Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

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 that the health insurance market faces today in the US.

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 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 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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Other AGA highlights included an insightful keynote presentation from LtCol Greg Reeder, Director of Marine Corps production for the US Marines, in which he demonstrated how the Marine Corps is leveraging Adobe technologies for apps that engage a new generation of service members, veterans, and prospective recruits.

From policy makers to agency executives, AGA 2012 offered something for everyone involved in government technology. We offer our sincere appreciation to all customers, partners, and attendees who made AGA 2012 the best one yet. And based on the incredible feedback, we’re already looking forward to repeating our success next month in Ottawa at the 2012 Canadian AGA.  See you there!

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Scroll to see the full US AGA 2012 agenda and links to several of the event’s most popular sessions:

Track 1: Engaging Communities – The Soldier, the Veteran, the Citizen

Connecting with citizens, soldiers and constituents is no longer about connecting anything – not telephones, computers or even devices. As federal agencies integrate new technologies like mobility and web analytics into the fabric of their infrastructure, they are breaking past the old paradigms of communication to reach people wherever they are – connecting the mission to those that make it happen.

Session 1-1: The Next-Generation Mobile Government Experience Part II

Session 1-2: Measuring Agency Online Presence to Improve the End User Experience

Track 2: Achieving Agency Efficiency

With the federal government facing unprecedented budget strains, the call to “do more with less” is becoming deafening. As the prospect of cuts accelerates, agencies are now turning to technology to bridge the gaps. New tools are enabling collaboration on an unprecedented scale, from the desktop to the battlefield, while advances in areas like training are redefining how agencies prepare their employees for the future. But these developments are not limited to internal stakeholders; citizens are reaping the benefits of more efficient data processing and forms management, cutting out the time and the paperwork that stands between them and efficient delivery of services. The sessions in this track will explore this new definition of efficiency and how significant savings can result from real performance improvements.

Session 2-1: Bridging the Divide: Collaboration and Training

Session 2-2: Reforming Forms: Accelerating Agency Performance with Data Management

Track 3: Content-Centric Security – Defining the Next Threat Paradigm

Securing information has always been a mission of government, but keeping data behind lock and key no longer cuts it. The value of information is now defined as much by how it’s exchanged as where it’s locked away. That’s why sharing information securely – across the agency, across the government or even across the world – and ad hoc analysis to identify a particular threat, have emerged as the most critical elements of today’s security challenge.

Session 3-1: Unknown Unknowns – A New Class of Analytics

Session 3-2: IT Security is Who You Are, Not Where You Are

Re-visit the most popular sessions. To see the full archived videos, log in as a guest:

• Leveraging Digital Media
• Content-level Security
• Analytics 2.0
• Performance-Enhancing Data Management
• Mobile Government
• Maximizing Online Presence

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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.

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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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The ACO model, for example, establishes a team of primary care physicians, specialists, and hospitals that ensure patients receive the right care at the right time while reducing acute episodes, avoiding unnecessary duplication of services, and preventing medical errors that often result from miscommunication between providers. Then, any resulting savings are shared among each of the participants, so long as pre-established benchmarks for quality are achieved.

In order to deliver such measurable results, however, it is imperative that all stakeholders share clinical and case management data for better informed decision making. Coordination of comprehensive healthcare services across the care continuum, particularly for chronically ill patients, must also be implemented.  To that end, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 authorizes Medicare to contract with ACOs in a Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Adobe recently sponsored the 2012 Accountable Care and Health IT Summit in Miami to facilitate open dialogue and explore the technology requirements for delivering on such an innovative concept.

The summit provided a dynamic forum for policy makers, leading Health IT strategists, and ACO early adopters to share critical insights into the process automation and integration of clinical documentation, financial systems, and payment workflows across multiple digital channels.

We extend thanks to all who attended and contributed to making the summit an overwhelming success.  As always, we’re interested in your perspective.  Tell us how your agency or organization is preparing for the era of Accountable Care.

Drop us a line on Twitter at @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM, or on Facebook.

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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?

A: Yes, a key value proposition of Adobe Connect is its ease of access from virtually any device.  With Adobe Connect Mobile 1.7 released last fall, we offered the ability not only to attend meetings from mobile devices, but also to host meetings, webinars or virtual classrooms on iOS devices, Android and Blackberry PlayBook.  Along with the Adobe Connect 9 beta, we also launched the beta of our mobile applications version 2.0, which will push the envelope even further.

Q: In November 2011, Adobe announced some major strategic decisions that will focus the business on opportunities in Digital Media and Digital Marketing.  How does this impact the Adobe Connect business?

A: As I communicated in my blog post in November, we’ll be providing even more focus with Adobe Connect on key vertical markets like Government.  Otherwise, the main changes to the business were with our commercial go-to market, which we’ve organized to be channel centric.  Our agility to innovate and to release new versions of the product remains.  What our customers can expect is to see more innovation, such as leveraging unique capabilities from our Digital Marketing Suite for reporting and analytics or Web Content Management.

Q: Can you tell me more about Adobe Connect’s focus on government?

A: Over the years we have built a unique ecosystem of resellers and solution partners that work alongside our direct sales and support team to ensure the success of each of our customers. This ecosystem enables government to have the flexibility to purchase an off-the shelf-product but customize it quickly to meet unique requirements they may have, like FISMA compliance.  As the product continues to evolve, we are paying close attention to some of the challenges government organizations face in order to secure the private information of citizens.  We offer each of our government customers the choice to host their solution in a public cloud, in a private cloud, or behind their own firewall.  This choice of deployment options is unique to Adobe Connect, and designed to balance the government agencies’ budget constraints with their security and confidentiality mandates.

How do you Connect? Let us know on Twitter @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM, or on Facebook.

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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With each New Year, there is a propensity to want to leave the past behind us. Resolutions to start anew are often key drivers behind seasonal surges in new gym memberships and other short lived self-improvement initiatives.

Enterprises typically seize the beginning of a new cycle to re-invent themselves as well. However, regardless of the reason for the fresh start, forward-thinking leaders find ways to harvest lessons learned and relationships established in the past, and leverage them as they plan for the future.

With the emergence of a robust digital ecosystem, including social networking, mobile devices, and cloud computing, that’s now easier than ever to achieve. But sustainable results still require an innovative enterprise platform and an adaptive strategy.

Before the holidays, I was invited to participate as a panelist at the 2011 Government Mobility Forum in Washington DC. The theme was “Revolutionizing Agency Communications and Citizen Service” and the keynote was delivered by Phil Simon, best-selling author of “The Age of the Platform.” Afterward, we explored ways that technology may be deployed to extend the reach of personalized interactions, thereby providing incremental value with every touch point for the customer, citizen, or patient.

See full encore video here.

Digital communications strategy is at the heart of efforts to modernize user experiences throughout the public sector in North America and worldwide.

From mass transit agencies that deploy mobile apps for keeping commuters updated in real-time, to healthcare agencies that facilitate provider collaboration with online access to health records, Adobe Digital Government Solutions are driving the transformation in many cases.

In fact, last week from Washington DC, President Obama remotely addressed over 25,000 constituents at multiple caucus sites in Iowa by using Adobe Connect and Connect Mobile, our best-in-class web conferencing solutions that are also trusted globally by the US Department of Defense.

So for 2012, consider a resolution of improved engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness. You’ll be in great company, and no spandex is required.

What’s your digital resolution?

Let us know on Twitter @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM, or on Facebook.

Relationships between health payers and their provider networks have traditionally been complex on multiple levels. Until recently, such complexity was often apparent from the very start of each relationship, as tenuous onboarding processes forced new network providers to wait weeks before treating their first patients. Meanwhile, contractual agreements and related documents bounced back and forth for updates, approvals, and signatures.

However, this costly bottleneck has now been completely removed for many leading health payers as they launch solutions powered by Adobe EchoSign, a disruptive cloud-based technology for electronic signatures and contract management.

Since acquiring EchoSign, we have seamlessly integrated this pioneering solution into the Adobe document exchange services platform, including the ubiquitous Adobe Reader and newly launched iPad app, for securely providing universal service access while satisfying rigorous compliance requirements.

Impressive results throughout the global health payer community have been garnering attention in the public sector too, as Medicaid agencies and others face workflow challenges similar to their commercial counterparts.

At Aetna, where the average contract processing time was decreased from three weeks to one day, three-quarters of all contractual transactions with providers are now electronic. Additionally, Aetna has significantly reduced its carbon footprint, as well as costs associated with postage and paper. These changes helped Aetna earn the 2011 InfoWorld Green 15 Award, presented by International Data Group (IDG).

“As a health care benefits company, we also are focused on creating a healthy environment. Our paperless contracting is one way we are advancing this mission,” said Carl King, head of National Networks and Contracting Services for Aetna.

At Cigna, average onboarding times for new physicians and small practices have been cut in half. As their expansive provider network continues to grow at a rate of over 20,000 new providers per year, over a million pages of contracts are efficiently managed digitally with the auditable Adobe EchoSign solution.

“Electronic contracting expedites the overall contracting process for physicians and enables Cigna to more quickly add physicians to its growing network,” said Cigna’s Julie Vayer, Vice President, Health Care Professional Solutions.

At the end of the day, electronic contract management isn’t about placing the image of a signature into a document. Instead, it’s about driving business results by facilitating transactions anyplace the customer may be, in as close to real time as practical.

And as Adobe responds to dynamic market needs with comprehensive digital media and digital marketing solutions that grow relationships, we are committed to making it easier for our customers to provide optimal experiences for their customers, on their terms.

I guess you could call it a sign of the times.

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Although most of us mindlessly take it for granted, Internet access in the US is by no means ubiquitous. However, the dynamic mainstream adoption of smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices has helped to drive irrefutable progress among rural residents and underserved populations.

By literally placing the power of the web into the pockets of many citizens for the first time, mobile devices empower these segments with a surge of newfound access to unlimited information (cell tower coverage and data plans permitting).

However, a closer look reveals a new challenge, as mobile devices are often the only gateway to the Internet for many of these new users. Despite the significant advancements they represent, these devices will not realize their full potential until enterprises, like government agencies and other organizations, deliver consistent experiences for meaningful business processes and human services across these channels – from start to finish.

For example, imagine what it would be like to exclusively use a cell phone to conduct an exhaustive job search… then actually write and submit a resume on the same device.

Or maybe you need to research and compare your options for health benefits and other social services… then actually select a plan and submit multiple forms of information to enroll a family of five.

In most cases, these simple tasks would be difficult to say the least on a mobile device.  But they don’t have to be; technologies exist today that can extend robust Internet experiences through these channels and then measure their effectiveness.

This new digital divide, which also includes the lack of universal broadband availability (an issue that deserves a posting of its own), was among the topics covered as I recently addressed tribal leaders and executives on tribal health IT at the 12^th annual Tribalnet conference in Scottsdale, AZ.

This year’s theme was Bringing Technology and Tribes Together, and that was comprehensively explored throughout the three conference tracks offered: IT Governance, Tribal Health, and Virtualization.

As some Tribalnet attendees prepared to also attend the upcoming White House Tribal Nations Conference to continue these important discussions, I was reminded of our government’s commitment to these issues. Regarding improved service in tribal lands, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, recently commented “Our actions will further empower native nations to access and use the latest technologies to grow their businesses, increase their access to quality health care and education, reach 911 during emergencies and receive public alerts and warnings.”

And while this level of attention to such a vital lifeline for so many is commendable, I am personally hopeful that we won’t stop there to ensure that meaningful access eventually becomes a mindless afterthought for everyone.

Let us know what you think on Twitter @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM, or on Facebook.