MaSSSoftech

Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Thursday will formally announce the application process for $1.2 billion in grants to help expand the nation's electronic medical records system.

The funding, included in the $787 billion economic stimulus, comes as the vice president campaigns for a legislative health insurance overhaul at a roundtable discussion at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago. He and Sebelius will be joined by David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health information technology.

It's one of two administration events this week to highlight the efficiencies of electronic medical records, something concrete Democrats can point to as they promote their call for broader changes to the nation's health care system. A second event is scheduled for Friday in Ohio.

The grants include $598 million to establish 70 Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers to help hospitals and clinicians, and $564 million to help states improve information sharing.

Biden, in a statement, said by expanding the use of electronic health records, "We are making health care safer; we're making it more efficient; we're making you healthier; and we're saving money along the way." Biden also will attend a fundraiser to stump for Rep. Debbie Halvorson, a freshman Democrat from Illinois.

A panel of educators and experts told the Federal Communications Commission today that its E-Rate program will need a lot more money to succeed in hooking more schools up with broadband connections.
Speaking today as part of the FCC?s series of hearings on developing a national broadband plan, the panel praised E-Rate for giving more schools and libraries across the United States access to telecommunications services. However, they noted that the program?s annual funding cap of $2.25 billion has gone unchanged since its inception last decade. Sheryl Abshire, the Chief Technology Officer for the Calcasieu Parish School System in Lake Charles, Louisiana, recommended raising the E-Rate cap to roughly $4 billion a year to give schools and libraries the ability to invest in more high-speed broadband equipment.

?The E-Rate program should have a major role in the forthcoming broadband plan,? she said. ?With more funding the program will deliver broadband to schools and libraries.?

Carrie Lowe, a director at the Office of Information Technology Policy for the American Library Association, also praised E-Rate for helping libraries across the country gain access to more telecommunications services, as she noted that ?65% of public libraries have benefitted from E-Rate? and that ?without E-Rate there?s no way libraries could achieve the level of success they have today.? However, Lowe seconded Abshire?s suggestion that the FCC raise the annual cap to help schools and libraries invest more in information technology.

Tom Greaves, the chairman of the Greaves Group consulting firm that specializes in school technology adoption, said that his group conducted a survey showing that while the E-Rate program had indeed helped schools and libraries purchase telecom services, it could be doing a lot more. For instance, he said that 54% of the schools surveyed said that they won?t be able to get enough money to effectively expand their broadband capabilities. 34% of schools surveyed said that even if had sufficient money to purchase broadband services, they wouldn?t get them because they aren?t yet available in their area.

A recent report issued by the Government Accountability Office backs up the panelists? claims that E-Rate is currently lagging behind where it should be in terms of both funding and school participation. However, the GAO said that the program?s funding problems weren?t merely that it doled out too little money, but that it didn?t efficiently disperse the funds that it allocated.

In a wide-ranging review of the program, the GAO found that only around 63% of the estimated 150,000 eligible schools and libraries have taken advantage of the program. There is a very sharp divide in the participation rate between public and private schools, as 83% of eligible public schools utilize the program vs. 13% of eligible private schools. Additionally, the report found that only half of eligible library systems participate in the program and that less than a third of eligible library branches utilize it.

Moving beyond the participation rate, the GAO said that the program has significant troubles with efficiently dispersing the funds it allocates. The GAO's review of E-Rate funding finds that more than one quarter of the $19.5 billion committed to schools and libraries between 1998 and 2006 were not paid out. In 2006, a full 35% of participants received less than 75% of the funds they were allocated through the program, and 9% of the schools and libraries didn't receive any of the funds they were allocated.

The two major reasons for these unused funds, says the GAO, are that participants overbudgeted their needs and applied for more money than necessary and that participants sometimes did not seek reimbursement for the full amounts of their expenses. These unused funds are a problem, the GAO argues, because it means vastly less funding for routers, switches and other technologies that help improve Web connectivity.

Original story - www.networkworld.com/nwlookup.jsp?rid=183554

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/08/20/urnidgns852573C4006938800025761800790659.DTL#ixzz0Ovzhx9PV

The Obama administration unveiled $1.2 billion in federal grants for electronic health records systems on Thursday, the first wave of funding under a health-care reform plan to create vast records-sharing networks aimed at cutting costs and improving care in the coming decade.

Local employers are heaping praise on the expansion of health information technology to be financed by pending national health care reform legislation.

That doesn’t quite compute: The bills being debated call for little health IT expansion beyond a proposed online marketplace to shop for plans. Still, employers that think health IT will drive any successful reform effort can stay juiced. It’s just that health IT’s multibillion-dollar jolt will come from another source.

“The significant investment in HIT was made through the stimulus bill,” said Robin McClean, a government relations specialist for Cerner Corp., a Kansas City-based vendor dedicated to taking the clipboard out of medicine.

Business views the electronic patient chart as a long overdue no-brainer, and reform advocates tout it as a cost-cutting offset to pricey reforms. But initially, health IT expansion won’t come cheap. The federal stimulus act President Obama signed in February provides nearly $54 billion for it, McClean said.

That includes about $35 billion for temporary Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement bonuses for providers who demonstrate “meaningful use” of health IT, she said. Scheduled to begin in 2011, the payment bonuses will total as much as $64,000 a physician and as much as $11 million a hospital.

Reform advocates hope the incentives — and eventual penalties for those who don’t meet the yet-to-be-released meaningful-use standards — will make interoperable electronic medical record systems standard by 2014.

They say that will lead to huge health care cost savings. But the savings remain hard to quantify outside of studies conducted to encourage government spending on health IT.

In 2005, a RAND Corp. study partly financed by Cerner found that widespread adoption of electronic medical record systems could save the U.S. system $81 billion to $162 billion a year.

Two years later, The University of Kansas Hospital began installing an electronic medical record system with a five-year capital and operating cost of $51 million. Installation is expected to be done next year, when a computerized physician order-entry system will be rolled out, allowing 950-plus doctors, residents and students to enter orders electronically. But Chris Hansen, KU Hospital’s chief information officer, still can’t quote expected returns on investment.

Judging from progress reports from the federal committee developing the meaningful-use standards, Hansen said, he’s confident KU Hospital’s electronic medical record system will qualify the institution for reimbursement bonuses.

“But if we spent $51 million and get $11 million back (in bonuses) — that’s not an ROI I would take to the board,” Hansen said. “I’m not even sure the system will save us money (in the short term). But I think it will provide additional data that will position us better to save money in the future.”

Lori Mallory, CEO of Kansas City Internal Medicine, said the practice installed an electronic health record system from Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. five years ago. Mallory was not able to quantify a return on investment, either.

But “there are cost savings,” she said, noting the reductions in space needs, staff time and duplicate tests that electronic records make possible.

Other savings are expected to accrue long-term from improvements in care quality facilitated by electronic records. Mallory said that one of those improvements is e-prescribing, which eliminates errors in interpreting doctors’ handwriting and allows the practice to identify and alert patients taking recalled drugs.

The Allscripts system also allows Kansas City Internal Medicine to improve care, and presumably reduce the cost of care, for patients with chronic conditions. For instance, Mallory said, the system allows the practice “to identify patients who may have uncontrolled diabetes and develop a proactive patient outreach plan to bring them back in to better manage their chronic condition, which is truly wonderful.”

Bill Bruning, CEO of the Mid-America Coalition on Health Care, said the large, savvy employers the organization represents know that savings also can result from employees getting more engaged in their health through electronic access to their charts and online wellness programs. For employers that self-insure, reductions in employee claims result in direct and immediate savings, he said.

“Over time, there will be a clear return coming out of electronic records that can be exchanged among providers,” Bruning said. “But it’s unclear how long it will take and to whom the benefits will most directly accrue.”

Dr. John Yeast, vice president of medical affairs for Saint Luke’s Hospital, was also short of ROI statistics. But he said there’s little question that increased spending on health IT will lead to big long-term savings through the improvements in how providers are paid and how they treat patients.

Computerized physician order entry, for instance, uses embedded alerts to advise doctors when they are varying from agreed-upon evidence-based treatment protocols. Those protocols will continue to be refined as widespread use of electronic records delivers megadoses of new outcomes data that can be aggregated and mined by medical researchers.

Toward that end, Cerner’s McClean said, the stimulus act includes $10 billion for health IT research by the National Institutes of Health, plus $1.1 billion for evidence-based research.

In addition, Yeast said, health IT expansion should help facilitate a shift away from the current fee-for-service payments, in which doctors have an incentive to order more visits and procedures.

Yeast envisions a new world in which electronic systems track — and providers get paid for — things such as e-visits, medication management and condition tracking that improve quality and minimize costs.
What are electronic medical records, and how do they cut costs?

Electronic medical records are the computer-generated records that care providers use to collect and store data about patients and their medical histories.

Electronic health records are subsets of EMRs that are owned by the patient and accessible by multiple providers via some type of health information network.

Here are some of the ways electronic record systems can cut health care costs:

• Systems that require computerized physician order entry include embedded alerts and protocols that help providers make the best care decisions. This can minimize lengths of stay, complications and readmissions.

• In the future, proof that doctors have followed evidence-based protocols accessible through EMR systems may be considered grounds for avoiding or minimizing malpractice claims. This will reduce costs associated with “defensive medicine.”

• Medication data stored in the records can prevent adverse drug-drug, drug-lab and drug-allergy interactions.

• E-prescribing prevents errors in interpreting handwriting and allows patients who are taking recalled drugs to be identified and alerted.

• Care for patient populations with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, can be tracked electronically, allowing doctors to notify patients who have missed a recommended test or procedure. This can prevent complications and higher-cost procedures such as amputations.

• EMR systems allow providers to mine outcomes data to show they have met various quality measures. Government and private payers are increasingly using such metrics to justify differentials in payments to providers.

• By following patients to multiple points of care, electronic records prevent one provider from ordering a test that has just been administered by another provider.

• Costs associated with transcribing a doctor’s notes, and filing and storing paper documents can be eliminated.

• Widespread EMR use will produce megadoses of outcomes data that can be mined by researchers. This will lead to refined evidence-based protocols, which should improve outcomes and lower costs.

• Improved data collection could help facilitate a shift from a fee-for-service payment system that creates incentives for more visits and procedures to one with more rewards for high-quality outcomes and efficient care, such as e-visits, preventive measures and patient education.

• Patients become more engaged in their health through easy access to their medical records. It is widely thought that this improves wellness and lowers cost.

The Arizona Government Information Technology Agency will seek a $4.3 million grant to help map broadband Internet coverage in the state.

GITA submitted the grant to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Chad Kirkpatrick, the state chief information officer and director of GITA, said the project is designed to find unserved and underserved areas of broadband in order to tie in more rural communities to the state’s telecommunications infrastructure.

NTIA is issuing the grants in hopes of putting together a national map of areas where broadband penetration is weak. The state’s application includes $3.8 million for mapping and another $500,000 for planning, the maximum amounts allowed in each category.

NTIA is one of the agencies, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utiltiy Service, coordinating more than $7.2 billion to upgrade the nation’s broadband infrastructure.

The grants for the first part of the money were due last Friday, and the state should hear back from NTIA by Sept. 15.

Fall semester classes at Chipola College begin Aug. 24 with late registration continuing through noon on Friday, Aug. 28.

Students who missed regular registration also may choose to enroll in Fall Term C which begins Oct. 15.

Three different terms are offered during the Fall semester. Terms A and B both begin Aug. 24. Term A runs Aug. 24 through Dec. 16. Term B classes are Aug. 24 through Oct. 15. Term C runs Oct. 16 through Dec 16.

Chipola’s open-door policy guarantees acceptance to any student with a standard high school diploma or its equivalent. Prospective students should complete a college application which is available in the Office of Admissions and Records, or online at www.chipola.edu. Students also must provide an official high school and college transcript.

Chipola offers day and evening courses, as well as independent study and online courses. Chipola has expanded its offerings to include more than 40 individual programs, including BS, AA, AS, AAS, Workforce Certificates and Continuing Education programs.

The college offers eight Bachelor of Science (BS) degree programs, including: Business Management, Elementary Education, Mathematics Education (5-9 or 6-12), Science Education (5-9 or 6-12), Exceptional Student Education and RN to BSN in Nursing. The Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) offers Teacher Certification for those with a B.S. in a non-teaching field.

The majority of Chipola students are enrolled in the Associate in Arts (AA) Degree program designed for students who plan to complete their first two years of college work at Chipola and then transfer to a four year program at Chipola or another college. Credits earned are transferable and are applicable toward a bachelor’s degree. Academic plans for specific majors are available on the college website at www.chipola.edu.

Registration continues throughout the Fall semester for several Workforce Development Certificate programs. These include: Automotive Service Technology, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Computer Systems Technology, Correctional Officer, Cosmetology, Corrections, Firefighting and Law Enforcement.

Chipola offers more than a dozen Associate in Science (AS) degrees which provide professional training associated with specific careers, including: Business Administration, Computer Engineering Technology, Computer Information Technology, Criminal Justice Technology (Corrections/Law Enforcement and Crime Scene Investigation), Culinary Management, Early Childhood Education, Fire Science Technology, Networking Services Technology, Nursing (RN and LPN) and Recreation Technology. One Associate in Applied Science (AAS) Degree program in Criminal Justice Technology is available.

Three College Credit Certificate programs are offered in Child Care Center Management, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Paramedic.

A variety of continuing education programs are available on campus in areas ranging from Child Care to Real Estate. Through partnerships with www.ed2go.com and www.gatlineducation.com, Chipola offers online courses in courses such as health care, internet graphics/web design, business and law.

Privacy and security issues are priorities for the administration when it comes to electronic health records, said government officials and members of a health information technology panel this week.

"Fundamentally, we recognize that meaningful use [of health IT] unquestionably brings in the privacy and security risks to the provider and to the consumers and that effectively addressing these risks is critical to the ultimate objective of furthering the adoption and proliferation" of electronic health records and information exchanges, said Dixie Baker, who leads the privacy and security work group of a health IT standards advisory committee to the Health and Human Services Department.

The Recovery Act provides nearly $20 billion to ensure every American has an e-health record by 2014. Eligible health care providers will be reimbursed for using health IT in a manner outlined in forthcoming federal criteria, including security specifications. Baker's workgroup, which is tasked with recommending such specifications, on Thursday called for keeping disclosures of electronic health information to a minimum, providing an account of all disclosures and allowing consumers to obtain copies of their electronic health records.

"When the HIPAA rules came into being, no health organizations had used wireless let alone cellular phones with a camera built-in," said Baker, an official with technical services firm SAIC. The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, requires patient confidentiality. But health IT vendors such as Google, Microsoft and data aggregators are exempt from the law.

Members of the work group also recommended periodic reviews of information system configurations to ensure access to patients' e-health records is granted only to relevant personnel. In addition, all personal health information transmitted internally should be encrypted, if there is a chance the data will travel over unsecured wireless or cellular networks.

Baker noted that some of the group's most extensive discussions have centered on encryption, or coding data to render it unintelligible.

All transmissions that leave a health care facility and cross over shared networks also should be encrypted, the members recommended.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health IT, sent the first in a series of e-mail updates to the public on the rollout of initiatives mandated by the Recovery Act.

A footer on the message encouraged readers "to share this information as we work together to enhance the quality, safety and value of care and the health of all Americans through the use of electronic health records and health information technology."

Blumenthal's message acknowledged that widely available e-records will not be beneficial to people unless "we can assure all Americans that their personal health information will remain private and secure when this system exists" and called the establishment of safeguards for privacy "an ongoing priority that influences and guides all of our efforts."

Also on Wednesday, the Obama administration announced privacy safeguards aimed at regulating the entire health IT sector, including entities that HIPAA does not cover.

As part of that announcement, HHS issued new rules that require providers and insurers to notify patients when their electronic health information is breached. They also must alert the media when a breach affects more than 500 people.

In addition, the Federal Trade Commission released companion notification guidelines for personal health records that are handled by groups not covered under HIPAA.

The HHS rules include updated guidance on techniques for encrypting and destroying health information to render it unreadable to unauthorized users. Industries that follow these procedures do not have to notify patients when information is breached.

Under the guidance, which applies to the HHS and FTC rules, if a breach involves information that has been "deidentified" -- or stripped of names, birth dates, ZIP codes and other distinguishing data -- the leak would not be subject to notification requirements. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil rights organization, has criticized this exception because of the risk of re-identification. Part of the population can be re-identified when scrubbed information is combined with other data, such as voter registration lists, the group's officials said.

I'm enjoying the health insurance reform debate over which side is using the "real facts."

Each side has experts to prove their facts are true facts and that the other side's facts are not facts at all.
I'm not sure if it's Orwellian or Whoville.

It's also quite enjoyable to know in this debate that the U.S. Senate doesn't have a bill in writing. So, the saga with Sen. Arlen Specter at the town hall session in Lebanon was kind of like debating what may or may not be in a bill that may or not be written on an issue that may or may not be acceptable to the House of Representatives or the president.

I have concluded that I cannot have an impact on the health insurance reform debate in Whoville.

However, I do believe we can have an impact on health care in a positive way, right here in Pennsylvania.

In 2007, we started the Harrisburg Health Information Exchange. Its goal is to bring health care providers together to gain the benefits of health information technology -- sooner rather than later.

Using FedEx's technology, we can follow a biscuit from bakery to warehouse to store to buyer, and then mail the buyer a coupon to buy another biscuit. In contrast, hospital emergency rooms today have little or no medical history about the patient they are attempting to save.

To gain the patient-safety advantages of health information technology, every physician needs to use electronic medical record (EMR) software so patient information is digital, rather than just on paper. Then the EMR software is linked with a regional health information exchange that would allow -- with security, permission and privacy -- a patient's medical records to be viewed by emergency room doctors and nurses.

Our research indicates the Harrisburg area is ahead of the nation with approximately 30 percent of physician practices using EMRs versus a 14 percent national average. But that means 70 percent are not using EMRs.

To help physicians and health care providers, such as the Visiting Nurse Association of Central Pennsylvania, we established the EMR Adoption and Use Committee, chaired by Edith Dees, the chief information officer at Holy Spirit Hospital. Through Dees' leadership, health IT leaders are assisting physicians and health care providers with EMR selection, IT services and cost sharing.

If you want to do something positive to help improve health care in your region, you are invited to participate in the following Health Information Exchange efforts:


* The meeting of the EMR Adoption and Use Committee at 8 a.m. today in the TechQuest offices in the Harrisburg Transportation Center. Visit www.techquestpa.com to learn more and register, or e-mail Leigh Twiford at ltwiford@tccp.org.

* The 8 a.m. Sept. 30 meeting of the TechQuest Health Information Exchange.

The great debate of August will be long remembered for the furor over health care reform. Over time, though, the summer of 2009 may well be better noted as when America got serious about converting to electronic medical records. As a part of the stimulus package President Obama signed into law in February, the White House said Aug. 20 nearly $1.2 billion in grants are now available to help hospitals and health care providers implement and use electronic health records.

The funds are dedicated to establishing approximately 70 Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers across the country and to support states' efforts for information sharing within the emerging nationwide system of networks. The Extension Center grants will be awarded on a rolling basis, with the first awards being issued in fiscal year 2010. Grants to states will also be made in fiscal year 2010.

"With these programs, we begin the process of creating a national, private and secure electronic health information system. The grants are designed to help doctors and hospitals acquire electronic health records and use them in meaningful ways to improve the health of patients and reduce waste and inefficiency," Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for Health Information Technology, said in a statement.

The Extension Centers are required by law to establish cooperative agreements through a competitive agreement. The centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers, through participating nonprofit organizations, to achieve meaningful use of electronic health records and to establish a nationwide health information exchange.
The program will also establish a national Health Information Technology Research Center, which will collect effective practices from across the country and help the Extension Centers collaborate with one another and relevant stakeholders.

"Expanding the use of electronic health records is fundamental to reforming our health care system," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. "Electronic health records can help reduce medical errors, make health care more efficient and improve the quality of medical care for all Americans. These grants will help ensure more doctors and hospitals have the tools they need to use this critical technology."

The Regional Centers will focus their efforts on physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners furnishing primary care services, with a focus on individual and small group practices. While these clinicians deliver the majority of primary care services, they have the lowest adoption rate of electronic health records.

The centers will be evaluated every two years as to their effectiveness.

A former Fortune 200 information systems executive was chosen Thursday to head Virginia's troubled computer superagency.

George F. Coulter of Purcellville was selected by the Information Technology Investment Board as the state's new chief information officer.

That makes Coulter, with more than 30 years experience in the field, responsible for addressing numerous blown deadlines and chronic complaints of high prices and poor service by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

The six-year-old agency was formed to consolidate state information technology systems.

Criticisms of its performance and slow start brought the scrutiny of a House of Delegates committee, a Senate subcommittee and the General Assembly's investigative arm onto VITA and Northrop Grumman, its corporate partner in a $2.3 billion, 10-year venture. The Northrop Grumman contract is the largest ever awarded to a vendor for a single project in Virginia.

Coulter succeeds interim CIO Leonard Pomata, who was hired to the post in June, just days after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had appointed Pomata to a cabinet post as secretary of technology. Pomata Lemuel Stewart, whom the ITIB removed as CIO.

On Friday, Attorney General William C. Mims said in a legal opinion that Pomata could not hold his cabinet position and the job of CIO at the same time.

Coulter has held top information technology jobs with multinational banking, energy, insurance, transportation, telecommunications and food companies. Most recently, he was in charge of information systems for Solera Holdings, a company that provides software and services used in processing automobile insurance claims.

He was the CIO of Arlington-based AES, which has electrical utility business in 28 countries on five continents, from 2003 to 2007.

Coulter was chosen after a national search that began in the spring by the global executive search firm Korn-Ferry International. He begins his five-year contract as CIO at an annual salary of $191,906 on Monday.

Virginia government is reaching to industry for a new computer boss to set right the troubled changeover to a privately run information-technology network under Northrop Grumman.

George F. Coulter succeeds Lemuel C. "Lem" Stewart Jr., a state government veteran who was fired in June after proposing to withhold a $14 million monthly payment to Northrop Grumman as punishment for poor service and incomplete billing.

Coulter, 52, with three decades in information technology, said he believes his work in private business will translate to the public sector.

"It's infrastructure, it's applications, it's keeping the customers -- the agencies -- happy, it's keeping costs down, it's keeping the team highly motivated, it's making sure you have the best skilled people," Coulter said.

His appointment follows months of turmoil between the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and Northrop Grumman over continuing delays by the company in carrying out a 10-year, $2.3 billion contract for an array of high-tech services.

The contract -- the state's richest-ever privatization pact -- has become a political flash point, triggering finger-pointing by Democrats and Republicans. Members of both parties pushed for the deal with Northrop Grumman, which since 2001 has donated more than $800,000 to legislators and statewide officials.

As chief information officer of VITA, Coulter will take a pay cut of about $50,000 from his last private-sector job. His government salary will be $191,906. Under a five-year contract, he is eligible for an annual 5 percent bonus based on performance.

Coulter, who could be on the job as early as Monday at the building VITA shares with Northrop Grumman, said he wants to speak immediately with agency heads -- among the most vociferous critics of Northrop Grumman.

That way, he said, he can "understand where the pain points are."

VITA's oversight panel -- the Information Technology Investment Board -- voted 5-1 for Coulter, with Hiram Johnson dissenting. Johnson opposed Coulter's selection because he lacks state government experience.

"It is so far different than private industry," Johnson said of the contrasting culture that Coulter will face in Virginia's bureaucracy. "There, you make a decision and move on. In government, sometimes there are three or four layers to make it happen."

A search firm hired by VITA recommended 16 candidates, four of whom, including Coulter, were finalists. The others were current or former federal employees, running such vast IT operations as those of the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security.

Bertram S. Reese III, the VITA trustee who headed the CIO search, said Coulter could consider changes in the Northrop Grumman contract to improve service and control costs.

"He's going to take a hard look at the Northrop Grumman contract and look to see what he needs to do in order to make it successful," Reese said. "If Northrop Grumman is not successful, he won't be successful."

Northrop Grumman spokeswoman Christy Whitman said the company -- now pressing for more money from the state because of mounting expenses -- welcomes Coulter.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said Coulter's selection is "welcome and encouraging." It has fallen to Kaine to manage fallout from the program, a legacy of his predecessor, now-U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va.

Del. Samuel A. Nixon Jr., R-Chesterfield, an IT expert and head of the House Republican Caucus, said Coulter "deserves the opportunity to succeed." But Nixon cautioned the VITA board to give Coulter the freedom to deal with Northrop Grumman that it denied Stewart before the June blowup.

Former high-ranking information technology officials at the Veterans Affairs Department gave preferential treatment to certain contractors, engaged in nepotism in hiring and, in one case, took advantage of a relationship with a supervisor for personal gain, according to a new report from the department's inspector general.

Two reports published Thursday indicate VA's former Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology, Robert Howard, allowed employees to abuse their authority for the benefit of friends and family. The first report says Howard engaged in an "inappropriate personal relationship" with Katherine Adair Martinez, former deputy assistant secretary for information protection and risk management in VA's Office of Information and Technology from April 2007 until the spring of 2009.

"It is deeply disappointing that any governmental official would abuse authority entrusted to them by the public," said Rep. Stephen Buyer, R-Ind., the ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee. "But it is especially disturbing when abuse of authority occurs at the agency responsible for the care and well-being of our nation's veterans. I expect that swift, appropriate administrative action will be taken against the employees allegedly involved in these incidents."

A VA spokesman issued the following statement about the reports: "VA is aware of the findings detailed in the OIG reports. VA expects our employees to set the highest levels of personal and professional conduct; therefore, we are extremely concerned by the descriptions of alleged improper conduct by VA staff. The department is aggressively pursuing a thorough review of the situation and will continue to work with the appropriate authorities. VA does not condone misconduct by its employees and will take the appropriate corrective action for those who violate VA policy."

Howard left his position at VA in January and has been replaced as chief information officer by Roger Baker. When reached for comment today, Howard declined to discuss the reports or their findings. In written comments, Baker's office concurred with the IG's recommendations for action against the violators.

Martinez was assigned to Howard's organization shortly after a major data breach in 2006 involving the theft of a VA laptop containing the records of more than 26 million veterans. According to the report, the two began an "inappropriate personal relationship" in April 2007 that lasted until a few months after Howard left VA in January of this year. Both Howard and Martinez are married to other people, but a former VA employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was well-known within the department that the two were linked romantically.

In July 2008, Martinez moved to Bay Pines, Fla., after securing Howard's approval to work remotely. In her first nine months after moving to Florida, Martinez was responsible for $37,000 in expenses related to trips to Washington on official business. Howard denied to investigators that Martinez's frequent travel was a result of their relationship, but he admitted they continued their relationship during her visits.

"We concluded that Ms. Martinez misused her position when she took unfair advantage of an inappropriate personal relationship with Mr. Howard to gain his approval to relocate her to Florida," the report states.

The second report alleged that Howard's former executive assistant, Jennifer Duncan, violated federal law and engaged in nepotism by hiring relatives and friends into positions at VA. Duncan, the report concluded, also approved more than $140,000 in VA funds to pay for those friends and relatives to obtain graduate degrees at The George Washington University and other institutions.

The report said Howard and his senior managers, including Duncan, were fiscally irresponsible in handing out more than $24 million in cash awards and retention bonuses to VA employees during a two-year period, despite working under a budget deficit. The former VA employee said Howard gave generous retention bonuses to top technical people in order to keep them from retiring. And Duncan "acted as if she was given a blank checkbook to write unlimited monetary awards," the report stated.

"In addition to the improperly administered awards, we found the frequent and large dollar amount awards given to employees were unusual and often absurd," investigators reported. "A current and a former deputy assistant secretary both told us that they were 'stunned' by the total amount of appropriated funds that [the Office of Information and Technology] spent on awards/bonuses.... Worse, some employees were given cash awards for services that were supposedly provided before the employees started working at VA."

The report concluded that Martinez abused her authority to obtain employment for Laura Nash, first at Engineering Systems Solutions, a VA contractor, and later in the department itself. Nash and Martinez became friends while the latter was chief information officer of the Veterans Benefits Administration in 2000 through their mutual involvement in a nonprofit organization, Women in Technology. Nash was laid off from her private sector job in May 2006, at which point Martinez was working to award a contract to address issues raised by the stolen laptop incident.

According to the report, while working on the contract, Martinez shared proprietary procurement information with a longtime friend of her husband's, identified only as "John Doe." Martinez told him of VA's plan to issue a request for a proposal and allowed him to serve as an intermediary between herself and the executives of ESS. He was later hired as a consultant by ESS in September 2006. Martinez also told an ESS vice president several times to "look at" the prospect of hiring Nash and stressed that she had the "right credentials."

"While there may not have been an expressed quid pro quo (ESS will get a VA contract if you hire my friend), Ms. Martinez clearly and improperly pressured ESS to hire Ms. Nash while Ms. Martinez was officially involved in setting up a VA contract," the report stated. "We found it problematic that Ms. Martinez also shared VA proprietary information with a longtime friend of her husband's, who was not employed by VA or ESS, and allowed him to act as an emissary for a VA procurement. This gave him an opportunity to exploit the situation for his own personal gain and possible employment at ESS, and it also gave ESS a significant advantage in obtaining a VA contract."

Other employees, including a human resources consultant, told investigators that while Nash was hired by ESS, she was treated increasingly like an employee of VA by Martinez, who often assigned her tasks unrelated to the security contract. In the summer of 2007, Martinez attempted to hire Nash as her executive assistant, but was prevented by a hiring process that gives preference to internal agency candidates and veterans.

Martinez reissued the job request twice before arranging for Nash to be hired as a supervisory IT specialist in September 2007. An e-mail sent on Sept. 9, 2007, by Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Protection and Risk Management Kathryn McGinnis to Martinez acknowledged that Nash was hired for the IT position with the intent of shifting her to the executive assistant role within six months. The report also stated that Martinez provided justification for bringing Nash into government at an annual salary more than $33,000 above what someone in her position ordinarily would earn.

"The HR consultant ... said that she was very impressed with the vast and highly technical experience of many of the applicants and that Ms. Nash was not the best qualified candidate," the IG report noted. "Ms. Nash told us that she recalled taking only one computer class in college and that she had limited technical knowledge and experience in the IT areas required for the position."

Neither Martinez nor Nash could be reached for comment, but in a February 2008 article for FedTech Magazine, both discussed what they enjoyed about working in government.

"I'm a government brat," Martinez told FedTech, noting that her father was in the Coast Guard and she grew up in and around the nation's capital. "I care about Washington. I just care about government, and I care about IT. I believe in public service."

"You can only do so much advising and assisting," Nash said. "If you want to have an impact and make a difference, you have to be a government employee."

In addition to Howard, Martinez, Nash and Duncan, numerous other VA employees are described in the reports, but their names have been redacted. Several of the people are relatives or friends of Duncan, including one who appears to be her son. This person was hired as a summer intern at VA's Office of Security and Law Enforcement in 2006 and 2007. On August 17, 2007, he resigned from the office.

Four days later, Duncan sent three e-mails emphasizing his education and credentials for a full-time position. On Sept. 16, 2007, he was appointed as a part-time management analyst in Washington, with his designation changed to full-time two weeks later, right before he returned to Charleston, S.C., to complete his last semester of college.

Records from that period show the person was assigned to Washington, but granted leave without pay status for four hours each day. He graduated with a bachelor's of science on Dec. 15 and returned to full-time duty on Dec. 21.

"It was not clear that [name redacted] provided VA any legitimate services prior to Dec. 21, since he was a brand new OI&T employee working 500 miles from his supervisor while at the same time he was completing his undergraduate studies in a field completely unrelated to OI&T," the report stated.

The Virginia Information Technology Agency, whose director was recently ousted in a disagreement over how to manage a troubled $2.3 billion contract with Northrop Grumman, has a new boss: George F. Coulter of Purcellville.

Coulter is the former chief information officer of Solera Holdings, which develops software for the auto insurance industry.

State technology secretary Len Pomata had been serving as interim head of VITA, but was under pressure from state Republicans to resign after Attorney General Bill Mims ruled that it was improper for him to hold both jobs.

Pomata took the job without pay following the removal of former CIO Lemuel Stewart Jr. in June.

Stewart had suggested the state withhold $14 million in technology service payments to Northrop Grumman, which has a 10-year contract to overhaul state government computer systems. The deal has come under scrutiny in recent months as the company missed key deadlines and state agencies criticized the quality of service.

Legislative investigations of the technology deal have been initiated in recent months and several Republican lawmakers have been vocal critics of VITA.

The technology transformation has been behind schedule and so far failed to produce the cost savings expected when the deal began in 2005.

Northrop Grumman has said that it may need to exceed the $236 million annual payment cap it agreed to in order to continue providing technology services.

Company officials have told state officials they are working to complete the technology upgrades and resolve lingering problems. The company has until Aug. 30 to present a plan to fulfill contract terms under a deadline imposed by the state.

An analysis of the deal by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission is expected to be completed by October.

The National Restaurant Association's Information Technology Executive Study Group is made up of directors and managers of information technology, or others responsible for IT activity, within the restaurant and hospitality industry. The fall meeting will be held Sept. 22 through 25 in Seattle. Visit www.restaurant.org/studygroups to register or to find out more information about sponsoring an event!

Virginia’s new computer chief is George F. Coulter, whose first task will be to repair the state’s strained relationship with Northrop Grumman.

Coulter, of Purcellville in Loudoun County, succeeds Lemuel C. “Lem” Stewart, who was fired by the oversight board of the state’s information technology agency because he wanted to withhold a $14 monthly payment to Northrop Grumman for poor service and incomplete billing.

Northrop Grumman has a 10-year, $2.3 billion contract to provide IT services to state agencies.

Coulter, with more than 30 years in information technology, was approved for chief information officer this afternoon on a 5-1 vote by the Information Technology Investment Board, which oversees the agency that Coulter will head—the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

Coulter previously served as CIO of Arlington-based AES, an electric utility company. He has also worked for Cargill, a privately held grain giant.

The job he held before joining the state was chief information technology officer of Solera Holdings, which provides software for the automobile insurance industry.

Coulter graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles.

VITA turned to a personnel company, Korn/Ferry, to screen prospects for Virginia’s CIO. The firm recommended 15 candidates for the job, a pool from which three finalists were selected.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) August 20, 2009 -- Scintel Technologies, Inc., (www.scintel.com) has appointed Phil Stevens as Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President. Stevens will be responsible for identifying and cultivating major growth initiatives, overseeing the company's worldwide technology strategy and continue expanding a world class organization to help deliver exceptional value to all clients. In addition, he will continue to strengthen relationships with existing clients, provide leadership to the development and sales teams and provide thought leadership in the development of new products.

"Phil possesses key characteristics that are essential to the success of this company," said T.K. Ganesh, President and CEO of the Scintel Group of companies. "He is a steady and a decisive leader with strong a focus on results and his extensive expertise in the Information Technology industry coupled with a proven track record of operational excellence, excellent people skills and strong customer orientation will greatly support the company's aggressive growth goals and the strategic deployment of our emerging and advanced technology practices. We are very excited to have Phil leading Scintel into its next era of growth."

Reporting directly to Mr. Ganesh, one of Stevens' top priorities coming into the company will be to help meet the strategic goals for 2009 and beyond. Stevens will be an integral part in elaborating the company's infrastructure and processes to make it easier for customers to leverage the capabilities of Scintel, in addition to creating flexible, industry-based models for predictable, repeatable success.

"Scintel has earned a reputation for precision in developing systems as well as holding themselves to the highest ethical standards, which is a wonderful fit for my professional passion for process and operational discipline," said Stevens. "I look forward to meeting with our customers, understanding their particular challenges and helping them to find new ways to increase flexibility, scalability, and quality while reducing cost through global delivery."

A former CIO of Education Finance Partners and former Senior Vice President at Macy's Systems & Technology, Stevens has worked in the areas of meeting customers' needs by leading large teams engaged in architecting and proposing technological solutions to solve enterprise level problems. He brings an intimate knowledge of major technology manufacturers, current technology and emerging technology solutions and market trends. He has a proven track record in highlighting and resolving issues in diverse, technical environments and coordinating team efforts for large-scale deployments of complex technological solutions, and problem resolution. Stevens is a seasoned Information Technology consulting veteran with extensive experience in leading large IT initiatives for fortune 500 companies.

Stevens lives in Cumming, Georgia with his wife Sheila and two of their five children.

About Scintel Technologies:
Scintel Technologies, Inc. is a global provider of information technology (IT) services to large and mid-size organizations. The Company offers its customers a broad range of IT services, from advising customers on strategic technology plans to developing and implementing appropriate IT applications solutions. Scintel offers custom-tailored solutions based on an assessment of each client's needs. The Company's services include: e-business transformation services; consulting; large systems applications development and maintenance; business intelligence solutions, and offshore development services. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and is privately held. Scintel Technologies Pvt. Ltd is the global delivery center and is located in Chennai, India. To learn more about Scintel, visit its website at http://www.scintel.com.

(Canadian Press DataFile Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) KELOWNA, B.C. _ Business software company QHR Technologies Inc.'s (TSXV:QHR) second-quarter profits soared as revenue more than doubled, the company reported Thursday.

QHR said it earned $212,614 or a penny a share in the quarter ended June 30 versus $11,032 or nil in the same 2008 period.

Revenue more than doubled to $3.2 million from $1.5 million last year, a figure described in a company news release as the second-highest since QHR's inception in 1988.

"This encouraging result was primarily due to the success of the Enterprise Management Software division in increasing workforce and financial software sales but also due to the continued growth of the customer base of the EMR division as well," said president and chief executive Al Hildebrandt.

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QHR operates the The Enterprise Management Software division, formerly the Human Resources division, which consists of integrated payroll, staff scheduling and human resource software, and in customized financial management software.

The company said it's goal is to achieve $10 million in revenue for the year, having already generated $6.7 million in sales in the first two quarters.

FALLS CHURCH, Va., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolvent Technologies, Inc. (Evolvent), a leading provider of healthcare information technology to the federal government, announced today that it was awarded a contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) Military Health Services for enhancements to the Bidirectional Health Information Exchange (BHIE) to further increase Veterans Affairs (VA) clinician access to DoD information on a shared patient population.

Evolvent's recent wins also include providing systems support services for VA/DoD Image Sharing initiative across multiple VA and DoD locations, as well as a BPA contract with the US Army to provide information assurance support at the US Army Medical Information Technology Center.

Evolvent's CEO, Bill Oldham, commented that: "Evolvent is proud to serve our veterans and active duty service members and their families through enhanced healthcare information exchange services and enhanced security. As connections between healthcare organizations grow in importance and healthcare information sharing dominates our national debate, we're pleased to offer compelling, cost-effective innovations that work."

Co-founder and Evolvent COO, Paul Ramsaroop added: "This is a tribute to our team and the strong contributions of our new senior leaders Dennis Eisenstein, Anna Worrell, Anna Khizhnyak, Kent Stevenson, Carolyn Melvin, and the continuing commitment of our entire executive group to drive innovation and value in healthcare IT."

These awards have added to the immense growth of the company since 2008 when it was awarded contracts for a Health Artifacts and Image Management System (HAIMS), a Neuro-Cognitive Assessment Tool (NCAT), a global Telehealth Support Services contract for the US Army, and a Virtual Worlds development program for the Defense Center of Excellence in Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mr. Oldham also emphasized that: "bringing best-in-class industry partners like Microsoft, Harris, PSI, GDIT, SAIC, CPS, IBM, and Patriot Technologies allows our team to be flexible and deliver the maximum talent to solve problems for the customer."

About Evolvent

Evolvent is a healthcare systems company with services ranging from program assessments to global technology implementations. With a large presence serving military healthcare, the VA, and private sector healthcare communities, Evolvent is a proven partner to deliver solutions and services for healthcare delivery organizations. Based in Falls Church, Virginia, Evolvent has offices in Dulles, Virginia and San Antonio, Texas and operations throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.evolvent.com.


SOURCE Evolvent Technologies, Inc.

ARMONK, N.Y. --

Technology company IBM Corp. on Thursday said it reached a long-term agreement to provide application management services to specialty chemicals company W.R. Grace & Co.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the agreement, IBM Global Business Services will create a technology platform that will allow Grace to update and standardize application delivery across its enterprise and adjust its resources to meet new demands.

IBM also will provide Grace with an onsite information technology presence that will work with Grace's information technology professionals and give it access to IBM's network of global delivery centers.

BridgePoint Technologies Ranks No. 1061 on the 2009 Inc. 5000 with Three-Year Sales Growth of 291%

NEW YORK, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Inc. magazine today ranked Oak Brook-based IT consulting firm BridgePoint Technologies number 1061 on its third annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. BridgePoint Technologies also ranked 44th on its ranking of the 100 fastest-growing private companies in the Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI area and 11th for the fastest-growing IT Services companies in Illinois.

"This recognition is truly something that makes us proud," said Michael Millhouse CEO and President. "Our company did this together, all of us. We have experienced tremendous growth in the past few years and it is an honor to be part of the Inc. 5000 list."

The Inc. 5000 companies are decided after extensive screening and interviews by reporters and writers for Inc.com, and inclusion on the list is considered to be one of the most prestigious awards for high-growth companies in the private sector.

As a full service Information Technology consulting firm with three strategic business units - IT Consulting and Staffing, IT Managed Services, and Hosting Services, BridgePoint is able to offer its clients a comprehensive suite of scalable business solutions that have consistently helped customers reduce costs, increase revenue and gain competitive advantage through technology.

"Having founded our company only five short years ago, we are particularly honored to be recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in North America," said Laura Barker, Vice President and COO of BridgePoint Technologies. "It is a testament to the technology solutions and customer service we provide."

"Savvy trend spotters and those who invest in private companies know that the Inc. 5000 is the best place to find out about young companies that are achieving success through a wide variety of unprecedented business models, as well as older private companies that are still expanding at an impressive rate," said Inc. 5000 project manager Jim Melloan. "That's why our list is so eagerly anticipated every year."

The 2009 Inc. 5000, unveiled today on Inc.com, serves as a unique report card on the U.S. economy. Despite the ongoing recession, aggregate revenue among the companies on the list actually increased to $214 billion, up $29 billion from last year, with a median three-year growth rate of 126 percent. The Inc. 5000 are responsible for creating more than 1 million jobs since their founding, making the list perhaps the best example of the impact private, fast-growing companies can have on the economy. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on Inc.com.

Methodology

The Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2005, and therefore able to show four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they have to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent -- not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies -- as of December 31, 2008. Revenue in 2005 must have been at least $200,000, and revenue in 2008 must have been at least $2 million. The top 10 percent of companies on the list comprise the Inc. 500, now in its 28th year.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today's innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,961, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at Inc.com.

About BridgePoint Technologies

BridgePoint Technologies is an Information Technology consulting firm that delivers innovative, scalable business solutions to help our clients reduce costs, increase revenue and gain competitive advantage through technology. We work closely with clients to understand their unique business needs and then develop a roadmap on how best to achieve those goals utilizing best-of-breed technologies. We have three strategic business units - IT Consulting and Staffing, IT Managed Services, and Hosting Services - that offer a full suite of IT services to our clients.

We are a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with three competencies in Custom Development Solutions, Information Worker Solutions, and Networking Infrastructure Solutions. In addition to our partnership with Microsoft, we are also a DELL Certified Reseller. These relationships further enable us to deliver high performance, flexible, and innovative technology solutions. For more information about the company, please visit http://www.mybridgepoint.com/


SOURCE BridgePoint Technologies

Senior administration officials will formally announce a new $1.2 billion initiative to expand the use of electronic medical records by doctors and hospitals, according to McClatchy/Kansas City Star. Vice President Joe Biden, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the President's e-health coordinator, will be at a roundtable discussion today in Chicago. The money will be used for grants to create 70 "Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers" and for improving "information sharing." In a statement, Biden said, "We are making health care safer; we're making it more efficient; we're making you healthier; and we're saving money along the way" (Talev, 8/20).

(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Picksthatmove.com Alerts include Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GFSI); GeoPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: GORX); VSE Corporation (Nasdaq GS: VSEC); ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Linktone Ltd. (Nasdaq: LTON) -- August 17, 2009 Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GFSI) trading at $0.953 on a volume of 1.94M shares.

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In a press release out on August 17, 2009 Jack Henry & Associates to Acquire Goldleaf Financial Solutions MONETT, Mo. and ATLANTA, Aug 17, 2009 -- Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY) a leading provider of integrated technology solutions and data processing services for financial institutions, and Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GFSI), a provider of integrated technology-based solutions designed to improve the performance of financial institutions, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Jack Henry to acquire Goldleaf. Under the terms of the agreement, Goldleaf will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jack Henry, and Goldleaf's shareholders will receive $0.98 per share in cash in exchange for their shares, representing a premium of approximately 40 percent over Goldleaf's closing share price on August 14, 2009. In addition, Jack Henry will retire certain of Goldleaf's outstanding debt and accrued interest obligations, which is anticipated to equal approximately $42 million at closing.

About Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc.


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Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: GFSI) offers a strategic suite of integrated technology and payment processing solutions to global financial institutions of all sizes. The company's products and services enable financial institutions to succeed in today's competitive market, solidify their trusted financial relationships, expand their community presence and improve profitability through the efficient use of technology. For more information about Goldleaf and its solutions, please visit the company at www.goldleaf.com.

-- August 17, 2009 GeoPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:GORX) trading at $0.70 on a volume of 55,985 shares In a press release on August 17, 2009 GeoPharma Announces Fiscal Year 2010 First Quarter Results and Conference Call LARGO, Fla., Aug 17, 2009 -- GeoPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:GORX) (the "Company") announced today the results of its fiscal year 2010 first quarter.

Commenting on the quarter GeoPharma CEO Mihir Taneja stated, "Our first quarter results reveal that the transition of our business model is taking hold. The strategic cuts the management team has implemented showcase that despite lower revenues in what is historically a weaker quarter for our business, we are demonstrating marked improvement in gross profits and margins. The improvement of sales in our Pharmaceutical segment is directly attributable to the successful role out of our Carprofen product Vetprofen(tm) and we look forward to several other offerings to further bolster sales in that division in the quarters ahead. Measured examination of the business we conduct in our manufacturing segment has also added to the improved results. We remain confident that other aspects of our business model are progressing rapidly, not only from our internal results, but also through our correspondence with the essential regulatory authorities. We look forward to sharing several new developments with regards to our business model in the months ahead." ABOUT GEOPHARMA, INC.: GeoPharma, Inc. is a rapidly growing Bio/Pharma company with a diversified business model participating in Pharmaceuticals, Contract Manufacturing, and Medical devices. The Pharma divisions specialize in the formulation of generic drugs for human and veterinary usage and the development of medical devices used by oncologists and other medical professionals. The Manufacturing division manufactures and packages generic drugs, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and functional food products for companies worldwide.

-- August 17, 2009 VSE Corporation (Nasdaq GS: VSEC) trading at $31.51 on a volume of 10,020 shares.

In a press release out on August 17, 2009 VSE Awarded Follow-on Work Supporting Foreign Military Sales Program for Egyptian Navy Additional funding will allow continued support of Egyptian Navy fleet development and sustainment efforts ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug 17, 2009 -- VSE Corporation (Nasdaq GS: VSEC) reported today that its International Group's GLOBAL Division has received an award to continue work being conducted in Alexandria, Egypt.

About VSE VSE marked its 50th year as a government contractor in 2009. VSE is a diversified Federal Services company of choice for solving issues of global significance with integrity, agility, and value. VSE is dedicated to making our clients successful by delivering talented people and innovative solutions for consulting and program management, logistics, equipment and vehicle/vessel refurbishment, engineering, information technology, energy consulting, and construction program management. For additional information on VSE services and products, please see the company's web site at www.vsecorp.com or contact Randy Hollstein, VSE Corporate Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at (703) 329-3206.

-- August 17, 2009 ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN) trading at $7.11 on a volume of 155,402 shares.

In a press release out on August 17, 2009 ImmunoGen, Inc. Appoints Peter Williams as Vice President, Business Development WALTHAM, Mass., Aug 17, 2009 -- ImmunoGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a biopharmaceutical company that develops targeted anticancer therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Peter Williams as Vice President, Business Development.

About ImmunoGen, Inc.

ImmunoGen, Inc. develops targeted anticancer therapeutics using its expertise in cancer biology, monoclonal antibodies and the creation and attachment of potent cell-killing agents. The Company's Targeted Antibody Payload (TAP) technology uses antibodies to deliver one of ImmunoGen's proprietary cell-killing agents specifically to cancer targets. In addition to the Company's product pipeline, compounds utilizing the TAP technology are in clinical testing through ImmunoGen's collaborations with Genentech (a wholly-owned member of the Roche Group), sanofi-aventis, Biogen Idec and Biotest. The most advanced compound, T-DM1, is in Phase III testing being conducted by Genentech and Roche. Other ImmunoGen collaborative partners include Bayer HealthCare and Amgen.

-- August 17, 2009 Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) trading at $20.04 on a volume of 3.62M shares.

In a press release out on August 17, 2009 Spore Franchise Leaps Onto Nintendo Platforms This October Create, Fight and Explore Spore-Style for the First Time on the Wii - EMERYVILLE, Calif., Aug 17, 2009 -- Get ready for heroic battles, vibrant worlds and boundless creativity! Maxis(TM), an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, today announced that Spore(TM) Hero and Spore(TM) Hero Arena will be available at North American retailers on Oct. 6 2009 and internationally on Oct. 9, 2009. Built from the ground up exclusively for the Wii(TM) and Nintendo DS(TM) platforms, Spore Hero and Spore Hero Arena introduce a new level of action-packed adventure and combat to the critically acclaimed Spore franchise.

About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA Mobile(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet athttp://info.ea.com.

-- August 17, 2009 Linktone Ltd. (Nasdaq: LTON) trading at $2.05 on a volume of 42,369 shares In a press release out on August 17, 2009 Linktone To Announce Second Quarter 2009 Financial Results on August 25 BEIJING, Aug 17, 2009 -- Linktone Ltd. (Nasdaq: LTON), one of the leading providers of wireless interactive entertainment services to consumers in China, today announced that it will report financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009, after the U.S. equities markets close on Tuesday, August 25, 2009.

About Linktone Ltd.

Linktone Ltd. is one of the leading providers of wireless interactive entertainment services to consumers in China. Linktone provides a diverse portfolio of services to wireless consumers and corporate customers, with a particular focus on media, entertainment and communications. These services are promoted through the Company's and its partners' cross-media platform which merges traditional and new media marketing channels, and through the networks of the mobile operators in China. Through in-house development and alliances with international and local branded content partners, the Company develops, aggregates, and distributes innovative and engaging products to maximize the breadth, quality and diversity of its offerings.

About PicksThatMove.com www.picksthatmove.com team of excellence strives to find undervalued, good momentum stock plays. We provide financial and investor relations services for small to mid-cap stocks with weekly and special newsletters to keep you informed of the latest movers. Unlike other sites, we explore, research, and understand all aspects of a company. We only recommend companies we feel has the potential for future higher valuations. Our seasoned research team is always looking for the next Xtreme Pick to send to you.

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A Message from Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - In my role as National Coordinator for Health IT, I have the privilege to be part of a transformative change in health care that will help to extend the benefits of health information technology (HIT) to all Americans. With the passage earlier this year of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, we have the tools to begin a major transformation in American health care made possible through the creation of a secure, interoperable nationwide health information network.

Of course, this system is not an end in itself. Rather, it will enable countless other improvements in the quality and efficiency of health care that will make Americans healthier and their economy stronger.

My personal belief in this transformation is not based on theory or conjecture. As a primary care physician for over 30 years, I spent the first twenty shuffling papers in search of missing studies and frequently hoping, during middle-of-the-night emergencies, that I knew enough about patients’ medical histories to make good decisions. All that changed when I began to have access to patients’ electronic medical records. It made me a much better doctor. I would never go back, and neither would the vast majority of American physicians who have made the leap into the electronic age.

In fact, it would be hard for any health professional today to escape the conclusion that the antiquated, paper-dominated system we now have in place isn’t working well for patients, creates added costs and inefficiencies, and isn’t sustainable. As we look at our nation’s annual health care expenditures of approximately $2.5 trillion, there are many ways our current system fails both patients and providers. It is clear that change is necessary.

But how and why is nationwide electronic health information exchange so critical to achieving such change? Most importantly, because it provides the best opportunity for each patient to receive optimal care. The technology will make patients’ complete medical information securely and reliably available to health care providers where and when it is needed – when clinician and patient are together facing medical decisions that can make a lasting difference.

Better, faster, more reliable and efficient care also ultimately reduces system-wide costs by delivering results that help to avoid expensive or prolonged hospitalization from delayed or ineffective treatment, avert costly and sometimes fatal adverse events and unnecessary procedures, and can help to eliminate the onset of disease by better informed management of each patient’s health.

The goal of assuring an electronic health record for every American is daunting. We at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) do not pretend otherwise. We know this will be hard for some clinicians and hospitals, and we stand ready to help with resources provided by the Congress and the Administration.

We also recognize that we cannot achieve the benefits of a nationwide health information system unless we can assure all Americans that their personal health information will remain private and secure when this system exists. Putting into place safeguards for the privacy and security of this information, when it is in electronic form, will be an ongoing priority that influences and guides all of our efforts.

In the days, weeks, and months ahead, we will be rolling out a number of pivotal initiatives called for under the HITECH Act. I urge you to join and support us as we lay the foundation for every American to benefit from an electronic health record, as part of a modernized, interconnected, and vastly improved system of care delivery. We at ONC will be making every effort to keep you updated and fully engaged in all the steps of this national journey.

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

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Campus leaders at the University of Nevada, Reno have big plans for the school’s future, despite the budget cuts of the past two years.

“For the next few years, everyone is going to be a little stretched,” UNR President Milton Glick said. “Faculty, students, everyone. But if you look out five years I think you’ll see a campus with a lot of positive change.”

University officials say they hope to increase research presence on campus and create a stable funding base. The student government envisions improved graduation and retention rates and some predict an inevitable shift toward community-based information technologies.
nev_fans08web

File art/Nevada Sagebrush

While both student and faculty leaders have big plans for the university’s future, both say student involvement in refining these plans and making sure they are implemented is the key to UNR’s success.

“Student input is very important to us. Probably the best way students can get involved with change at the university level is to get involved with the student government,” UNR Provost Marc Johnson said. “They’re already organized and we invite them into the decision making process in most of the things we do.”

The student government describe their main goals for the university in an early draft of their Joint Vision Plan for 2017 Associated Students of the University of Nevada officials describe their main goals for the school as achieving improved academic engagement, higher retention and graduation rates and a more diverse student population.

Students who join student advisory boards at the college and departmental levels also have the opportunity to voice their opinions to their deans and are often consulted before changes to a specific program or major are made, Johnson said.

“We’re always looking for students who want to get involved in guiding the future of this institution,” Johnson said.

Creating more research opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students will be a primary goal for the university’s faculty, Glick said. Students will be able to participate in the research through their individual departments. Much of the university’s growth will be centered around research-intensive subjects like science and medicine, growth that is already beginning with the construction of new buildings on opposite ends of UNR’s campus.

“What we would really like to see is an expanded presence for our medical and nursing programs,” Glick said.

The increased research presence on campus may help ease the school’s recent budget woes by creating more opportunities for departments to find grant money and avoid relying on state funds, Johnson said.

“After the most recent budget reduction, we’re looking to bounce back under our own sails, so to speak,” Johnson said. “With more student research, we’ll be able to secure more funding from the federal government and industries whereas in the past we have been fairly reliant on state sources of money.”

If the university succeeds in attracting other sources of funding through grants and industrial donations, it could avoid large percentage cuts.

“These cuts are kind of a wake-up call,” Johnson said. “If we want to really grow, we have to do this.”

While expanded research opportunities and the potential for new sources of money shine bright in UNR’s future, some in the school’s administration think the largest change in store is one that will be driven by its newest students.

“The university is going to have to adjust to more community-based technology, and that’s how incoming students already work,” Steven Zink, UNR’s vice president of information technology, said. “The younger students are ahead here and the rest of the university needs to catch up.”

Community-based technology such as social networking, smartphones, and project and classroom collaboration via text and video chat applications are part of what Zink said he calls the “post-Guttenberg era” because of their advantages over paper and ink.

The fact that today’s college students have grown up using these technologies instead of watching them evolve puts them at a distinct advantage over much of the university’s faculty in their use, Zink said.

“For example, I consider myself a pretty technological person, but I had to add the Internet and cell phones to my life,” Zink said. “Students now though, they’ve grown up with all of it, it’s just ingrained into their lives.”

Because of that advantage, students have the ability to influence the future of how technology will be implemented in UNR’s classrooms, albeit in an indirect way, he said.

“Students need to push for the ability to be creative with assignments,” Zink said. “A lot of professors are becoming increasingly open to other ways to package information, not just essays in paper, but the system as a whole still needs that push.”

As long as the work was of sufficient quality, John Marini, a professor in the political science department, said he would be willing to accept assignments packaged in ways other than a traditional essay, such as a video or interactive media piece.

“There are lots of ways to express ideas and I’m open to those possibilities,” Marini said. “I’ve never had a student approach me and ask that, though.”

Jay Balagna can be reached at jbalagna@nevadasagebrush.com.

China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Li Yizhong, said that the country’s leading operator, China Mobile (NYSE: CHL), is expected to have up to 80 million 3G subscribers within the next two years.

This is despite the fact that the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers is using China’s own TD-SCDMA standard, which according to the industry isn’t developed as WCDMA and CDMA2000 standards. On that note, it’s worth pointing out that the 80 million is lower than the earlier number of 100 million subscribers, which was claimed by Lu Dongfeng, vice-president of Datang Telecom Technology, a provider of TD-SCDMA products.

Lou Qinjian, vice-minister of industry and information technology, also earlier told the China Daily news agency that TD-SCDMA subscribers in China are expected to reach 10 million by the end of this year.

For the record, China Mobile plans to spend around $8.6 billion during 2009 on rolling out its 3G network, deploying some 60,000 base stations in 238 cities in the process.

CHARLOTTE, NC – Janis Love recently joined Bankston Partners as the Division Director for Information Technology (IT). Janis possesses over 18 years of IT staffing and consulting experience. She maintains a strong regional and national client-base, including Big Four and Fortune 1000 clients. Janis will focus primarily on SAP and IT accounts.

About Bankston Partners
Bankston Partners is a Charlotte, NC, based recruiting and consulting firm specializing in the accounting and finance industries. As a division of Integra Staffing & Search, the 2nd largest women owned company in Charlotte and named the #1 Small Business “Best Place to Work 2007” by the Charlotte Business Journal, Bankston Partners brings a combined 40 plus years of recruiting and staffing experience to its clients and candidates, as well as a history of over 2000 placements. For more information, please visit www.bankstonpartners.com.

Hong Kong, Aug 17, 2009 - (ACN Newswire) - The following is an Asian excerpt from IRG's TMT Weekly Market Review Aug 10 - Aug 16. IRG is a financial advisory and investment firm focused on the core growth sectors in Asia with particular focus on the telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) sectors.



- Global sales of smartphones rise in the second quarter as some users sought more features for their money, but the overall mobile phone market declined year-on-year for the third consecutive quarter and the fall in average selling prices is accelerating. Consumers who would usually buy mid-range phones were either now purchasing smartphones or were trading down to less-expensive handsets. An increasing proportion of sales from emerging markets is hurting average selling prices,because several cheap but feature-rich phones have been launched on these markets, giving consumers little reason to trade up. Around 286 million handsets were sold in the three months to end-June. The drop follows a 9.4 percent decline on the yearin the first quarter.



Japan

- NTT DoCoMo Inc. replaced Softbank Corp. as Japan's No. 1 mobile-phone operator by user additions last month, regaining the top ranking for the first time in three years. DoCoMo added 143,600 users in July, 6,000 more than Softbank's 137,600 new subscribers in the period. Softbank, which released Apple's latest iPhone handset in June, dropped to second place after leading the ranking for 26 straight months. KDDI Corp. led in terms of new subscribers for the nine months preceding that. DoCoMo rose 1.2 percent to close, while Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.2 percent. Softbank fell 0.9 percent and KDDI gained 0.2 percent. The Aquos Shot handsets made by Sharp Corp. for DoCoMo users sold themost in July, followed by Apple's new iPhone for Softbank users.

- NEC Corp. hired Morgan Stanley and Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. to sell as much as 200 billion yen (US$2.1 billion) in stock and bonds. NEC may offer new shares to Japanese and global investors as early as September. The company is planning to sell securities like subordinated debt. The sale may help NEC repay its debt and finance investments in businesses such as renewable energy as the global recession caused the company's biggest annual loss in seven years. The company lacks growth engines and faces further risks that losses at its semiconductor unit will persist. NEC is looking forward to generate profit of 10 billion yen (US$105.4 million) in the 12 months ending March 2010 after posting a loss of 296.7 billion yen (US$3.1 billion) last fiscal year. To help increase its revenue, the company last year agreed to create a rechargeable-battery factory with Nissan Motor Co. to meet demand from electric and gasoline- electric hybrid automobiles.

- Elpida Memory, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Development Bank of Japan to raise 30,000 million yen (US$314.85 million) through the issue of its Series 1 and Series 2 preferred shares. The proceeds from the offering will be used by Elpida to implement its business restructuring plan, which includes investment in research and development and in capital expenditure.

- Trend Micro posted consolidated net sales of 24,244 million yen (US$249 million), operating income of 7,229 million yen (US$74 million) and net income of 4,028 million yen (US$41 million) for the quarter. The Japan region experienced flat consumer sales, and reduced enterprise sales. In North America, consumer sales increased even though appreciation of the yen against the dollar affected this region. EMEA sales revenues were down slightly along with its local currency, in addition to the strength of the yen, total sales substantially decreased when compared to the same period last year.


- Nintendo Beefing Up Overseas Download Lineup For DSi Portable. Nintendo will make a wider array of software titles available in the U.S. and Europe for downloading to its DSi hand-held game system.

- Kaneka Corp. has broadened its solar cell-related business by taking a controlling interest in Sanvic Inc., a leading maker of solar cell sealing materials. Kaneka recently boosted its stake in Sanvic from 49.5% to 50.2% and turned the company into a consolidated subsidiary.

Korea

- KT Corp.'s second-quarter results were generally in line with our expectations, and are maintaining its fair value estimate. Sales declined 2.7 percent year over year. Fixed-line voice revenue fell more than 8 percent versus the year-ago quarter because of the service terminations and decreasing usage. Heightening competition in the Internet access business resulted in a 6 percent decline in this segment over the same period. Performance was also weak in the wireless segment this quarter, despite 4 percent year-over-year customer growth, as results were dragged down by poor handset sales and lower average revenue per user, which declined 4 percent because of lower voice revenue. The EBITDA margin improved from the same year-ago quarter, from 23 percent to 25 percent.

- LG Telecom will combine its music service, MusicOn, with content from local entertainment company MNet Media which will offer a catalogue of 1.3 million songs and more than 80,000 music videos. With the newmobile music portal, LG will compete with KT's Dosirak and SK Telecom's Melon services.

- Samsung Group' former Chairman Lee Kun Hee was found guilty of breach-of-duty for his role in causing losses at Samsung SDS Co. The Seoul High Court handed Lee a three-year prison sentence because he knew SDS illegally sold convertible bonds to his son Lee Jae Yong in 1999 to transfer control of the group. The sentence is suspended for five years, meaning the former chairman will continue to be free. Leehas one week to appeal the verdict. The judge opted not to imprison Lee, partly because of his role in helping the company' sales and profit grow. Suspending the jail term highlights the tendency by South Korean courts to offer clemency to heads ofthe nation's family-run business groups for white-collar crimes.

- uth Korea will set up an advanced data centre in Vietnam that aims to enhance the overall competitiveness of the Southeast Asian country. Government Information Data Centre is being developed to improve the performance of the government and facilitate regional and international cooperation that is vital for sustained growth and administrative efficiency. A new memorandum of understand (MOU) was signed which would expand cooperative ties. The MOU reached in Vietnam is a follow-up to a deal iron out in May, and outlines cooperation in information technology-related consulting, exchange of personnel, effective control of data and joint efforts to help related companies. A joint South Korea-Vietnam information communication technology committee will be convened early next year at the latest, which can allow more detailed working-level talks to begin.

Singapore

- Singapore Telecommunications' regional mobile subscriber base grew 33 percent from a year earlier to 262.2 million during the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. Indian mobile associate Bharti Airtel added 33 million customers from a year earlier and ended the quarter with 102.4 million subscribers. Indonesian associate PT Telkomsel's customer base grew by 23.6 million to 76 million. The firm's subscriber base in Singapore grew by 238,000 to 2.99 million. SingTel's Australian unit, Optus, saw its subscriber base rose by around 764,000 customers toabout 8 million.

Cambodia

- Millicom International Cellular SA has agreed to sell its Cambodian operations for US$346 million in cash to The Royal Group, its partner in the country. The transaction comprises Millicom's 58.4 percent holdings ineach of CamGSM, Royal Telecam International and Cambodia Broadcasting Services. It values the Cambodian operations at an enterprise value of US$605 million, representing an estimated 7.1 times 2009 EBITDA. Millicom earlier this year decided to divest its Asian operations and focus on Africa and Latin America. The units in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Laos will be classified as assets held for sale and that it had received expressions of interest from a number of parties.

Australia

- HutchisonTelecommunications (Australia) Ltd. swung to a first half net profit of A$552.0 million (US$465 million), boosted by the sale of its "3" business into a new mobile phone joint venture with Vodafone Australia. The group recorded a A$587.3 million (US$495 million) profit on the sale, which was completed in early June. Excluding the proceeds of the sale, the group's loss for the half ended June 30 narrowed to A$35.3 million (US$29.7 million) from a net loss of A$85.4 million (US$72 million) a yearearlier. Hutchison Australia and Vodafone agreed to merge their mobile phone units into a new entity. Vodafone Hutchison Australia giving them more power to take on Australia's mobile phone market leader Telstra and SingTel's Optus unit.

Indonesia

- PT Excelcomindo Pratama's first-half net profit was up 12 percent on year to 706.38 billion rupees (US$14.6 billion) because of the gains from telecommunication equipment leasing transactions. Operating revenue was raised to 7 percent. The slight increase in operating revenue, however, was offset by higher operating costs, which rose 19 percent. Its operating profit decreased 41 percent. Gains from leasing telecommunication equipment of 463.90 billion rupees (US$9.6 billion), compared withzero in the previous year drove net profit higher.

India

- Bharti Airtel Ltd. is running on a revised offer in its proposed merger with South Africa's MTN Group Ltd., possibly entailing a higher cash outgoing and additional debt to fund the deal. Bharti is working out the revised terms on an MTN share price increase and a rise in the cash component of the deal. The outgoings are likely to be higher than the US$4 billion originally estimated. Bharti will seek more bank loans to fund the transaction.

- India's investigation of the fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd. has nearly ended. The government has filed charges against seven people in the case. Satyam Computer Services has been at the center of India's biggest corporate fraud probe after former Chairman Ramalinga Raju overstated the company's assets by more than US$1 billion, triggering a drop in stock. A government-appointed board sold a controlling stake in Satyam to smaller rival Tech Mahindra Ltd. in April to prevent an exodus of clients and employees. Tax and finance ministry officials were continuing investigations into the draining off of funds.

- Bharti Airtel Ltd. plans to outsource the management and maintenance of its 80,000 kilometer-plus intercityoptic fiber cable network in a deal worth an estimated US$500 million over five years. Bharti has spoken to several telecom equipment companies and a contract will be issued shortly, the Web site quoted an executive privy to the development as saying.

- Dialog Telecom has launched a mobile phone network in Sri Lanka's former war zone, becoming the first international company to operate in the area. Dialog Telekom, a unit of Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd. and Sri Lanka's biggest mobile operatorhas set up base stations in northern areas previously held by the rebel Tigers. The northern expansion drive is part of Dialog's network plans to install 60 base stations in the war-torn areas at a cost of up to US$10 million this year. The government declared the end of fighting with Tamil rebels after crushing the guerrilla leadership in mid-May following a decades-long ethnic conflict.

About IRG

IRG is a financial advisory and investment firm focused on the core growth sectors in Asia with particular emphasis on the telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) sectors. IRG's Financial Advisory business is underpinned by the decades of experience in Asia of IRG's professionals, resulting in a unique network of relationships with global and Asian corporations, government institutions, and public and private equity investors. IRG has developed and structured many of the largest and most innovative transactions in the key growth sectors in Asia over the last decade. IRG's Investment business is supported by its corporate finance experience in Asia with over US$13 billion in completed public and private markets transactions executed by IRG professionals over their respective careers in Asia. IRG's platform covers Greater China (Hong Kong, China and Taiwan), Japan, Korea, Singapore, Southeast Asia, and Australia. For more information, please contact Juliette Chow at Tel: +852 2237 6000 or E-mail: juliette@irg.biz



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