News From Around the Web
> U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs CIO Stephen Warren recently laid out his goals for 2014, the Federal Times reported, which include improving the agency's system baseline practices and procedures; configuration management; patch management; and elevated privilege review, according to an internal memo. Post
> The North East King County Regional Public Safety Communication Agency in Washington state recently reported the breach of a server that stored information on roughly 6,000 medical responses between three fire departments, Health Data Management reported. Compromised patient information included patient names, addresses, dates of birth, while compromised firefighter information included driver's license information, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and emergency contacts. Article
Health Insurance News
> Three prominent insurers lead the list of FlexJobs' top 100 companies for work-from-home opportunities in 2013, including UnitedHealth Group (ranked at No. 2), Aetna (No. 4) and Humana (No. 7), according to Employee Benefits Advisor. The health insurers cited attracting top talent and cost containment as key reasons for embracing flexible work arrangements. Article
> Hospital emergency rooms have become the new front line of Affordable Care Act enrollment, reported Kaiser Health News in collaboration with National Public Radio. The article profiled O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, Calif., which used state exchange funds to create a health benefits resource center near its ER to help thousands of uninsured patients apply for coverage. Article
Provider News
> For the first time, Medicare will release data on what it pays individual physicians, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday. This announcement follows last year's federal court decision in Florida reversing a 30-year-old injunction preventing the release of what Medicare paid individual doctors. Article
And Finally... Chris Christie was not "Born to Run" away from ridicule by The Boss. Article