Featuring the federal workforce’s finest, DC’s Funniest Fed Competition finals are tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington Cinema Drafthouse. The best amatuer stand up comics within the federal sector will be cracking jokes for the glory and splendor of being crowned DC’s Funniest Fed. Unfortunately the show is sold out, but good luck to the finalists! Don Heitman (CFTC) Tim Miller (US Army) Abe Barth (HHS) Kate Taylor (US Senate) Jonathan Shepard (USAID) Nate Johnson (SSA) The show isn’t just for “you know what” and giggles, 20 percent of ticket proceeds will be donated to Fisher House Foundation to help…
Browsing: HHS
The federal office overseeing the nation’s transition to electronic health records plans to award $5 million in prizes to spur innovation in health IT. A new program launched by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will award $5 million in prizes to spur innovation in health IT through challenges. Investing in Innovations or (i2) The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will introduce up to 15 prize competitions each year until March 2013, according to ONC. For example, software developers could be asked to build new tools allowing for health care providers and…
Employees at the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) may start noticing changes in their cafeteria menus. New nutrition guidelines at HHS will emphasize healthier foods and environmentally friendly procurement and disposal practices according to a blog post on LetsMove.gov written by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and GSA Administrator Martha Johnson March 24. The new guidelines are part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to encourage healthier eating and regular exercise and are part of an effort by GSA to extend sustainable food practices government wide. Some of the new dining guidelines include: Offering seasonal vegetables and fruits,…
Two years after President Obama pledged a new dawning of governmental sunshine, barely half of 90 federal agencies say they’ve made concrete changes in their handling of Freedom of Information Act requests, according to survey findings released Sunday. While 49 agencies reported changes to their FOIA processes, the remainder either said they had no information or did not respond to the Knight Open Government Survey. In a similar round-up last year, only 13 agencies reported changes, so this year’s numbers reflect a large uptick. Still, “at this rate, the president’s first term in office will be over by the time federal agencies…
Critical access and rural hospitals will receive a $12 million boost in technical support funding to become meaningful users of certified health information technology, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced Tuesday. The funding will flow through ONC’s regional extension centers, which provide doctors with training and support services and guidance for adopting electronic health records. In September, regional extension centers received $20 million for the same purpose. Similar to other ONC programs, aid for the hospitals is provided through the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in the 2009 stimulus package. The added…
HHS, VA, CMS, Blue Button, health records, electronic health record
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has awarded $9.8 million in funding to stand up the last of its regional extension center (REC) programs in California and New Hampshire. CalOptima Foundation received $4.7 million to assist doctors and providers in Orange County adopt electronic health records, and ONC awarded Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative $5.1 million to aid providers in New Hampshire. A total of 62 centers now span across every region in the country. Over the next two years, $677 million will be disbursed incrementally to support the RECs as they help priority primary care providers achieve meaningful use. ONC also announced expanded coverage areas for existing…
The Health and Human Services Department has awarded an additional $20 million to aid critical access and rural hospitals in adopting electronic health records. The added boost will provide technical support to about 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, according to a Sept. 10 news release. The money will flow through regional extension centers (REC) that were created to help health care providers adopt electronic health records and achieve meaningful use. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology awarded more than $640 million earlier this year to 60 existing…
The Health and Human Services Department will rely on the expertise of current federal employees to implement hundreds of changes mandated in the recently-signed health care law, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said April 6. “We’re not starting with the assumption that we have to build a new bureaucracy … One of the ways we’ll save money is by depending heavily on people and systems that are already in place. Our department already has great talent, resources, and knowledge of the health care system,” she said at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C Sebelius’ speech was billed as a look…
When I polled the 15 Cabinet departments for a March 8 article detailing the government’s carbon footprint and plans to reduce it, one department failed to respond: the Health and Human Services Department. Now, I think I understand why. According to information just provided to me by the department, HHS has set a goal to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 10.4 percent by 2020, compared to a 2008 baseline of more than 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. HHS’ target is lower than that of any other Cabinet department and much lower than the governmentwide average of 28…