Maternal and child health (MCH) has become a top concern nationwide, particularly in disadvantaged, underserved and rural communities. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the United States is experiencing a maternal health crisis nationwide, as it has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high-income nations; increasing rates of complications from pregnancy or childbirth; and persistent disparities in such outcomes.

Modernizing the defense healthcare system has never been more front and center for Defense Health Agency (DHA), the Department of Defense's (DOD) primary arm that manages all things healthcare for military service members and their beneficiaries. With acts of war and terrorism arising from overseas and the possibility of having our troops involved in future conflicts, patient healthcare and service preparedness are top priorities for the agency. So, the DHA is looking to work across federal agencies and industry to strengthen its healthcare systems.

Technological innovations in the storage and computing capacity in the world of data has moved exponentially – especially in the healthcare space.  One of the most dramatic use cases is in the field of genomics.  As Andrea Norris, the CIO for NIH mentioned at a public sector Healthcare Summit on IT Modernization last week, technology has greatly increased the speed and lowered the costs associated with gene sequencing.  Originally, when the human genome project completed the task, it took around 13 years with funding around 2.1 billion dollars (the project was from 1990–2003)

The U.S. Government spends trillions of dollars on benefits programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid each year. Unfortunately, billions of those dollars are improperly paid, reducing the benefits to those who most rely upon them. In 2016, the White House estimated these losses at $144B.

Improper payments, fraud, and abuse takes many forms, consider some of these examples of Medicaid fraud and abuse:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long been a proponent of Building Information Modeling (BIM). In 2010, VA issued its Building Information Lifecycle Vision or “BIM Guide” stating its commitment to move the organization and its service providers to BIM “as effectively and efficiently as possible”.

Our very own Chief Cybersecurity Technologist and Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) fellow, Don Maclean, recently joined fellow fellows Robert Lord (Protenus), John Menkahart (Securonix), Dr. Ron Ross (NIST) and ICIT co-founder and senior fellow, Parham Eftekhari on Capitol Hill to discuss the risks and threats associated with cyber attacks on healthcare facilities.