Nearly 40% of the ocean has not been mapped using the latest resources and tools. Exploring the ocean is critical to maritime power for the U.S. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Marine and Aviation Operations is at the forefront of mapping the ocean via its fleet of research ships and specialized data-collecting aircraft. At Sea-Air-Space in National Harbor, Maryland, Rear Adm. Chad Cary, the office’s deputy director for operations, discusses how his office ...
Apr 08, 2024•6 min
Following the passage of the PACT Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs is hiring more staff, serving more veterans and offering expanded access to benefits. After a record-breaking 2023, the agency says, it anticipates an even bigger 2024. VA CIO Kurt DelBene discusses the tech priorities for the agency headed into 2024, from EHR modernization to artificial intelligence, user experience to hiring and more.
Apr 04, 2024•30 min•Season 7Ep. 6
The Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing Network (PECGS) part of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative is a collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and research institutions to engage cancer patients directly and ultimately better understand cancer genomics. One of six funded projects is with Washington University, which is focusing on rare and understudied cancer populations with health disparities. Dr. Bettina Drake, professor at the university’s School of Medicine, discuss...
Mar 25, 2024•24 min
Indian Health Service CIO Mitchell Thornbrugh joins HealthCast to talk about ways that IHS is progressing in its modernization program and the need for a patient-centered, human-centered approach to care. He notes that IHS is working with across levels of government to provide better health care, ultimately, to Native Americans and Alaska Natives living in diverse communities nationwide. Modernizing a health care system is a big task, with organizations having to prioritize customer experience a...
Mar 19, 2024•26 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Veterans have the ability to manage their health and benefits information largely through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) developed through the Department of Veterans Affairs' Lighthouse program. Director of the program’s developer experience, David Mazik, sits down with us at HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, to discuss how the program is helping veterans and clinicians share data both within and outside of VA. Mazik discusses how APIs are helping organizations that are serving th...
Mar 14, 2024•12 min
Health-focused organizations look at technology to prevent and help curb the effects of cybersecurity threats to better protect patients, and federal agencies might serve as a model to others in the private sector for program governance. At HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, HIMSS Cybersecurity and Privacy Senior Principal Lee Kim puts these threats into context for the health care community and government partners. She highlights how many in the private sector can learn from government agencies in how ...
Mar 14, 2024•9 min
The CDC’s new Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology executing the Public Health Data Strategy met nearly 15 milestones over the past year. Looking ahead into its second year of the plan and after seeing through the first flu season, office director Dr. Jennifer Layden highlights some of those accomplishments around electronic case reporting and establishing core data sources. She discusses what she envisions is on the horizon for more automation, monitoring additional health...
Mar 14, 2024•9 min
The Veterans Health Administration recently expanded health care benefits to all veterans who served in the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other combat zone after 9/11. Behind the scenes, the agency is spearheading many initiatives to further enhance interoperability around its health care ecosystem to better serve veteran patients. Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal discusses with us at HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, some of the updates around the PACT Act, open API...
Mar 14, 2024•7 min
Department of Health and Human Services CISO and Acting Deputy CIO La Monte Yarborough highlights during HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, how his office is prioritizing cybersecurity in the broader health care community in the age of AI. Cybersecurity resilience in the health sector demands public policies to keep data and systems secure as the threat landscape evolves. He highlights the HHS 405(d) program that can help the public health sector bolster cyber defenses. He also provides perspective on w...
Mar 14, 2024•7 min
The health sector faces many challenges that technology has the potential to alleviate including workforce burden, staffing shortages, cybersecurity challenges and data management struggles. Much of that can see improvements with smart uses of artificial intelligence and virtual care, according to NTT DATA Chief Health Informatics Officer Heather Hudnall at the HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida. A former nurse herself, Hudnall describes how government can think about harnessing data to transf...
Mar 14, 2024•7 min
The Department of Veterans Affairs is setting in motion new artificial intelligence strategies in light of the White House’s executive order to prioritize ethical AI development. At HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, VA Deputy CTO for AI Kimberly McManus highlights the four areas the agency is taking a closer look at: governance, prior use cases, infrastructure and workforce. McManus cites the Veterans Health Administration’s framework for trustworthy AI she sees guiding much of the work around ensuring...
Mar 13, 2024•6 min
Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT Steven Posnack discusses a few updates to data sharing and interoperability rules for the health IT community, including HTI-1, HTI-2, United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) and Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). As organizations work to adopt new interoperability standards and policies, artificial intelligence is showing promise for its impact in health IT processes. Posnack highlights how ONC is starting to think abo...
Mar 13, 2024•5 min
Artificial intelligence is a key focus at the HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida, where Department of Health and Human Services Chief AI Officer Greg Singleton discusses his vision for the technology at the agency. Singleton gives us a glimpse at the key parts that make up the CAIO role as agencies are putting in place their strategies to meet the White House’s 2023 AI executive order directing agencies on various aspects for the technology. Looking ahead, Singleton discusses where he sees AI ...
Mar 13, 2024•8 min
Taking big-picture technology concepts and integrating them into practice is a key focus for Dr. Paul Tibbits, executive director of technical integration at the Department of Veterans Affairs. At the HIMSS conference in Orlando, Florida, Tibbits discusses how he sees technology like digital twins and artificial intelligence impacting the health care experience. Tibbits gives a glimpse into what’s ahead with potential for “patient digitial twins” and the opportunities that IT and data modernizat...
Mar 13, 2024•9 min
Open-source data and artificial intelligence are poised to transform the health care landscape. Andrea Fletcher, chief digital strategy officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), aims to leverage and inject human-centered design into these concepts as the agency explores their potential for improving the quality of health care services and keep data secure in heightened threat environments. At HIMSS in Orlando, Florida, Fletcher provides a glimpse into some of the pilots he...
Mar 13, 2024•8 min
Mitigating cross sector risks and recognizing vulnerabilities in the supply chain remain top priorities for the National Risk Management Center (NRMC) at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. NRMC Assistant Director Mona Harrington said the team of experts is responsible for creating realistic and actionable recommendations to manage risk to the global information and communications technology supply chain. Harrington said NRMC also utilizes the Secure Tomorrow Toolkit to help st...
Mar 12, 2024•26 min•Season 6Ep. 4
The Pentagon is undergoing a robust plan to create a foundation for its AI-enabled capabilities that include data infrastructure and management, platforms, processes and, of course, people. Leading this charge is the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO), which is working toward a number of deliverables this year around many of these aspects. CDAO Digital Talent Management Office Chief Angela Cough discusses the ways in which she works across departments and the broader Defense Industrial Base to c...
Mar 05, 2024•28 min•Season 7Ep. 5
The National Cancer Institute is utilizing a host of new technologies to diagnose and detect cancer thanks to its Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) and Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) programs. These programs are developing methods that are enhancing cancer research, including artificial intelligence. Dr. Kelly Crotty, program director for NCI’s Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives, said not only have the programs helped researchers better identify and sc...
Feb 27, 2024•29 min
Partnerships play a critical part of the innovation work across the Defense Department. The complex global threat landscape, in both the kinetic and cybersecurity domains, requires partnerships to solve some of the most pressing national security challenges. Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare Jennifer Edgin discussed at AFCEA West the ways her office is leveraging partnerships, using emerging technology and modernizing its systems.
Feb 15, 2024•9 min
The U.S. Marine Corps is in the middle of modernizing its networks into a single enterprise network to improve identity management and services. The team is upgrading software and hardware to improve latency and cybersecurity, and is leveraging artificial intelligence as part of these modernization plans. At AFCEA West, Shery Thomas, cyber technology officer at the Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, discusses the state of the Marines' network modernization and the ways his teams are ensurin...
Feb 15, 2024•15 min
Metrics are critical to assessing a contract's or program's success in IT procurement at the Navy. Measuring success can be difficult without these clear parameters. Justin Fanelli, acting CTO at the Department of the Navy and technical director at Navy PEO Digital and Enterprise Services, discussed with us at AFCEA West the ways in which the Navy is measuring program success. He said when a program does not work, inertia needs to be fought. "When something moves, we take it down," he said. He a...
Feb 15, 2024•19 min
Leveraging the next generation’s digital skill sets, comfort with technology and innovation is key to the Marine Corps' vision for its future software-savvy workforce. Lt. Col. Charlie Bahk, director of the Marine Corps Software Factory launched last year, tells GovCIO Media and research at AFCEA West that “all you have to do is just kind of get out of the way a little bit.” Bahk also discusses the evolution of the Marine Corps Software Factory as it nears its one-year anniversary, challenges he...
Feb 15, 2024•15 min
The Navy’s systems and data operations exist in a challenging environment that requires strong identity management to secure threats, partnerships across the Defense Department and technology innovation. At AFCEA West, Navy CIO Jane Rathbun discusses how the service is avoiding common pain points in modernization and introducing more structure, data and flexibility. She also highlights how the service is thinking about innovation and mixing traditional with new approaches to stay ahead of the cu...
Feb 14, 2024•19 min
The Defense Department is undergoing largescale modernization efforts that require close attention to building the infrastructure that delivers information quickly, but also securely. Digital transformation in government requires a mindset that considers all aspects of the organization, partners and stakeholders. While at AFCEA West in San Diego, Equinix Senior Director of Segment Marketing for the Americas D.R. Carlson sat down with us to discuss the common pain points organizations experience ...
Feb 14, 2024•9 min
Cyber threats from China have been the subject of recent high-profile Congressional hearings lately. Analyst Jack Corrigan from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) spoke to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Feb. 1 about the risks that Chinese information and communications technology and services (ICTS) have on U.S. national security and critical infrastructure. Corrigan joins CyberCast to break down these threats and what they mean for...
Feb 13, 2024•20 min•Season 6Ep. 3
Last month the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot to encourage AI cooperation and innovation as part of the White House’s executive order to advance AI. The pilot comprises a partnership with 10 federal agencies and 19 industry organizations. Tess deBlanc-Knowles, NSF’s special assistant to the director for AI, joins GovCast to discuss how partnerships strengthen the NAIRR pilot, how it is democratizing access to AI res...
Feb 06, 2024•22 min•Season 7Ep. 5
The White House’s Better Contracting Initiative aims to ensure the federal government is getting the best prices on services through acquisition. The government spent more than $77 billion dollars on federal IT contracting last year, so saving money for government and ultimately taxpayers is among one of the initiative’s top priorities. Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category at the General Service Administration's Federal Acquisition Service, disc...
Jan 30, 2024•20 min•Season 7Ep. 4
President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence requires agencies to name chief artificial intelligence officers (CAIO). Some agencies with longstanding AI experience have named CAIOs, while others are still in the process of naming their officials. Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune and Staff Writer/Researcher Jordan McDonald analyze the state of CAIOs and the future of AI officials.
Jan 17, 2024•15 min•Season 7Ep. 3
The U.S. Digital Corps started out as an idea to help strengthen the federal tech workforce and was borne in August 2021 out of a collaboration between the White House, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services to transform hiring tech talent. Since then, it has placed more than 80 early-career tech and cybersecurity professionals at dozens of agencies through a two-year fellowship program. U.S. Digital Corps ...
Jan 09, 2024•30 min•Season 7Ep. 2
The Department of Homeland Security is developing a new workforce plan to bring in technical talent through initiatives like a new IT Academy. Executive Director of IT Operations Chris Granger discusses how these efforts and more are part of a broader plan at DHS to improve its services make them more equitable and accessible. Granger dives into the agency’s strategic plan for the next four years and how technologies like artificial intelligence will support initiatives to improve the supply cha...
Jan 02, 2024•28 min•Season 7Ep. 1
