Michael J. Keegan

Report Slams VA Over Health Care Enrollment System Backlog. A Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report finds that the Veterans Health Administration's enrollment system in 2014 had about 867,000 pending records, 35% of which were for deceased veterans. OIG says VHA's Health Eligibility Center is not successfully managing data, causing a significant backlog and limiting access to care. Modern Healthcare et al Cyber drawbridges, medical device data and more.

HIMSS Releases Top Health IT Policy Priorities for Congress. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society has published its annual "congressional asks," naming interoperability, cybersecurity and telehealth as the top policy priorities that lawmakers should address in the next year. Healthcare IT News, Politico's "Morning eHealth." ONC: Rate of EHR Replacements Among Providers Up Significantly. New data show that the percentage of eligible professionals and hospitals that switched electronic health record vendors quadrupled between meaningful use program years 2013 and 2014.

In the mist of tightening budgets, many government agencies are being asked to deliver innovative solutions to operational and strategic problems. One way to address this dilemma is to participate in open innovation. Two Aspects of Open Innovation A recent IBM Center report, Making Open Innovation Ecosystems Work: Case Studies in Healthcare, by Donald Wynn, Jr., Renée M. E. Pratt, Randy V.

CIOs: 'A strategic partner, not a coder-in-chief'. Agency heads, acquisition officers and even CIOs don't need to be hard-core techies. FCW's four-part look at the expertise that's really required to make federal IT run. CIOs urged to flex their financial muscle. A retired general tells federal CIOs they need to stop wasteful spending before it gets started, and says they could have a powerful ally in their agency CFO. GAO Report Cites Deficiencies in VA's Benefits Management System.

The IBM Center has explored these questions and more. With the potential of a government shutdown on the horizon, Dr. Philip Joyce, a budget expert at the University of Maryland, examines the impact of late budgets on the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations over the past 37 years and identifies useful coping strategies and offers recommendations on how to soften the adverse effects of budget uncertainty.

There are approximately 75 days between a presidential election and the inauguration of a new president. This is considered the presidential transition period. It is a time of opportunity and hazard for an incoming administration. The transition from campaign to governing requires that presidential policies be transformed from rhetoric into an actionable agenda and then into concrete results. Neither good policies nor sound investments are likely to work, let along succeed, if undermined by poor implementation.

These are important and age-old questions.

 In attempting to tackle this question and assist government executive charged with wrestling with it, we present a new Center report, Best Practices for Leading Sustainability Efforts, by Jonathan M. Estes.

In October 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13514, which outlines leadership efforts the federal government can make to reduce energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Federal agencies are required to develop strategies, implement and report on projects, and continuously improve their processes as a model for the country.

How is eDiplomacy moving State from a culture of need to know toward a culture of a need to share?

 rivers, to an increasingly open and accessible Arctic, the Coast Guard ensures the safety, security, and stewardship of our maritime domain.