A look at the week of October 26, 2010, in public advocacy for the IT channel

This week, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security have developed new procedures to address a domestic cyberattack.  Tech companies are being heavily affected by immigration policy in their ability to recruit and maintain the talent they need.  The Obama Administration has slowed in implementing the privacy provisions for medical data in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Washington, D.C., media also are looking to CompTIA’s latest healthcare IT research on why more medical facilities aren’t using electronic medical records.

DHS, Pentagon Team Up to Fight Domestic Cyberattacks — The Obama Administration adopted new procedures in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, reports The New York Times.  Under the new rules, the president would approve the use of the military’s expertise in computer-network warfare, and the Department of Homeland Security would direct the work.  The rules were deemed essential because most of the government’s computer-network capabilities reside within the Pentagon — while most of the important targets are on domestic soil, whether within the government or in critical private operations like financial networks or a regional power grid.

Immigration Stymies Tech Sector — Technology companies have long placed immigration reform at the top of their Washington wish list.  Technology firms rely on engineering talent that often comes from abroad and they want Capitol Hill to make it easier for them to hire the workers they need. Yet, according to Politico, industry leaders are split on the immigration policy and hope to separate the issue of highly skilled workers from the rest of the messy debate.

White House Slipping in Efforts to Protect Medical Data — According to the annual "Privacy Report Card" from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Obama Administration has slipped from its high mark in 2009 when it comes to protecting the privacy of medical information.  FierceHealthIT  says that EPIC, as the group is known, gave the administration a B for medical privacy in 2010, down from an impressive A-minus a year earlier.  Privacy experts are underrepresented on key committees and the willingness of the White House to press for strong safeguards for patients remains unclear.

D.C. Media Looks to CompTIA’s Health IT Study for Barriers to EMR Adoption — Why haven’t more healthcare providers made the switch to electronic medical records?  Washington, D.C., insider publication Politico examines how doctors and hospitals are responding to the requirement of the stimulus bill mandating that they switch to electronic records by 2014.  For information on the mind set of doctors, as well as statistics on spending and barriers to adoption, Politico Pulse, the newspaper’s health reform newsletter, examined CompTIA’s upcoming research for some answers.