Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

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As more parts of our lives “go digital”, the collection of data related to our transactions, interests, and other preferences continues to grow exponentially.

Many commercial enterprises have demonstrated that the ability to manage and even monetize such data provides a powerful competitive advantage. In fact, it’s that principle of Digital Marketing which allows for the delivery of unique personalized experiences for consumers online.  Our health data is no exception.

The health care industry has been criticized for being a laggard when it comes to tapping the wealth of information that’s often locked away in terabytes of stored data, both structured and unstructured, compounding with every insurance claim or provider interaction.  That’s changing, however, as innovative solutions that have modernized industries like travel, financial services, and others are gradually being leveraged throughout the healthcare ecosystem.
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Recently, at the Adobe-sponsored State Healthcare IT Connect Summit, I met with executives from state and federal agencies as well as leaders of private sector health organizations to explore the key role of IT in identifying trends, cutting costs, and saving lives.

Three recurring use cases for transforming this accumulating data into actionable knowledge emerged during our meetings:

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Dissecting the Decision

Yesterday, as the Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a couple caveats were highlighted in the court’s ruling. Regarding the mandate, most people understand the law is economically sustainable only if all citizens participate. The court established that the penalty to be paid by those citizens who refuse to acquire health insurance essentially amounts to a “tax.” Therefore, congress was within its constitutional rights to include such a mandate/tax/penalty in the law.  Although to some it may seem the Supreme Court’s ruling was based partly on semantics, ACA proponents declare it a victory since everyone was previously burdened with the shared costs of caring for the uninsured by way of increasing hospital charges and insurance premiums.

The court also ruled that expansion of Medicaid to offer more citizens health coverage may proceed, but without the ACA stipulation that US states that don’t comply would be denied matching federal funding for their original Medicaid programs. So states may now choose whether to participate in the federally-funded expansion.  Note:  the ACA already included a similar provision (Section 1332: Waiver for State Innovation) that allows for states to opt out so long as they offer citizens the same level of quality care at a cost that is equal to lesser than the ACA, but not until 2017.

Looking Ahead

As focus shifts from the law’s credibility to its timely implementation, Health IT will play a prominent role in the delivery of affordable care to more than 30 million new customers. Many provisions of the ACA rely heavily on IT to raise awareness, determine eligibility, manage payments, improve decision-making, measure quality, and more.
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I recently moderated a two-day conference on Government Health IT in Washington DC where Janet Marchibroda, Health IT Chair at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), spoke on the topic.

To anyone passionate about applying technology to drive transformative change and improve the way we live, this week is shaping up to be a tough one to beat in the public sector. It’s been like receiving a gift-wrapped box of energy, laser focused on government innovation and modernization.

Yesterday, President Obama issued a memorandum to the heads of all US executive departments and agencies calling on them to leverage “technological advances to fundamentally change how they serve their customers.”  

The memo, entitled "Building a 21st Century Digital Government," goes on to explain:

“For far too long, the American people have been forced to navigate a labyrinth of information across different Government programs in order to find the services they need. In addition, at a time when Americans increasingly pay bills and buy tickets on mobile devices, Government services often are not optimized for smartphones or tablets, assuming the services are even available online.”

As a follow-up to Executive Order 13571 (Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service) which he signed in April 2011, the president’s memo also announced the release of a new Government-wide strategy developed to accomplish the monumental goal of enabling “more efficient and coordinated digital service delivery” across all agencies.

Simultaneously, yesterday in New York City at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012, Steven Van Roekel (US Chief Information Officer) and Todd Park (US Chief Technology Officer), launched this landmark initiative to thousands of attendees excited to learn the details.

The comprehensive accompanying strategy, entitled “"Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People", includes a 12-month road map that emphasizes three priority actions:

•  Encouraging agencies to deliver information in new ways that fully utilize the power and potential of mobile and web-based technologies
•  Ensuring the safe and secure delivery and use of digital services to protect information and privacy
•  Requiring all agencies to establish central online resources for outside developers, and to adopt new standards for making applicable Government information open and machine-readable by default

In today’s interconnected global economy, such leadership will likely provide a blueprint for similar international efforts as government enterprises worldwide mobilize to optimize efficiency and offer citizens digital experiences on par with those offered by their private sector counterparts.

To that end, we recently hosted the first annual Adobe Government Assembly (AGA) for Canada. The recent creation of Shared Services Canada, a new agency dedicated to optimizing service delivery, has brought new attention to efforts there to "improve the efficiency of IT services across the Canadian federal government and ensure value for taxpayers' dollars."

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Occasionally, a company may face a disruptive market shift that forces it to adapt in order to remain competitive (think Blockbuster). But seldom does an entire industry experience multiple simultaneous game changers, like those facing the US health insurance market today.

Beyond the looming uncertainty of the Supreme Court’s pending rule on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there are several other seismic catalysts forcing private payers to reevaluate the ways they service their customers.  The most obvious of which is the customers themselves.

Evolving expectations are dictating that companies in most industries shift resources to account for new “always connected” stakeholders. As digital consumers, we have all grown accustomed to conducting business our way, on our terms. And why should the business of healthcare be any different?

When implemented properly, digital marketing aims to identify personal interests and trends and deliver unique experiences that resonate individually with each customer across multiple channels.

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But unlike most other industries, health payers also have a vested interest in education and member outreach (some would argue that it’s actually a responsibility), since the offline lifestyle decisions of their consumers directly impact their bottom line. In a nutshell, acute medical emergencies are much more expensive than regular preventative health maintenance.

Additionally, the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provision of the ACA stipulates that insurers shall spend at least 80-85% of their premium income on healthcare claims and quality improvement activities.  That leaves 15-20% for administrative expenses, including marketing.  In fact, it is estimated that private payers who fail to comply will issue consumer rebates totaling over $1 billion by August. So, now more than ever, it is imperative for payers to internally optimize efficiencies and develop effective marketing strategies that deliver measurable results.

In the long run, these changes are expected to result in affordable care for a healthier population. And as other provisions of the ACA significantly expand the pool of new customers for health insurers, the most successful organizations will be those who effectively navigate the changing landscape to build relationships with their customers, rather than continuing to simply facilitate transactions.

Tell us what you think. Drop us a line anytime on Twitter @AdobeGov and @AdobeDigMktg.

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Adobe Government Assembly (AGA) is our premier corporate event to demonstrate commitment to the US Public Sector community, announce product launches/pipeline, and highlight collaborative successes with our partners across the country in federal, state, and local markets.

This year, with speakers, panelists, and customers representing almost every segment of the US Public Sector, the 2012 AGA in Washington DC proved to be a dynamic forum for exploring trends that are clearly driving the federal government’s innovative technology agenda, including ‘cloud-first’ policies, Analytics for Measuring Agency Performance, data center consolidation initiatives, and Mobile Government.

AGA session tracks were designed around the following three pillars of relevant challenges that government agencies face day-to-day as well: engaging communities through new technologies, achieving efficiencies during a time of significant budget constraints, and the threat paradigm of data security.

For example, I spoke on a popular panel that delved into the topic of improving agency efficiencies by automating mission-critical business processes.  John Montel, a co-panelist from the US Department of the Interior, detailed how DOI recently implemented Adobe solutions to modernize ways citizens interact with his agency.

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Private sector
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Combining several of my favorite topics, including healthcare and technology, the 2012 HIMSS Conference and Exhibition continued its streak of record-breaking attendance with a final count of just over 37,000 like-minded attendees last month in Las Vegas.

Demonstrated even today, as the US Supreme Court begins to hear arguments on the Affordable Care Act, this past year has brought a relentless pace of change throughout the healthcare ecosystem. However, since most stakeholders agree that Health IT can save lives, improve the experience of care, and reduce costs, HIMSS provided a welcomed opportunity for stakeholders from all segments to come together, learn and share. But then they took it a step further by indulging specific interests within those broad topics.

For example, is Social your thing?  “There’s a pavilion for that.”

Interested in business trends and policy updates within the federal government? “Here’s your workshop.”

Responsible for improving clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness?  “Check out the Intelligent Hospital Pavilion”

Driving efficiency through medical device connectivity? “The Interoperability Showcase is for you.”

I could go on, but let’s just say this was one of those weeks that I particularly loved my job. It was simply MU-tiful (sorry, -inside joke for my fellow health IT geeks).

And it was especially rewarding to highlight the significant role Adobe technologies played in many of the featured products and solutions at the world’s largest Health IT conference.

Public sector
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Healthcare agencies, payers, providers, and partners worldwide trust Adobe to securely drive customer engagement, optimize workflow efficiencies, and measure overall effectiveness.  And HIMSS is always a great place for us to demonstrate our commitment to them, and to just say thank you.

Drop us a line anytime on Twitter @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM.

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A funny thing is happening on the way to health reform; the business of healthcare in the US is gradually coming of age. Although not without its share of trials and challenges, a developing trend of comprehensive outcomes-based models are now shedding light on age-old issues like care delivery and payment structures.
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These new “shared savings” models, which in the most basic explanations are simplified as “pay for treatment quality vs. quantity,” aim to motivate providers who voluntarily differentiate themselves by shifting focus to improving patient care while reducing avoidable costs over time, and away from being solely incentivized on a fee-for-service basis. The models, including Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMH), and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), offer the potential for transformational change through connected health. They each subscribe to the concept that coordination of all available resources will keep the patient as healthy as possible while significantly bolstering efficiency and strengthening the physician-patient relationship

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Whether it’s for telework, town hall meetings, e-learning, telemedicine, continuity of operations, or mission critical collaboration, many civilian and military agencies rely on Adobe Connect.  To learn what’s to come in 2012 for this best-in-class solution, we had the opportunity to talk with Guillaume Privat, Director of our Adobe Connect business.

Q: 2011 saw several large government agencies adopt Adobe Connect or expand their deployment. What can you tell us about the plans for the solution in 2012?

A: In 2011, we rolled out Adobe Connect 8, which focused on ease of use and the ability for users to access their meetings, webinars or virtual classrooms on any smartphone or tablet.  2012 will the year of Adobe Connect 9.  We recently announced we were opening up the beta for Adobe Connect 9. We looked at how our customers are using the product and it’s clear that ‘screen sharing’ is not enough.  They are looking for solutions to their business problems.  How can they train faster and measure the effectiveness of that training?  How effective are their town hall meetings or citizen outreach campaigns?  Should they spend more or less money on these activities?  The focus for the future release is to create these end-to-end solutions that will help government organizations measure and report on productivity gains or cost savings.

Q: Are you going to continue your focus on mobile?

Please join Adobe for its annual Adobe Government Assembly, February 8th, at the National Press Club.

The AGA is a forum for federal, state and local IT, acquisition and security professionals to discuss strategies and actionable tactics for meeting today’s challenges and revolutionizing tomorrow’s government operations. You’ll hear from public sector leaders and industry experts on the key issues of advancing citizen engagement, implementing innovative technologies and protecting critical information.

Keynote speakers include GSA’s David McClure, Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, and best-selling author Peter Sims.

Click here to register.

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Health Reform, Medicare funding, economic matters, illegal immigration, national defense, foreign policy, and the list goes on…

There is no shortage of issues for American voters to consider when casting their ballots in this year’s presidential election. In fact, all the candidates (including the president himself) have been working hard to ensure their positions are clear and their messages resonate as they plead their cases to be commander-in-chief for the next four years.

However, campaign speeches and heated debate performances sometimes contain rhetoric that is sprinkled with embellishments and vague inaccuracies. Regardless of political affiliation, most people agree that it’s impossible to make educated decisions without fact-based research.

To help weed through the maze of politicians’ attention grabbing sound bites and unsubstantiated claims, countless voters have turned to PolitiFact, a non-partisan journalistic organization whose mission is to use the Web to help citizens “find the truth in politics.”

Since winning the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2009, PolitiFact has surged in popularity. In turn, they looked to Adobe technologies to extend their online reach and enlighten the masses through data visualization and an engaging mobile experience for iOS, Android, and the Blackberry Tablet OS.

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“The new PolitiFact Mobile app repackages our extremely rich data to present it in creative and helpful ways,” says Bill Adair Editor, PolitiFact, and Washington bureau chief, St. Petersburg Times.

And in June 2011, PolitiFact was named the #1 news app in the iTunes store; proof that more than ever, in the hands of the people (across multiple digital channels), knowledge is power.

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