Digital Government
IG Slams VA IT Shop - Again
The Veterans Affairs Department lack of in-house expertise to support, manage and execute complex information technology projects contributed to the near collapse of the department's efforts to develop a <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090331_5665.php>new replacement patient scheduling application</a> at a cost of $167 million over eight years, the VA Inspector General said in a <a href=http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2009/VAOIG-09-01926-207.pdf>report</a> released yesterday.
Digital Government
Health Records Come to SSA
The Social Security Administration announced Thursday that it has entered into an agreement with Microsoft to test the use of its HealthVault application in the process of determining disability benefits. The technology, which allows applicants to gather, store and manage their families' heath information and share that information with their physicians and health care providers, contains the same types of information that Social Security generally obtains from people applying for disability benefits.
Digital Government
Seeking Employees' Ideas Through Web 2.0
Federal Times <a href="http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4253740">reports</a> that the Obama administration is planning to seek ideas from the 18,000 employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration on how to reduce the backlog and more quickly get benefits to veterans. The effort will involve a Web-based survey that will test how the government uses the Web and new technologies as well as define new ways of how agencies listen to their employees.
Digital Government
CBP to continue searches of travelers' laptops
Homeland Security's new policy does not require reasonable suspicion, to the dismay of civil liberties groups.
Digital Government
IG: VA has widespread problems with management of IT projects
Report focuses on the failure of $167 million program to develop a patient appointment system.
Digital Government
State and local health IT spending to hit $9.6 billion by 2014
Federal Computer Week
Digital Government
Despite Web 2.0 tools, government collaboration is still slow to catch on
Government Technology
Digital Government
Regulations.gov glitch prevents comments from reaching agencies
July outage, revealed a month later, should have been reported immediately, transparency advocates say.
Digital Government
District court rules in favor of Homeland Security on E-Verify
DHS did not violate law by requiring federal contractors to confirm work eligibility of their employees.
Digital Government
Paper-Based Records Interchange?
Based on an <a href= https://www.mpm.osd.mil/documents/MRWG_June_Brief_061709Final.ppt(S).pdf>internal briefing</a> from early this summer which made its way to my inbox, it looks like the Defense Department is scanning a large heap of medical records so the Veterans Affairs Department can access them.
Digital Government
Stealing IT Workers?
David Huber <a href="http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2009/08/26/contractors-worries-feds-fish-for-their-employees.aspx">writes</a> at Washington Technology that government contractors have become fertile ground for federal agencies looking to hire information technology professionals. While some believe recruiting IT contractors is a way to find the needed talent in government, many in the contracting community believe the practice crosses the line.
Digital Government