The University of Maine police department is leading the investigation into the breach of two UMaine computer servers this spring. Sensitive data related to approximately 4,585 students were exposed as a result of attacks by hackers, according to a statement by the University.

The Obama Administration released new government investments July 2 for 66 broadband deployment projects, worth $795 million, to expand access to broadband connections and telemedicine in rural and underserved regions.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and his legal team made their first defense of Virginias lawsuit against the federal governments new healthcare reform legislation. Federal district court judge Henry E. Hudson listened to Virginias and the federal governments arguments on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius motion to dismiss the suit.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has awarded $96 million in grants to increase diversity in the health professions workforce and encourage nurses to choose careers as nurse educators.

Security IT company CynergisTek has released three new offerings designed for healthcare organizations with fewer than 100 beds to provide small healthcare organizations with IT and security services, which include IT support services, email technology and a HIPAA/HITECH security compliance review.

During an HIT Clinical Quality Workgroup update this week, Janet Corrigan, chair of the HIT Standards Committee, and Floyd Eisenberg, workgroup member, provided updates on three initiatives: re-tooling of 2011 meaningful use measures, results of an environmental scan of leading healthcare systems and an NQF Fast Track project.

In welcoming individuals to the 2014 environment, setting a framework for standards that will abbreviate the enrollment process will facilitate development of a simpler process for applicants, according to an update by the HIT Policy & Standards Committees Enrollment Workgroup on June 30.

After spending an estimated $127 million over nine years on its outpatient scheduling system project, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has not implemented any of the planned systems capabilities and is essentially starting over, according to a June 28 report published online by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).