Government & Policy

This week's top stories include Verily beefing up its clinical trial platform, President Biden pushing for lower drug prices in his $3.5 trillion budget proposal, and the launch of the Teleprimary Care Certificate program.

HIMSS Senior VP of Government Relations Tom Leary discusses a wide range of topics at HIMSS21, including Patient ID Now, pandemic response and the telehealth cliff.

The Indiana Department of Health said this week that it was notifying almost 750,000 Hoosiers after a company "improperly accessed" the data from the state's COVID-19 online contact tracing survey.

The consulting firm told Healthcare IT News that the incident had no impact on its operations or on its clients' systems.

The agency determined that its internally developed Resource and Patient Management System would not be sustainable in the long term.

The two former governors – one running again – had lots to say about COVID-19 crisis response, vaccine hesitancy, Medicaid expansion, hospital staffing shortages and other healthcare challenges.

National Coordinator for Health IT Micky Tripathi and Dr. Daniel Jernigan, acting deputy director for public health science and surveillance at the CDC, say it's vital to overcome data-sharing barriers.

The national coordinator for health IT laid out some of ONC's priorities under the Biden-Harris administration and explained why he thinks "info blocking" needs a rename.

Also, Australian health IT provider Healthsite adds Tyro's payment service to its online booking system.

Rhode Island Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy and Florida Sen. Gayle Harrell explained the role virtual care has played in their states during COVID-19.