VA official says backlog down 36 percent since March; FDA accredits GS1 as issuing agency for UDIs;

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> At a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey said the Veterans Benefits Administration has putting a big dent in the backlog of Veterans' disability compensation and pension claims, having cut the backlog by 36 percent since last March, GovernmentHealthIT reported. Article

> Experian Data Breach Resolution has announced its 2014 Data Breach Industry Forecast, a white paper outlining key trends companies should watch out for next year. According to the paper, the number of data breaches both experienced and reported is expected to rise, with no signs of a slowdown. Announcement

> GS1, a global standards organization, was accredited this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an issuing agency for unique device identifiers (UDIs). Announcement

EMR News

> The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released a security risk analysis tip sheet to help eligible providers conduct security risk analyses, required not only pursuant to HIPAA's security rule, but also to meet both Stages 1 and 2 of Meaningful Use. Article

Health Insurance News

> More than 60 percent of the target population for the health insurance exchanges do not understand fundamental health insurance concepts, according to a December Health Affairs study. Article

And Finally... Not even being POTUS can keep you from embarrassing your teenage daughters. Article