Government Bits

Tracking how technology is transforming interaction between governments and citizens.

South By Southwest Interactive (SXSW) began nearly 20 years ago as an annual music festival in Austin, Texas. The event has since evolved into an incubator for all things digital, now featuring five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, exciting networking events hosted by industry leaders and an unbeatable line up of special programs showcasing the best new web technologies, video advancements and startup ideas the “interactive” community has to offer.

From hands-on training to a big-picture analysis of the future, SXSW has become the place for thousands of attendees to experience a preview of what is unfolding throughout the world of technology. In fact, Twitter and Foursquare both gained initial traction at SXSW in years past.

As public sector enterprises aggressively strive to offer citizens and inter-agency customers a digital experience that rivals that of their private sector counterparts, events like SXSW are becoming more relevant to them as well.

.

.
We recently hosted the daylong Adobe Creative Camp onsite at SXSW 2012 to delve into a long list of trending hot topics from web-to-mobile development, to providing sneak peeks at the next generation of Adobe creative solutions.

If you were unable to join us, check out the following links for a sample of what you missed…

The Future of HTML5 Motion Design

HTML5 and CSS3 are hot, driven by an explosion of new, Internet connected devices. While they offer many new features that should allow you to do the types of things that you previously did in Flash, actually making it happen is really hard. Until now.

The Page Is Dead: Responding to the Responsive Web

Responsive Web design is changing the definition of a “page,” as it aims to address the growing variety of device form factors and locations where content is consumed. Additionally, as the Web evolves, rules and limitations must be better understood in order to create truly unique content. This session focused on design philosophy and development techniques to create and adapt your content for maximum impact, regardless of where and how it is consumed.

Boost Your Mobile Workflow with Adobe's Newest Product

Provided a Sneak Peek at Adobe Shadow, a new inspection and preview tool allowing front-end web developers and designers to work faster by streamlining the preview process, making it easier to customize websites for mobile devices.

We'd like to thank everyone who joined us in Austin, and ask how you will apply any of the technologies you learned about at SXSW. Let us know on Twitter at @AdobeGov and @AdobeCEM, or on Facebook.

.

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.
.
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.
.
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.

At Adobe, we are inspired by purpose-driven creativity. Through our technologies, software, and business practices, every day we enable millions of people across the globe to change the world around them for the better, regardless of the industry in which they work.

The above video is an excerpt from a larger “Behind the Splash Screen” video series on Adobe TV that focuses on one member of the core Photoshop engineering team, John Penn II, and his shifting of career focus from core product development to one of cooperation, dialogue and assistance to the US Law Enforcement community. John specifically represents Adobe with agencies like NCMEC and ICAC that work tirelessly to safeguard children from predation and exploitation in the real and digital domains, working closely with imaging, intelligence, investigative and forensics experts across State, Federal and International boundaries to understand and bolster their unique workflows, challenges and needs.

As a father of three small children who are utterly immersed in mobile, networked, “always-on” digital technologies, I certainly perceive the demand for Law Enforcement agencies to stay “up to date” on the latest technological threats to families and communities, especially when it comes to child exploitation, and to continue a high level of dialogue with industry leaders, like Adobe, whose tools and technologies form a critical part of the arsenal. I am extremely proud to count John Penn as an Adobe colleague, a friend, and someone who is helping secure and safeguard the next generation of digital citizens.

.

.

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.

.
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.

.

.

“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.

.

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.

.

I was recently invited to participate on a roundtable panel of thought leaders from government, business, and academia at the 2011 Annual Conference in Annapolis, hosted by the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus. Collectively, we explored a broad range of topics related to industries that are driving the state’s economy, namely biotech, cyber security, information technology, and healthcare. We agreed that these industries all intersect, in one way or another, as Maryland implements components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Health Reform.

A primary goal of health reform is to improve overall status and quality of care by achieving health equity and eliminating disparities, particularly in the African American community.

Designed to reduce the estimated $60 billion spent annually on direct health care expenditures, in part due to existing disparities, PPACA aims to make health services more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans. However, successful implementation will require important tactical considerations, including educational outreach and local economic infrastructure, which are often muted by theoretical partisan debate.

In order for any government program to deliver valuable services, citizens must first know that they exist and understand the relative value. For example, as a result of PPACA, commercial health plans now cover many immunization and preventive services without charging a deductible, co-pay, or co-insurance. Included are wellness services like screenings for cardiovascular disease, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and more.

Additionally, the national Medicare “donut hole” shrank last year by an average of 40% for elderly and disabled citizens. The donut hole refers to a gap in benefits coverage where seniors incur substantial costs as they pay for prescription medications 100% out-of-pocket after standard Medicare drug benefits have been exhausted, but before catastrophic coverage kicks in. By 2020, in accordance with the PPACA, the Medicare “donut hole” gap will be completely phased out.

To raise awareness of these and other benefits, I proposed that state leaders employ innovative resources, like social media and other dynamic online forums, in conjunction with conventional methods, like town hall meetings such as those at the conference, to spread the word. These same tactics, along with powerful data analytics, should be deployed to measure the effectiveness of other program components as well.

Advocacy also plays a big part in health reform, particularly as it relates to the rate of community adoption during implementation. Navigators, or certified individuals who provide health benefits education, will play a critical role in assisting underserved populations with enrollment in qualified plans and escalation of grievances. To that end, health IT solutions like Health Insurance Exchanges (HIX) that improve access for citizens must also include provisions for navigators to securely act on behalf of authenticated applicants in the exchange.

Among the invited attendees at the conference were select college students who were concerned about employment prospects as they prepare to enter the state’s workforce, as well as other constituents interested in the local economic aspects of health reform and other state initiatives. Christian Johansson, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, was on hand to review the state’s strategic plans to facilitate job creation and empowerment by driving sustainability in high growth industries like healthcare and IT.

Overall, the annual conference was an overwhelming success as it accomplished the simple but powerful goal of its organizers to increase engagement, dialogue, and meaningful interactions between the state’s business leaders, policy makers and the people they serve. I was proud to represent Adobe there and I look forward to similar opportunities in the future.

.

.

As the fifth annual Health 2.0 conference recently kicked off in San Francisco, the vibe was electric and incestuously contagious; I felt it more with every interaction there.  The event, which focuses exclusively on celebrating innovations in health IT, continued its tradition of generating more buzz and excitement than the year before.  Just as impressive, though, was the humbling sense of community and shared purpose as evidenced by the launch of Health 2.0 MatchPoint, a program dedicated to matching young innovators with established organizations. Mark Smith, President and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation, expounded on the significance of the matching concept in his spirited keynote remarks.

Form new start-ups to household names like Adobe;  from public sector agencies to publically traded corporations, the diverse “Health 2.0” entities that were represented each embodied three common elements, according to conference co-founders Matthew Holt and Indu Subaiya.

Those elements included (1) use of adaptable technology that integrates with the wider cloud and “unplatform” ecosystem, (2) a staunch focus on the user experience through design and usability, and (3) use of data to drive outcomes that improve health care through lowering cost, improving efficiency and improving intelligent decision-making.

On behalf of Adobe, I had the privilege of announcing the Innovation Showcase, featuring this year’s winners of the Health 2.0 Developers Challenge. The session was particularly special for me since I had the honor of standing on the same stage a year ago to accept the Developers Challenge Award for Adobe’s Blue Button solution for electronic health records at the US Veterans Administration (VA).

Since last year’s win, Adobe has been working closely with our partner community to nurture innovation throughout the healthcare ecosystem. During this year’s conference, I caught up with a couple such partners who leverage Adobe technologies as part of their own solutions.

CareCloud, a provider of cloud-based practice management and medical records solutions, incorporates Adobe technologies into their revolutionary Central product suite. CareCloud Central simplifies administrative processes like billing and insurance eligibility so that physicians in private practice can focus more on delivering patient care and improving outcomes.

.

Videum, a joint venture between Publicis Healthware International (PHI) and dotSUB with a planned launch in early 2012, leverages Adobe technology to offer global users the ability to share, search, and view video with healthcare content – in any language.  Such a game-changing portal, according to the press release, will provide a cost-effective solution for global healthcare communications using video online while providing unparalleled, universal access to content.

Overall, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that Matt Holder and Indu Subaiya expressed in their welcoming statement, “Health care is everyone’s business and it is ultimately a vital and personal journey for all of us.”   I may be a little biased, but I cannot think of any better area to focus all our innovative resources than that of progressing the way we individually experience healthcare from own unique perspectives.

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