Cerner's Illig to retire
Cerner Corp.'s co-founder and board vice chairman Cliff Illig is retiring from the company.
Illig co-founded the health IT company in 1979. He formerly served in multiple executive roles at Cerner including as interim CEO, president and chief operating officer and has served on its board since 1980. He has been credited with helping grow Cerner from a startup to a leading health IT company.
Illig will continue managing an array of business and civic interests, including his ownership in the Sporting Kansas City professional soccer club and deep involvement in Major League Soccer, officials said in an announcment. He will also continue his active investment in a number of early-stage entrepreneurial enterprises and his membership on the board of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. (Announcement)
JPM faces pushback on prices
On a billboard staring down the Westin from across Union Square in San Francisco, a droll advertisement from Color Genomics says “Making health decisions should be easier than booking a hotel for JPM.”
It's fitting, FierceBiotech reports, as some attendees have begun calling for a complete change in venue—tweeting under the hashtag #MoveJPM—to a city that can better handle the growing crowds and provide more meeting space at a more reasonable price, with many floating the biotech hub of San Diego as a possibility. (FierceBiotech)
House sends CIO bill to Senate
The House unanimously approved a bipartisan measure to elevate the role of the nation's chief information officer, Nextgov reported.
Sponsored by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., the Federal CIO Authorization Act would make the CIO a direct report to the Office of Management and Budget Director and make the federal CIO and federal chief information security officer presidentially appointed positions.
The same legislation passed the House in November but failed to make it through the Senate. (NextGov)