Rock Creek Roundup (May 7 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy May 07, 2010 0 Comments

Florida fights Medicaid fraud with technology, California and Colorado government agencies take innovative approaches to reducing drunk driving, the DoD CIO reminds us to “remain fearless” in the face of social media skepticism, and government agencies use social media to give real-time updates on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—One state agency is fighting fraud, one voice at a time. Earlier this week, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) announced that starting July 1, it would be rolling out a pilot project in the Miami-Dade area. The project’s focus? Ensuring that the home health care workers assigned to Medicaid patients are actually present and providing the services. Using voice verification technology, the administration will be able to match the prerecorded voice of the assigned nurse or provider with the person calling into the system from the home of the Medicaid recipient. Additionally, the agency will be providing health care providers with online access to schedule visits, track previous visits to the home, and verify that billing logs are correct. As government agencies take steps to combat fraud on all levels, we imagine we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of innovative uses of technology.

—Florida is just one state making smart use of technology. Other states, including Colorado and California, have government agencies working on creating or facilitating technology with a different focus—trying to curb drunk driving instances by ensuring that citizens have a safe way home after enjoying a few libations. For example, the Colorado Department of Transportation recently released an iPhone app aptly titled R-U-Buzzed that allows smartphone users to estimate their blood alcohol level so they can determine their suitability to drive. And California’s Office of Traffic Management recently announced a partnership with the wildly popular Taxi Magic service. In many of the state’s major metropolitan areas, users need to just click the “Magic Book” button and the application calls the cab company, and gives the company the person’s location so the taxi can be dispatched. We love to see government agencies developing and seeking out practical applications that can have a tangible impact on people’s day-to-day lives.

—“Remain fearless. There will be a lot of intimidation.” That’s how to handle social media skepticism, according to Tamie Lyles-Santiago, senior policy advisor for the Defense Department’s chief information officer at this week’s 2010 Open Government and Innovations Conference. During her presentation, Lyles-Santiago urged attendees to focus on the business side of social media when talking to higher ups who may be a little social media shy. By touting the collaboration benefits that social networking provides, it may be easier to get top officials to buy into the larger program. Lyles-Santiago’s advice is solid for government employees at local, state and federal levels—if you anticipate or encounter pushback from leaders, highlight the business, collaboration and productivity benefits that social media provides…and keep on moving forward.

—Citizens looking for accurate, up-to-date information about the response to the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico need look no further than the social media sites they’re already visiting. Thanks to joint efforts by the United States Coast Guard, Mineral Management Service (MMS), and BP, a jointly produced website, DeepwaterHorizonResponse.com is up and running, at the same time as information is being disseminated throughout various social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Social media performs particularly well in crisis situations like these, and we applaud the agencies involved in moving quickly to get the information out to the public.

—For crowdsourced information on how the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill is impacting citizens, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has launched a mapping tool that allows people affected by the spill to report what they’re seeing. As Mashable notes, the reports sent in by people may be more interesting than the map itself.

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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