HealthCast

GovCIO Media & Research's Health Tech Equity Working Group held their second meeting May 11 to tackle important issues across health care, including creating more robust data standards and mitigating technology bias across agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, NIH and more. Our hosts dive into the top takeaways from the meeting and explain how industry and go...

Since the beginning of the year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has rolled out several new updates to existing interoperability frameworks, including the 21st Century Cures Act, Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and U.S. Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) to improve standards that enable better health information exchange. National Coordinator for He...

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health has leveraged cloud to create the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) — the largest repository of COVID data in the U.S. Over 70 health organizations contribute to the N3C Data Enclave, which cleans, secures and computes that data all in one place in the cloud. N3C's cloud infrastructure has...

About 90% of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with ultraviolet radiation exposure. Sometimes prevention is straight forward: wear sunblock, stay shaded. But still, there are 1 million skin cancer diagnoses in the U.S. every year. Ultraviolet dosimeters are one of several technologies that are showing a lot of promise when it comes to preventing skin cancer. The tools collect personalized da...

Data interoperability in health IT is a persistent challenge. Creating opportunities for better data sharing can bring necessary collaboration to health researchers. But security of the data remains an important requirement to protect patients and other sensitive information. Researchers at NIST Chris Compton, Joanna DeFranco, David Ferraiolo and Joshua Roberts during the HIMSS conference in Chica...

The "end of the beginning" is around the corner for MHS GENESIS. The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, along with the Coast Guard and now National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are working together to create a single, common federal electronic health record. Bill Tinston, director of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) Office, joins Defense Healthcare Ma...

Decision-making in a clinical setting needs comprehensive, accurate and real-time data. In order to better care for patients, researchers and data scientists are innovating around the technology enabling access to key data from electronic health records driving decision-making. NIH's Sarah Warner, a data scientist in the Clinical Epidemiology Section of the Critical Care Medicine Department, discu...

The Veterans Experience Office is developing new strategies to leverage data and technology to be the leading customer experience organization in government. The office's Executive Director of Multi-Channel Technology Nathan Sanfilippo joined us live from HIMSS 2023 in Chicago to explain the evolution of new tools and services like the VA: Health and Benefits mobile application and upcoming voiceb...

We're back for HIMSS 2023! We unpack what you can expect at this year's conference — featuring our special guest, Rubrik Public Sector CTO Travis Rosiek. We're anticipating new discussions around major developments like federal electronic health record modernization, data security amid growing cybersecurity threats, new interoperability policies impacting federal agencies, tools that are enabling...

Data literacy is a critical component in the digital age for enabling the workforce to harness data's power. The Department of Veterans Affairs is leveraging a new automated training platform called the All Services Personnel and Institutional Readiness Engine (ASPIRE) to improve competencies for emerging technologies, especially AI and cyber. This interagency effort ensures the overall federal wo...

2023 will be a big year for the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program as it celebrates 50 years of using data to monitor trends and support research on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer. The SEER Program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute, is making significant strides to decrease the burden of cancer through a suite of analytical tools that bette...

Developing trustworthy artificial intelligence is paramount in today's health care and tech landscape. The Department of Veterans Affairs is continuing its journey to ensure AI's integration is ethical and sound for veterans health care. Building on the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and VA's National AI Network, NAII Chief of Staff and Chief Innovation Officer of VA's Long Beach Healthcare Sy...

Before the onset of COVID-19, the Department of Veterans Affairs already had the biggest telehealth program in the nation, but the pandemic forced the agency to rapidly scale its existing capabilities to continue to deliver critical health care to veterans in a remote environment. Dr. Neil Evans joins us to discuss the progress VA has made with telehealth, how remote care offerings are closing the...

At the end of 2022, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced more than 1 million downloads for its new "Health and Benefits" mobile app. The app provides a single platform for veterans to access health and benefits information, and VA plans to continue adding new features. VA Deputy CTO of Digital Experience Chris Johnston discusses the app development and the tools his agency used to increase...

Health equity and the Affordable Cancer Technologies Program are helping the National Cancer Institute achieve its mission of significantly lowering cancer rates around the world. NCI's Center for Global Health has adopted health equity as a core value to ensure that patients benefit from cancer research no matter their financial status as well as create opportunities for young people from low-inc...

The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest integrated health care network in the United States. With new innovations such as 3D printing and programs including electronic health record modernization, the VA is identifying new ways to fund projects for health IT. Veterans Health Administration's Executive Director of Strategic Investment Management Ian Komorowski explains how he's facilitati...

In part 2 of our interview with emPOWER Director Kristen Finne, she observes how she has seen the program at HHS ASPR evolve and spark conversations across government about empowering service to at-risk populations. She provides highlights about what this means for sharing data in protected environments and building capacity for solar and storage across the country in the event of an outage. Finne...

The Department of Health and Human Services emPOWER program protects the health of at-risk Medicare beneficiaries, including 4.4 million individuals who rely upon essential health care services or electricity-dependent durable medical equipment. Director Kristen Finne explains how this critical data sharing effort delivers just-in-time information to help people respond to a disaster, as well as o...

One year ago, President Biden reignited the Cancer Moonshot initiative and set bold new goals to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years and to improve the lives of cancer patients and survivors, their caregivers and families. In an interagency effort, the White House Cancer Cabinet has brought together leaders from across government to progress priority actions on endi...

Published in 2022, the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights provides guidance on how government and industry can work together to ensure more accountable AI. The Department of Veterans Affairs National Artificial Intelligence Institute ( NAII ) Director Gil Alterovitz discusses the agency's role in creating the document and next steps for ethical AI. Join the AI@VA Community: Join Our AI Communities...

COVID-19 catalyzed federal health IT to expand innovation around health equity, data management and improved customer experience. In 2022, federal health agencies focused on interoperability, cybersecurity, DataOps and more to ensure equitable, accessible and secure health services. Our researchers reflect on the top news and trends of 2022 including the PACT Act, electronic health records and dat...

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs — along with the U.S. Coast Guard — have worked together on the joint goal of creating a single, common federal electronic health record where patient data is fully electronic and transferable between health providers for armed forces service members and veterans. With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the latest to join the cross-g...

New technologies are making impacts in scientific research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Artificial intelligence and machine learning take center stage when it comes to drug and addiction data. NIDA Program Director for Big Data and Computational Science Susan Wright provides an outlook for tech on helping the agency better understand data and also how data is improving overall health c...

The Department of Veterans Affairs is leading the charge in federal AI policy and progress. Director of VA's National Artificial Intelligence Institute Gil Alterovitz explains how VA is developing its National AI Network, which brings together local AI research and development into a broader collaboration, as well as the history, progress and goals of his unit.

There is a bidirectional relationship between cancer and aging. The risk of developing cancer increases as we age, and research shows that cancer and some cancer treatments can accelerate aging. However, earlier detection and targeted therapies are making a difference. Paige Green, chief of the Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Science Branch, explains that other factors such as psychosocial w...