Congress

See the following -

Feds Release FDASIA Workgroup Report On Health IT Governance

Diana Manos | Government HealthIT | April 3, 2014

A widely anticipated report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies may finally clear the air on how healthcare IT – and mHealth in particular – will be regulated.  

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Fighting The Next Obamacare Tech Fail

Dustin Volz and Sophie | Nextgov | January 16, 2014

In terminating CGI Federal's role in HealthCare.gov, President Obama finally "fired" one of the parties responsible for Obamacare's faulty website. That may appease the chorus of those calling on Obama to hold someone "accountable," but it does nothing to fix the underlying problem: the system for selecting contractors that picked CGI Federal in the first place. Read More »

Food Stamp Cuts Create High Demand For Food Bank Supplies

Marisol Bello | USA Today | November 4, 2013

Food banks across the country, stretched thin in the aftermath of the recession, are bracing for more people coming through their doors in the wake of cuts to the federal food stamp program. Food stamp benefits to 47 million Americans were cut starting Friday as a temporary boost to the federal program comes to an end without new funding from a deadlocked Congress.

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FOSS And Patents - Peer Collaboration As A Key To Countering Patent Risk, Guest Blog By Clark Asay

Clark Asay | Outercurve Foundation | February 26, 2013

In an earlier post I suggested that third-party patents pose the most significant risk of using free and open source software (FOSS). The risk boils down to this: with limited exceptions, someone with a patent that reads on FOSS can prevent anyone else from using that FOSS, even if you or somebody else independently created the software... Read More »

Friday Shutdown Reader: The Impending Meaningless Deaths Of Lab Animals

James Fallows | Atlantic | October 11, 2013

The prospect for research animals is grim at best. The shutdown removes all purpose from their sacrifice. Read More »

From Antarctica To America, US Turns Out The Lights On Science Research

Jeremy A. Kaplan | FoxNews.com | October 13, 2013

Two weeks of sliced budgets and suspensions following Congressional gridlock have been a disastrous setback to a variety of American science programs, wasting millions of dollars and months if not years of research. Read More »

From The Start, Signs Of Trouble At Health Portal

Robert Pear, Sharon LaFraniere and Ian Austen | New York Times | October 12, 2013

In March, Henry Chao, the chief digital architect for the Obama administration’s new online insurance marketplace, told industry executives that he was deeply worried about the Web site’s debut. “Let’s just make sure it’s not a third-world experience,” he told them. Read More »

FTC Chair Promises Robust Regulation Of Big Data

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | August 22, 2013

Edith Ramirez, the Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission laid out the case for strong consumer protections regulating the private industry’s use of big data, as the agency asks Congress for the power to level civil fines against businesses for weak consumer data security. Read More »

Furloughed VA Closes Benefits Offices, Stops Health IT Work

Jennifer Bresnick | EHR Intelligence | October 10, 2013

Almost 3000 IT workers and 7000 Veterans Benefits Association employees have been forced to halt work on the enormous backlog of disability claims due to the government shutdown, NextGov reports. [...] Read More »

GM Risked Lives To Save 25 Cents Per Car

Eric Pianin | The Fiscal Times | April 17, 2014

Until now, one of the most perplexing questions in the General Motors scandal is why the storied manufacturer waited more than a decade to recall 1.6 million compact cars with faulty ignition switches that contributed to more than a dozen deaths across the country.

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Google Tells Feds How To Get Emergency Info To The Top Of Search Results

Joseph Marks | Nextgov | June 4, 2013

Offering relevant information in open, machine-readable formats may be the most important thing government can do to keep the public informed during a natural disaster, Google and other technology leaders told members of Congress Tuesday. Read More »

Google: Non-Gmail Users Have No Legitimate Expectation Of Privacy (Updated)

Ashley Feinberg | Gizmodo | August 13, 2013

Here's some more bad news to add to the pile of concern over email vulnerability, a brief filed by Google's attorneys has just surfaced and revealed that Gmail non-Gmail users who exchange emails with a Gmail user should have "no legitimate expectation of privacy"—ever. Read More »

GOP Senators: Health IT Policy Needs 'Reboot'

Anthony Brino | Government Health IT | April 17, 2013

Six Republican Senators are asking the healthcare community for input on “recalibrating” health information technology policy, arguing that there are several problems with the current trajectory of the meaningful use program. Read More »

GOP Wants Sebelius Fired Over Glitch-Filled Launch Of HealthCare.gov

Clara Ritger | Nextgov | October 18, 2013

After failing to put a dent in the Affordable Care Act through the shutdown and debt ceiling deal, the Republican Party shifted its focus to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Read More »

Grading the Public Options That Already Exist

Sabrina Shankman | Pro Publica | October 28, 2009

Pundits and politicians from both sides of the fence have been hollering themselves blue about a potential public health care option. Instead of relying on private insurers, the government would insure people itself...Two of the three health care reform bills in Congress have a public option. What might a public option look like in practice? One way to find out is to look at what's already out there. Read More »