Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
And Another Departure: HHS CIO Resigns
Politico: HHS Chief Information Officer Abruptly Resigns
HHS' chief information officer, José Arrieta, resigned unexpectedly Friday. Arrieta told senior leaders that he would stay on for up to a month to help with the transition, said two individuals with knowledge of his plans. He departs just four months after the department stood up the public data sharing hub HHS Protect, and a little over a year since he took over as chief information officer. (Ravindranath and Diamond, 8/14)
Federal News Network: HHS CIO Arrieta Unexpectedly Resigns
Arrieta becomes the second senior technology official to leave HHS in the last month. Todd Simpson, the chief product officer for HHS, left in July to be a deputy assistant secretary for DevSecOps at the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Miller, 8/14)
In other HHS news —
The New York Times: TeleTracking Technologies, Firm Running Coronavirus Database, Refuses To Answer Senators' Questions
The health care technology firm that is helping to manage the Trump administration’s new coronavirus database has refused to answer questions from Senate Democrats about its $10.2 million contract, citing a nondisclosure agreement it signed with the Department of Health and Human Services. In a letter dated Aug. 3 and obtained Friday by The New York Times, a lawyer for the Pittsburgh-based TeleTracking Technologies cited the nondisclosure agreement in declining to say how it collects and shares data. The lawyer refused to share the company’s proposal to the government, its communications with administration officials and other information related to the awarding of the contract. (Gay Stolberg, 8/14)
Modern Healthcare: HHS To Send $1.4 Billion To Children's Hospitals
HHS on Friday announced plans to distribute $1.4 billion in grant funds to free-standing children's hospitals. The tranche is HHS' latest distribution from the $175 billion Provider Relief Fund that lawmakers created to help healthcare providers offset coronavirus-related expenses and lost revenue. Hospitals have asked for Congress to add $100 billion to the fund, but negotiations on another relief package have stalled. (Cohrs, 8/14)
