Dr. Shantanu Agrawal on Combating Fraud, Waste & Abuse in Healthcare

The U.S. was projected to spend $3.1 trillion dollars on healthcare generating billions of claims from healthcare service and product providers every year. Medicare alone accounts for something on the order of $635 billion in annual spending.

Weekly Roundup May 15, 2015

OMB Deputy Director Beth Cobert discusses importance of #SES #leadership to government performance @ombpress. http://www.govexec.com/management/2015/05/obama-management-chief-senior-execs-must-set-tone-better-performance/112834/?oref=river Cybersecurity matters for achievement of agency missions, says @usNISTgov expert Ron Ross.http://www.federalnewsradio.com/241/3857152/Cybersecurity-mission-areas-must-integrate-to-stave-off-flood-of-attacks More #procurement #transparency from @usGSA -- supports broader category management initiative.

Weekly Roundup May 29, 2015

Best Apps in Government. NextGov reports: ”At trade group ACT-IAC’s second annual Mobility Application Fair, agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Small Business Administration competed for titles including ‘Most Innovative App.’” And the winners are . . . {see link} DOD: Not Ready for Sequestration? Federal News Radio reports that the Government Accountability Office has issued a new report warning the Defense Department that it hasn’t adequately summed up lessons learned from the 2013 sequester, in order to be prepared if it were to happen again.

Tornadoes happen fast. Cyber happens faster: Interview with Phyllis Schneck

Dr. Phyllis Schneck, Deputy Undersecretary, Cybersecurity and Communications, within the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently joined me on The Business of Government to discuss the mission of her office, its vision and cybersecurity priorities, challenges faced, and her efforts to develop a “weather map” approach to predicting cyber.

Weekly Roundup July 10

Deconstructing Chief Data Officers. Federal News Radio is running a series of articles around the new role of agency chief data officers – who they are, what they do, and where do they fit with agency Chief Information and Chief Technology Officers? Part 1: Finding a balance in the pantheon of “chiefs” Part 2: An interview with DJ Patil, the White House’s first “chief data scientist.” More installments to come! 18F Pushes Plain Language.

Aligning mission support with mission delivery: Interview with Ellen Herbst, CFO, U.S. Dept of Commerce

A clear strategic focus and sound management are essential to the effective stewardship of taxpayer dollars, enabling agency decision makers to make tough choices on a day-to-day basis and for long-term management challenges. Given the critical challenges facing government today, the ability of government executives to properly align mission support functions with mission delivery can help them respond more effectively to their mission and management challenges simultaneously, as well as drive change within their department. The U.S.

Weekly Roundup July 17, 2015

Prairie Dog Companions? A Federal News Radio online survey “shows feds are happiest when they work in offices where they can close their doors. Cubicles and open spaces with little separating them from colleagues are a recipe for distraction and lower productivity, they say. ‘My colleagues just pop up like prairie dogs and ask me questions all day,’ said one respondent.” Do Lessons from IRS Scandal Apply?

DHS Deputy Secretary Ali Mayorkas on Managing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Since its inception the US Department of Homeland Security, DHS, has undertaken numerous reviews and reorganizations in an ongoing effort to increase the department's efficiency and effectiveness in managing its wide ranging complex mission set. In April of 2014, Secretary of Homeland Security Jed Johnson directed DHS leadership to make several key changes to "transparently incorporate" DHS components into unified decision making process and the analytic efforts that inform decision making.

Weekly Roundup July 24, 2015

Doubt haunts federal employees following OPM data breaches, survey shows. Federal employees and other security-clearance holders do not trust the Office of Personnel Management to protect victims of the hacks on its databases, an exclusive Federal News Radio survey shows. Yet they’ll accept the agency’s credit- and identity-protection services. Moreover, they’ll continue to give OPM their sensitive personal information if it means they’ll keep their security clearances. VA’s impending shutdown to impact nearly all of its hospitals.

Weekly Roundup July 31, 2015

Hope for the DATA Act. Hudson Hollister, the head of the Data Transparency Coalition, was interviewed by Federal News Radio on his take of the status of the implementation of the DATA Act, which requires regular reporting of financial transactions by each federal agency on at least a quarterly basis. He shared his frustration, but also some hope. Later that day, GAO testified on the Act’s implementation and noted progress, but more needs to be done.

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Leadership Fellow & Host, The Business of Government Hour
IBM Center for The Business of Government
600 14th Street, NW Second Floor
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Michael has two decades of experience with both the private and public sectors encompassing strategic planning, business process redesign, strategic communications and marketing, performance management, change management, executive and team coaching, and risk-financing.

Michael leads the IBM Center for The Business of Government's leadership research. As the Center’s Leadership Fellow, his work is at the nexus of the Center’s mission – connecting research to practice. My work at that the Center complements frontline experience of actual government executives with practical insights from thought leaders who produce Center reports – merging real-world experience with practical scholarship. The purpose is not to offer definitive solutions to the many management challenges facing executives, but to provide a resource from which to draw practical, actionable recommendations on how best to confront such issues. Michael also hosts and produces the IBM Center’s The Business of Government Hour. He has interviewed and profiled hundreds of senior government executives from all levels of government as well as recognized thought leaders focusing on a range of public management issues and trends. Over the last four years, Michael has expanded both the show’s format and reach – now broadcasting informational and educational conversations with dedicated public servants on two radio stations five times a week and anywhere at anytime over the web and at iTunes. Michael is also the managing editor of The Business of Government magazine, with a targeted audience of close to 14,000 government and non-government professionals. Additionally, he manages the Center’s bi-annual proposal review process that awards stipends to independent, third party researchers tackling a wide range of public management issues.

Prior to joining the Center, Michael worked as a senior managing consultant with IBM GBS (Global Business Services) and as a principle consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Consulting Practice (WCP). He led projects in the private and federal civilian sectors including the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, FEMA, and the Veterans Health Administration. Before entering consulting, he worked in the private sector as product development manager at a New York City based risk financing firm.

Since 2003, Mr. Keegan has been a reviewer for Association of Government Accountant’s Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR)© program, keeping abreast of the most recent developments in authoritative standards affecting federal accounting, financial reporting and performance measurement. He is also a member of APPAM, the NYU Alumni Association, and the Data Center & Cloud Talent, USA. He holds masters in public administration and management from New York University and was the founder of its DC alumni group as well as previous treasurer of the NYU graduate school’s alumni board.