Government Accountability Office (GAO)

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Computer Viruses Are "Rampant" On Medical Devices In Hospitals

David Talbot | MIT Technology Review | October 17, 2012

A meeting of government officials reveals that medical equipment is becoming riddled with malware. Read More »

Congress & GAO Take Aim At DOD-VA Health Records Program

Amber Corrin and Camille Tuutti | FCW | March 7, 2013

When the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments last month announced a change of course in a long-awaited joint health records program, it sparked concerns at the Government Accountability Office. Now, the program faces further challenges from Capitol Hill. Read More »

Congress Shouldn't Debate Copyright In A Reality-Free Zone

Parker Higgins | Electronic Frontier Foundation | November 20, 2012

Just a few days ago, an unusual thing happened in the halls of Congress: somebody made a case for a copyright policy grounded in reality. The Republican Study Committee (RSC) — an organization that represents more than two-thirds of all GOP Congressmembers — issued a report challenging longstanding copyright myths and offering ideas for potential reforms. [...] Read More »

Consumers Are Still Held Back From Making Rational Health Decisions

Andy Oram | EMR & EHR | November 25, 2014

Price and quality of care–those are what we’d like to know when we need a medical procedure. But a perusal of a recent report from the Government Accountability Office reminded me that both price and quality information are hard to get nowadays...

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Daring to Defend the Federal Bureaucracy

Charles S. Clark | Government Executive | August 2, 2017

In an age where “unelected bureaucrats” is a common Washington epithet, give credit to a law professor, former college president and experienced federal manager for cutting against the grain. “The need for a robust civil service has never been greater,” writes Paul R. Verkuil in Valuing Bureaucracy: The Case for Professional Government. “To be effective, government must be run by professional managers,” says the former president of William and Mary College who served five years in the Obama administration as chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States...

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Defense Contractors Vastly Outnumber Troops In Afghanistan

Bob Brewin | Nextgov | May 30, 2013

For every U.S. service member serving in Afghanistan, there are 1.6 Defense contractors on the ground (and on the payroll) in supporting roles. Contractors make up 62 percent of the force there -- 108,000 versus 65,700 troops, watchdog agency reports reveal. Read More »

DHS Cancels $6 Billon Program To Detect Bioweapons, With No Plan B

Jared Serbu | Federal News Radio | June 11, 2014

Six weeks ago, amid cost overruns and technological miscalculations, the Department of Homeland Security canceled a $5.8 billion program intended to upgrade the biological weapon detection systems it deployed in the aftermath of the 2001 anthrax attacks in cities thorough America.  

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DME Bidding Program Seen as Success; Further Study Urged

Jessica Zigmond | ModernHealthcare.com | May 9, 2012

The first year of the CMS' durable medical-equipment competitive-bidding program was successful, but more experience with competitive bidding is needed to learn if there are access problems for beneficiaries, a new federal report found. Read More »

DOD Gets Feedback From Industry On Planned EHR System

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | April 25, 2014

The Department of Defense is getting help from industry in scoping out the minimum infrastructure specifications required to support deployment of an enterprise-wide electronic health record system. Among the technology areas that DOD is trying to get a handle on are hosting, network, device, and site characteristics information for its new EHR system.

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DOD moves forward with department-wide e-health records project

Kevin McCaney | Defense Systems | April 23, 2014

The Defense Department has taken another step in its quest to create a new, departmentwide electronic health record. Read More »

DoD-VA Interoperability Plans Lack Key Information

Susan D. Hall | Fierce Health IT | July 9, 2014

Reports sent to Congress on plans made by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense for an interoperable electronic health record system fully satisfied only one of six statutory conditions placed on the project, according to new findings published by the Government Accountability Office...

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Does The Military Have Enough Psychiatrists?

Clara Ritger | Defense One | April 10, 2014

Twelve consecutive years of war have turned soldiers into the subjects of an unintended experiment in the impact of prolonged conflict on the human psyche.  And the results are still out, according to Army Surgeon General Patricia Horoho, who testified Wednesday at a congressional hearing.

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Don’t Expect Defense And VA Health Records To Share Data Anytime Soon

Kedar Pavgi | Nextgov | March 1, 2013

Veterans Affairs Department Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told reporters in a press call on Thursday that officials halted the effort to develop an integrated electronic health record after cost estimates doubled to about $12 billion.  He said officials now expect to acquire 50 joint and shared applications, which he estimated will cost between $4 billion and $6 billion. Read More »

Duplicate IT Systems Cost HHS Millions

Ashley Gold | FierceHealthIT | September 13, 2013

An auditor found more than $300 million in duplicative IT systems at three different government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services--which has six duplicative systems costing $256 million alone--according to a new Government Accountability Office report. Read More »

Editorial: Time To Fix IT Procurement

Staff Writer | Federal Times | December 1, 2013

Federal chief information officer Steven VanRoekel called the bungled rollout of Healthcare.gov a “teachable moment.” Unfortunately, it is just the latest in a long string of teachable moments concerning federal information technology projects. Read More »