said her organization is working with David Shulkin, VA undersecretary for health, to examine the viability of developing a new digital platform for the department to manage veterans’ electronic health records.

VA and the Defense Department also collaborate to achieve interoperability between their EHR systems, according to Council.

She added that VA will work to address all material weaknesses in the department’s information security program by the end of 2017.

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Reuters: Federal Reserve Records Reveal More Than 50 Cyber Breaches in 2011-15
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Reuters: Federal Reserve Records Reveal More Than 50 Cyber Breaches in 2011-15


cyber-hack-network-computerThe U.S. Federal Reserve has recorded more than 50 cybersecurity breaches from 2011 through 2015, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Reuters obtained Federal Reserve records which cover cyber attacks that affected the Board of Governors since it is subject to public records laws, Jason Lange and Dustin Volz wrote.

The central bank’s national cybersecurity team identified majority of the recorded breaches as “malicious code” while four attacks in 2012 were described as “espionage,” Reuters said.

The records further revealed the Federal Reserve suspected that hackers or spies were involved in many of the incidents, Reuters added.

There were no information on the hackers or on the consequences of the attacks, Lange and Volz wrote.

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