Fairfax County increases efficiency by putting land use data online

January 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For state and local governments, the storing and dissemination of records, information and data is an enormous but essential daily undertaking. From birth certificates to driver’s licenses and other important records, citizens, government employees and private enterprises need to be able to access the records that government agencies keep.

Unfortunately, for citizens, county employees and land developers in Fairfax County, Va., the ability to access the land use data that the county had on record was, until recently, a convoluted and difficult process.

This was a problem when you consider just how important land use data can be. From developers looking to identify the overall costs to purchase and develop a piece of land, to potential homebuyers looking for additional information on a home they’re considering purchasing, land use data is vital for many constituents.

The problems accessing land use data stemmed from records being kept in disparate, distributed systems and in a wide variety of formats. According to a recent article in Government Computer News, records were being stored in a variety of Oracle databases, 30-year old mainframe applications, and PDF files. This resulted in government workers and citizens scouring multiple databases and Web sites to find the information they were seeking.

To help alleviate the issue caused by disparate systems filled with a myriad of differing records, the county began creation of a new repository for land use data. This database consolidates all data, and ingests and analyzes both structured and unstructured data, to ensure that all county land use information is entered and stored in one place.

This new online repository also is searchable in multiple ways, including by address or keyword. This makes it significantly easier for county employees to find the information they’re seeking.

So far, the system has been so successful that the agencies are switching over and pulling the plug on existing mainframes months ahead of schedule. In fact, the repository is expected to be made available to the public next month.

By consolidating the existing, mainframe-based and disparate systems storing land use data, Fairfax County has helped to greatly increase the efficiency of their workforce. By moving this information online, they’re also making it easier for developers, builders, homebuyers and other constituents to find the records and information they need.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Data sharing and analytics driving improved law enforcement

December 7, 2011 By 1 Comment

Law enforcement agencies are under extreme pressure to solved crimes, protect citizens and otherwise apprehend individuals who skirt or directly violate the rules which govern our country. Unfortunately, the nature of law enforcement makes it an extraordinarily reactive undertaking. After all, you can’t exactly know when and where a crime is going to be committed. Or can you…?

According to a recent article in Government Computer News, local law enforcement agencies are starting to utilize advanced technologies and systems to consolidate, analyze and interpret the mountains of data that they and other state and local agencies collect.

The data is shared between agencies, such as prison systems, police forces, departments of motor vehicles and others, and is then analyzed to help identify trends that allow police to better distribute their resources. This is extremely important in today’s economic environment where state and local governments are fighting to make ends meet and often have to cut already limited police forces.

In addition to saving money, these systems can help to better protect citizens. According to the article, these systems are enabling police to track individuals that are of interest to the police. Should they be arrested in other regions, be released from prison or otherwise have a change in their status, the local authorities are notified.

Utilizing this technology, police can even analyze whether particular kinds of crime increase or decrease when individuals are incarcerated or released. If a particular type of criminal activity increases when an individual is released, there could be a correlation.

And these Web-based applications are working. In Santa Cruz, Ca., a program designed to predict which geographic region is susceptible to criminal activity at a particular time is enabling police to alter their patrols accordingly.

The system is helping the police determine the kind of crime and potential target so they know where to look and what to look for. As a result, they’ve seen a significant decrease in crime in those areas, and in the immediate surrounding areas. That’s important since it means that the criminal activity wasn’t simply displaced.

When it comes to law enforcement, it appears that the more data that local authorities have and the more they can analyze it, the more likely they are to prevent crime, instead of just react to criminal activity. But that’s not only true in law enforcement. Analyzing and sharing data via Web-based applications is helping government agencies avoid other forms of criminal activity.

In a previous post, we discussed a program that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) runs that assigns star ratings to health plans and rewards the plans with the highest ratings financially. By creating a Web application where health plans are required to upload patient-level data about the services they are providing, CMS is ensuring that the information they provide is accurate and that the ratings aren’t fraudulently inflated.

Web-based applications are enabling civilian and law enforcement agencies to properly aggregate, share and analyze utilize the mountains of data that they are perpetually storing. When utilized properly and shared between agencies, this data can help to ensure that criminal activity is reduces, fraud is eliminated and citizens are protected, proactively.

Filed Under: Business Intelligence, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Online system driving better preventative care for Medicare subscribers

November 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There’s an old saying that people tell others when something goes wrong or things aren’t going well. They say, “Well, at least you still have your health.” Ultimately, it never makes anyone feel better, but the thought is that people need to put things in perspective. Money, material processions, none of these things are as important as being vital, healthy and alive.

People shouldn’t mess around when it comes to their health, and the government isn’t either. In an effort to ensure that health plans were offering quality service to their members, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced their star rankings for health plans. These ratings are designed to rank health plans based on the quality of care they provide for their members and areposted on Medicare.gov so that Medicare members can reference them when selecting a plan.

How are the star rankings calculated? Well, health plans are required to submit Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) information, which measure care and service. This information is then carefully vetted by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for accuracy and passed on to CMS, whose vendor partners, like Edaptive Systems, utilize algorithms to assign the star ratings.  Other measures of health care are also included in the final analysis.

Although this system has been in place for years, the stakes have recently been upped to drive health plans to embrace higher-quality care. CMS has instituted bonuses to provide an incentive for health plans to improve their star ratings thus improving the quality of care that they offer to their members.

Obviously, with budgets being tight and government spending being slashed due to the ongoing economic downturn, it’s important to ensure that these bonuses are truly going to health plans that are providing the type of quality service and preventive medicine that is reflected in their submitted HEDIS information. Checks and balances have to be in place to ensure that this information is accurate and true-to-life.

To help provide an additional layer of analysis in addition to the rigorous systems in place, CMS is working to establish a Web application where health plans will be required to submit patient-level data which is checked for accuracy. Essentially, they’re being required to provide the actual data about the patient, the tests or treatments they received and other information that can back up the summary data that they submitted originally. By analyzing this patient-level data against the summary data, CMS can better analyze the information they receive from health plans and ultimately ensure that the star ratings that they’re assigning are accurate.

This results in two very positive outcomes. First, the bonus incentives being given to health plans with high star ratings are accurate and the government is giving money to plans that are truly working to deliver high quality of care and preventive medical tests and procedures. Second, by eliminating any waste and providing a tough set of checks and balances, the program can truly drive lower performing health plans to improve their quality of care.

One shouldn’t mess around with their health, and a big part of preserving health is high quality healthcare. CMS’s star ratings can ensure that people are receiving quality care and the preventive medical tests and procedures that ensure they’ll stay vital and healthy. By creating this online system, CMS is enabling an incentive program that will drive improved care for Medicare patients. They’re also simultaneously preventing inaccurate claims by health plans and working to reduce government waste.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Getting the government online and ready for tablets

November 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Tablet computers, like the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom and Kindle Fire, are all of the rage in households across America. With a wide range of applications, from games to video communication, available in online app stores, tablets are ushering in a new age of advanced capabilities, connectivity and mobility.

It was only a matter of time before these tablets began to find their way into the workplace. As employees began demanding the same advanced, mobile capabilities on the job as they did in their homes, government agencies began to look at tablets and identify ways that they could be utilized to increase efficiency and help accomplish their mission more effectively.

In fact, it was recently reported that the VA would acquire up to 100,000 tablet computers for use in their health centers. Also, according to a Nextgov article that was published today, the Android operating system that runs on tablets and other mobile devices is expected to win approval for use on military networks by April 2012. All proof that mobile devices and tablets are coming en force to the federal government.

However, the mobility and flexibility that mobile devices, such as tablets, bring to the federal government is wasted if the information and data that agencies need isn’t available outside of the office.

For many government agencies, records are stored either physically as paper, or in secure networks. This makes it impossible to access the data stored within unless one is physically in the office. If agencies are going to truly take advantage of the mobility that tablets provide, Web applications that make data available from anywhere are essential.

The ability to pull up records and requisite information from anywhere is one of the largest draws of tablets. By moving records and data into systems where they can be accessed online, and requiring authentication to ensure only government employees can access them, government agencies can bring everything an employee needs right to their tablet, regardless of their location.

Whether it is Department of Agriculture employees in the field, or Veterans Affairs doctors in examination rooms, the applications are almost limitless.

There’s no doubt that tablets are making a huge push into government agencies. The mobility and advanced capabilities that tablets can deliver are certainly worth the investment, but to truly make tablets a mission-critical technology for agencies moving forward, government records and data need to be available and need to be online.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Embracing telework requires a government online

November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For the longest time, working from home and teleworking were viewed as new-age, trendy workplace concepts reserved for the private sector. However, over the course of the past decade, the federal government has begun to look at telework in a completely new light.

In fact, in 2010, the Telework Enhancement Act was passed, which required agencies to establish telework policies, assign a telework managing officer to oversee telework programs and incorporate telework into continuity-of-operations (COOP) planning. But why is telework so important in the federal government today that agencies would be required to implement it?

Ultimately, telework can benefit both the employee and the employer – federal agencies in this case – when executed properly. Employees that are allowed to work on their own terms can become significantly more productive. Teleworking can enable time spent on trains, in cars or on buses getting to offices to instead be spent on accomplishing an agency’s mission. And eliminating commutes can have a positive impact on workplace morale and employee satisfaction, which can also help to increase retention.

By enabling telework, agencies can also ensure COOP by enabling employees to work from home when weather, or other situations, make it unsafe or impossible to get into the office.

But those aren’t the only benefits of telework. Employees that are out of the office consume less resources and utilities, such as electricity and water, at a savings to the government. They also require less workspace in the office, which can help reduce the amount spent on real estate. Simply put, telework equals savings. And that’s incredibly important in light of today’s ongoing federal budget and economic issues.

Although the benefits of telework are staggering, it does create some challenges. Having a distributed workforce can lead to issued with collaboration, communication, data sharing and access to information.

For example, how can a federal employee work outside of the office if the information, data or files they need to do their job are only available inside the office, either physically stored as paper or saved on government networks? How can they work collaboratively with others if they can’t easily share data between individuals? And how can they access the applications and systems that they use everyday in their jobs?

There is a solution. Through proper records management and the creation of online applications, government agencies can make all of the information, data and records needed for an employee to do their job available from anywhere via a simple Internet connection.  By enabling data and records to be entered and accessed online, government employees can store, search and share data as effectively outside of the office as inside of the office.

The same can be said for mission-critical applications as well. Traditionally, government applications were built and hosted in datacenters and only available on government networks. By building and hosting these applications in the cloud, they can be available online to all employees and in any location.

Telework is making “work” something that federal employees do, not somewhere they go. But for telework to ever truly be successful and effective, agencies need to ensure that the data, records and applications that are integral for employees to do their jobs are available regardless of where these employees are located. By moving these systems online, the government can embrace telework and the many benefits it delivers.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,