U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)

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Sharing Records Called Key To VA Health Care

Jessica Floum | AZ Central | September 1, 2014

...A July audit by the Defense Department's inspector general found that the Defense Department failed to make proper records transfers to the VA. In the Army, 77 percent of records transferred in 2013 were not timely and 28 percent were not complete, the audit said...

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Should U.S. Hackers Fix Cybersecurity Holes Or Exploit Them?

Bruce Schneier | The Atlantic | May 19, 2014

Maybe someday we'll patch vulnerabilities faster than the enemy can use them in an attack, but we're not there yet.  There’s a debate going on about whether the U.S. government—specifically, the NSA and United States Cyber Command—should stockpile Internet vulnerabilities or disclose and fix them...

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Success Of Blue Button Initiative Tied To MU Program

Greg Slabodkin | Health Data Management | July 1, 2014

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT this fall will launch a national campaign to boost consumer use of Blue Button technology to securely access their health records electronically...The national Blue Button campaign, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 6, will include public service announcements posted on partner websites to get the word out on how consumers can access their own health data.

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Tech Firms Vie For $11 Billion Military Healthcare Contract As Deadline Looms

Mohana Ravindranath | The Washington Post | October 19, 2014

As the deadline for bids on a coveted Defense Department contract approaches, teams of technology giants — including IBM and Hewlett-Packard — are competing to modernize the military’s electronic health records...

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Telehealth Progress Requires Beefed Up Network Infrastructure

Rutrell Yasin | Federal Times | January 23, 2015

Federal agencies have applied telehealth technology in innovative ways to expand health care beyond the walls of veterans' hospitals and other care facilities. Current efforts allow caregivers to reach patients in their daily lives while clinicians and specialists can share and archive medical information...

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The $100,000-Per-Year Pill: How US Health Agencies Choose Pharma Over Patients

Fran Quigley | TruthOut | August 5, 2016

Don Reichmuth survived prostate cancer once before, back in 2007, so his physician was concerned when tests recently revealed the cancer had returned. Reichmuth's physician prescribed a drug called enzalutamide, marketed by the Japanese company Astellas Pharma, Inc. under the brand name Xtandi. But when the physician sent the prescription to the pharmacy, the managers of Reichmuth's insurance plan sent back an immediate refusal to approve it. Reichmuth, a retired teacher who lives in Washington State, was puzzled by the logic. Then he learned the price of the Xtandi prescription: over $9,700 each month...

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The Biothreat Is Real — And We’re Not Ready, Report Says

Maggie Fox | NBC News | October 28, 2015

It's a scary scenario: A genetically engineered Nipah virus is sprayed into the air during a July 4th celebration in Washington, D.C., and across the country, killing more than 6,000 people. A badly prepared United States does almost nothing at first, and people die as officials scramble to get a grip on what happened...

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The Junk Science Behind Michael Savage's Attacks On Military Troops With PTSD

Lisa Reed | Media Matters | October 26, 2014

Last week, Michael Savage leveled his latest in a long string of attacks on Americans with mental illness and the medical community that works to help them. After a veteran caller with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) expressed support for the city of San Francisco naming a bridge after the late Robin Williams, the right-wing radio host announced that he is "so sick and tired of everyone with their complaints about PTSD, depression," asserting that it's a sign of a "weak, sick, broken nation."...

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The Pentagon Contract That Could Shape EHRs For Years To Come — Epic Pays Out To Win Friends And Influence Congress

Arthur Allen | Politico.com | October 17, 2014

GENTLEMEN (AND WOMEN) START YOUR (INTEROPERABLE) ENGINES: The Department of Defense’s $11 billion, 10-year contract for a new electronic health records system won’t just shape military health for the next decade, reports Ashley Gold, it could very well predict the future of electronic health records and their handling of interoperability. Read More »

The Real Story About COTS for the VA

Deanne Clark | FCW | March 14, 2017

There has been a tremendous amount of news coverage of recent congressional hearings about the need for the Department of Veterans Affairs to replace its existing electronic health record technology. What's even more remarkable is how one-sided the discussions and the reporting have been. For anyone without a background in healthcare IT, it would seem like a slam dunk that moving to a commercial off the shelf electronic health record solution is the best way forward for the VA...

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These Hackers Are Developing Apps To Stop The Spread Of Ebola In West Africa

Daniel A. Medina | Quartz | October 10, 2014

The rapid spread of Ebola in West Africa has blindsided foreign governments and international aid organizations since its outbreak six months ago. One group of university researchers and hackers at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US think they may have an answer to help stem the outbreak...

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Top 5 Government Health IT Stories Of The Summer

Tom Sullivan, | Government Health IT | August 29, 2014

Call it the season of interoperability. That was the biggest topic of the summer among Government Health IT readers...

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U.S. Conducts Nuclear Response Exercises

Staff Writer | Defense One | May 12, 2014

U.S. Strategic Command this week is conducting a massive nuclear arms drill designed to “deter and detect strategic attacks” on the United States and allies.  A Sunday press release announcing the May 12-16  “Global Lightning” exercise explicitly noted that the event’s timing is “unrelated to real-world events.”

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US Government Accelerating Development And Release Of Open Source

Mark Bohannon | OpenSource.com | April 24, 2014

I had a chance to catch up with David A. Wheeler, a long-time leader in advising and working with the US government on issues related to open source software...In this interview, we explore the current state of use of open source software by the US government, the challenges of the Federal acquisition system, and what he's excited about as he looks ahead for open source and government....

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VA contractor digitizes VA benefits backlog now eyes joint EHR

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | July 10, 2013

The Department of Veterans Affairs [VA] has a lot on its plate.  From its rocky path towards interoperability with the Department of Defense to a disability benefits claims queue stretching into the hundreds of thousands, there is a great deal of work to be done in order to provide service men and women with quality healthcare.  Read More »