Health and Human Services

Hawaii’s new portal, launched by the Department of Human Services, brings new technology into the process of connecting foster kids to caregivers, making the process faster and easier.

Federal COVID-19 relief funds will cover the cost of unlimited mental health consultations and 12 counseling sessions a year for community college students in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system.

State records show that Oregon is thinking about adopting a digital passport that can allow citizens to show proof of vaccination easily. However, the state doesn't know what kind of technology would be employed.

Kaiser Permanente, a health provider based in Oakland, Calif., said a technology system hiccup delayed COVID-19 test results to different local areas in the state. Kaiser claims the problem has been rectified.

DuPage Medical Group, the biggest independent physicians group in Illinois, told 600,000 patients that their data may have been stolen by criminals. Cyber attacks have become common for health-care organizations.

To track the spread of COVID-19 and its variants, health departments in counties across at least three states have turned to GIS mapping to monitor current and past cases as well as vaccine distribution.

As the COVID-19 delta variant has led to record infections and hospitalizations in Florida, the state's health agency has altered the way it reports COVID-related deaths, creating a misleading downward trend.

The standard U.S. vaccine card is a piece of paper — and thus quite easy to forge. So Holy Name Medical Center in New Jersey has turned to blockchain for secure and valid digital vaccine cards.

Despite recent spikes in COVID-19 cases, some states, such as Georgia, Florida and Nebraska, have scaled back efforts to share relevant health data to the public. Health experts are raising concerns about transparency.

The Virginia school district has contracted with a local health-care provider to provide technology and telehealth services to reduce student absences and travel times to and from clinics and hospitals.

A pilot project led by the South Carolina Department of Aging and Palmetto Care Connections aims to teach seniors the digital skills they need to combat social isolation and access telehealth services.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center in Kansas will allow demonstration drone flights under the supervision of the Federal Aviation Administration. The goal is to prepare for the delivery of medical supplies via drones.

State and local departments in North Carolina have turned to social media influencers to encourage younger people to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Influencers with different follower counts are being utilized.

The COVID-19 pandemic and various studies have exposed nationwide disparities in who has access to physical and mental health care, and a recent funding windfall for schools and broadband could help close those gaps.

Thanks to an initiative involving many public and private organizations, a digital COVID-19 vaccination card has been created using technology from the Boston Children's Hospital. A few states have adopted the card.

Eskenazi Health, a hospital in Indianapolis, Ind., was forced to send its ambulances to another hospital after an attempted ransomware attack yesterday morning. Employee and patient data appear to be safe at the moment.

COVID-19 infections are rising in Nebraska, but health districts can no longer report COVID stats for counties with fewer than 20,000 people because of an expired executive order.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office in New York has released a dashboard that informs the public of drug overdose trends in the local area. Multiple local police agencies shared data for the project.