Health IT News from Federal Agencies and Capitol Hill – Edited by Carolyn Bloch
The military has for decades used sonar for underwater communications. Researchers at SUNY at Buffalo are developing a miniaturized version of the same technology to be applied inside the human body to treat diseases such as diabetes and heart failure in real-time. (more…)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the GE Foundation, and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center are establishing the new ECHO Institute. RWJF along with the GE Foundation held a briefing June 14th in Washington D.C to listen to experts discuss how new care delivery models like Project ECHO can help meet the growing need for mental health and substance abuse treatment that needs to be integrated and coordinated with primary care. (more…)
Plans to establish a national “Center for Advanced Communications” in Boulder Colorado has just been announced by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) both within the Department of Commerce. The Center will address a wide range of advanced communications challenges. (more…)
According to Representative Roe from Tennessee, DOD and the VA have spent more than $1 billion dollars to develop an in-house system. However, it was announced early this year that these efforts are now on hold. The Interagency Program Office Specifically created for iEHR development spent $362 million in FY 2012 alone. (more…)
“Reducing Duplication and Improving Outcomes in Federal Information Technology” was discussed at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on June 11, 2013. Frank Baitman Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and CIO for HHS testified. (more…)
In 2013, the number of active smartphones worldwide reached more than 1 billion. How should policymakers respond to the accelerating speed of the mobile revolution, the increasing demand for broadband spectrum, and what policy steps should be taken to further public and private investment and advances in U.S mobile technology? (more…)
The Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) announced that over $100 million in grants are going for life sciences related capital projects in western Massachusetts. This includes $95 million for the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst and $5.5 million for the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI), a joint venture of the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and UMass Amherst. (more…)