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FCC funds help Iowa Health Systems build fiber optic network

April 14, 2009 By

Iowa Health System CEO Bill Leaver A large state network of hospitals and clinics announced the launch today of a 3,200 mile fiber-optic network that will link healthcare providers together across the state and beyond.

Iowa Health System C.E.O. Bill Leaver says the system is called "HealthNet Connect."

Leaver says HealthNet Connect will provide a resource to share healthcare information throughout Iowa, western Illinois and particularly, rural Iowa. He says it is one of the first networks to link up multiple states.

The network was developed under a pilot program of the Federal Communications Commission — with the F.C.C. chipping in $7.8 million, or 85% of the cost of the network.

The high speed network will allow hospitals and clinics to send patient records, x-rays and other data to the hospitals and clinics linked to the system. Khristine Jacobsen, the chief information officer at the Myrtue Medical Center in Harlan, says this system will help the western Iowa facility get more information from larger facilities.

Jacobsen says she represents all the rural health facilities in Iowa that’re striving to find a balance between technology and finances while still being able to deliver the best care to patients. Jacobsen says rural hospitals have invested a lot in upgrading to electronic records and now this network takes things a step further.

Khristine Jacobsen "To have a reliable, secure means of transmitting data is the first step in the future of healthcare," Jacobsen says. She says they want to be able to collaborate care with specialists from larger facilities while still maintaining their independence.

Leaver says the F.C.C. funds allow them to help the rural hospitals and others to connect to the system. They expect to have 28 hospitals hooked up in the next 90 days.

Leaver says the individual users will pay $120 a month to be connected to the system. He says as they develop the system, the members will make up a council that will determine the cost. The Iowa Hospital Association has developed a similar network. Leaver says the goal is to eventually share between systems.

 He says two things have to happen before they can do that, first he says they need to develop a single patient identifier system so they know for sure which patient they are talking about.

Secondly, Leaver says they need to create a "continuum of care document" that defines what information will be passed, so it can be confidential, patient privacy is protected and the information is relevant. This is the first multi-state network to be created under the F.C.C. program.  You can find more information on the Health Network here .

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Republicans want to ban government-paid cell phones for state workers

April 2, 2009 By

Republicans in the Iowa Senate suggest taxpayers should stop footing the bill for state workers who carry cell phones and blackberries.

Senator Kim Reynolds, a Republican from Osceola, says there should be a ban on state spending on cell phones and P.D.A.’s.

"At a time when we see businesses reducing base salaries of employees and management across-the-board anywhere from two to 10 percent, small businesses laying off and closing down, and Iowans making decisions every day between necessity and doing without to make ends meet, this is good policy," Reynolds says. "This is a small thing we can do to save taxpayer dollars."

Reynolds tried to get the Iowa Senate to ban cell phones for Iowa Department of Economic Development officials, but Democrats in the senate rejected her plan during debate of a bill that outlines state spending for the agency.

Senator Bill Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, says the department’s managers need flexibility to give some employees cell phones or blackberries to respond when business executives call outside regular business hours to talk about state grant applications.

"This is some good advice to them to take a look at that, but I believe it’s micromanaging our government and I think it’s actually going to add costs in the long run in people’s time in trying to go through this process to get approval," Dotzler said.

Senator Steve Kettering, a Republican from Lake View, argued ousting the president of General Motors, like President Obama did, was "micromanaging," and it doesn’t compare to cutting out cell phone contracts in state government. "This is an efficiency move and, I think, well within our purview to do," Kettering said. "Let’s get real."

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the senate and they rejected the cut-out-the-cell-phone idea. 

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

E-mail looks to create April Fool havoc

April 1, 2009 By

The worst prank played on Iowans on this April Fool’s Day may be the one that comes via e-mail. Over the past few years, April 1st has brought technology termoil to millions of computer users and this year is expected to bring more of the same.

Computer tech Mark Sommerfeld says your best defense is common sense. "If it seems too good to be true, it is," Sommerfeld says. "Don’t open e-mails from people you don’t know and don’t go to sites you’re unfamiliar with." April Fool’s Day is notorious for the sending of not-so-funny computer viruses and worms, so he says to think prevention.

"The best thing a consumer can do is make sure their system is up-to-date," he says. "Run Windows updates and have an up-to-date antivirus program." One worm making the rounds today is called "Conficker" and it blocks PCs from accessing the antivirus vendors’ and Microsoft’s websites. For more information about it, visit: www.confickerworkinggroup.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=ANY.RepairTools

 

Filed Under: Fires/Accidents/Disasters, Technology Tagged With: ,

No ban on cell phone use in cars — this year

March 3, 2009 By

A key lawmaker says bills which would ban cell phone use in vehicles or punish those caught putting on make-up or reading while driving will likely die in the Iowa legislature this year.

Senator Keith Kreiman, a Democrat from Bloomfield who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was considering a bill which would have created a new penalty for drivers who crash their cars while engaged in some sort of distraction inside the vehicle, like sending a text message or watching a video.

"It was an attempt to try and make the roadways a little safer from people who are distracted while they drive and doing some really crazy things," Kreiman says. The list of "crazy things" in the bill also included playing video games or even eating while driving.

Senator Steve Kettering, a Republican from Lake View, was on the three-member panel of senators that reviewed the proposal. "You could see that it was like swiss cheese with everybody poking holes in it," Kettering says.

Kreiman, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says lawmakers just couldn’t come up with a workable definition of distracted driving. He says legislators, for example, didn’t want to punish the parent who turns around to deal with a child trying to escape a car seat and gets in a wreck, but Kreiman says they do want to punish those who get in a crash because they’re sending text messages or checking their email instead of paying attention to the road.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Education chief warns some schools would lose high-speed access if ICN sold

March 2, 2009 By

The head of the Iowa Department of Education says if legislators decide to sell the state-owned fiber optics network, some of the state’s K-through-12 schools might lose the ability to connect to the Internet.

Last Friday, House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy said legislators should consider selling or leasing the Iowa Communications Network, but Iowa Department of Education director Judy Jeffrey says the ICN is the only way some students can surf the web. "There are some school districts who still don’t have high-speed access," Jeffrey says.

House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen said last week that students can just plug their computers into a jack in the wall and access the Internet. But Jeffrey says even where high-speed lines are available, the Iowa Communications Network provides a more reliable connection — and Jeffrey says that’s critical for the classes that are taught where students are at one site and the teacher is at another. "Many of these things could be accomplished through the Internet,"Jeffrey says, "but there are some parts of that two-way, audio-video streaming that are of a benefit to some of our students."

While Jeffrey isn’t going so far as to call on legislators to keep the Iowa Communications Network under state ownership, she is suggesting that if legislators sell or lease it, some accommodations should be made for schools in areas of the state where high-speed Internet access is unavailable. "Whether they decide to sell or lease or keep, I would hope they would preserve that option of our education enterprise having that access at a low cost," Jeffrey says.

Fiber optic lines for the Iowa Communications Network were installed in late 1990 and the system not only provides high-speed Internet access for schools, it serves as the phone and Internet service provider for all state government agencies. Legislators complain they spend millions keeping the network up-to-date and it may be time to sell the fiber optic system to the private sector.

Iowa Department of Education director Jeffrey made her comments this morning during an appearance on Iowa Public Radio.

Filed Under: Education, Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Governor says "we’ll see" about ICN sale

February 28, 2009 By

Governor Chet Culver has no opinion on a potential money-raising proposal floated Friday by a top Democrat in the Iowa House. House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines says the capacity of the state-owned fiber optic network is attractive to the private sector, and it may be time to consider selling or leasing the Iowa Communications Network.

Governor Culver was the first state official to publicly float the idea of selling the Iowa Lottery — an idea which has now been abandoned. But Culver doesn’t have an opinion yet on the potential sale of the Iowa Communications Network. “I’ve had no discussions with the leader on that and maybe it’ll come up at our leadership meeting next week,” Culver says. “It’s the first I’ve heard about it.”

House Republicans on Thursday said the nearly 20-year-old Iowa Communications Network is a drain on state resources and the state might be able to sell the I.C.N. and buy telephone and Internet hook-ups from the private sector more cheaply. McCarthy on Friday morning said the miles and miles of fiber optic cable laid throughout the state has never been used to its capacity, and he’s met with private sector businesses which are interested in buying or leasing all or part of the system.

On Friday afternoon, the governor didn’t reject the idea of selling the I.C.N., but he didn’t endorse it either. ”I don’t have enough information about it,” Culver told reporters. “We’ll see.”

The Iowa Communications Network was touted by former Republican Governor Terry Branstad as a way to bring “distance learning” to students in rural schools and workers began laying the network’s fiber optic cables in 1990.

Current Governor Chet Culver, a Democrat, on Friday afternoon signed into law a bill which provides nearly 60-million more dollars in state aid to all K-through-12 public schools for the academic year that begins in the fall of 2010. ”Without President Obama’s help on this economic recovery plan, we would not have been in the position to do this two percent increase, so we’re going to do everything we can to find that extra money for teacher quality and for professional development and most importantly for the per student amount of money,” Culver said. “So it’s really good news, despite the budget challenges.”

Culver and legislators have not yet decided whether to fulfill the four-percent increase in general state aid to schools that they promised schools for this fall. By state law, state policymakers are to set the general level of state aid to schools far in advance to give administrators time to plan budgets. If the governor and legislators do not forward the extra four percent to schools for this fall, schools do have the option of dipping into their cash reserves, or raising local property taxes to make up the difference.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Top Democrat says it may be time for state to sell or lease Iowa Communications Network

February 27, 2009 By

A top Democrat in the legislature says it’s time to start exploring the idea of selling or leasing the vast, state-owned fiber optics network that’s linked to every public school and National Guard armory as well as all state government facilities. House Democratic Leader Kevin McCarthy of Des Moines says in tough budget times, the Iowa Communications Network may be one state asset that can be sold.

"It may not be a viable thing to do after some analysis, but think we should move forward and have some analysis on it to see what the potential is there," McCarthy says. "I know that there’s been some private industry who’s been in my office that would like to look at it."

Critics of selling the almost 20-year-old I.C.N. in the past have said the state would reap now more than a dime for every dollar the state’s spent on the network. McCarthy says the network’s value is in the trunk of fiber optic cable that’s been laid throughout the state. "The base infrastructure is tremendous and the capacity it could hold is huge, now depending on who would get access to it, you may have to build infrastructure to connect to it," McCarthy says. "Maybe it could be regional. Maybe there could be a pilot project, I don’t know, but it’s the base fiber optic infrastructure itself that’s valuable. The capacity is just tremendous."

Republicans in the House floated the idea of selling or leasing the Iowa Communications Network yesterday, but McCarthy and other Democrats in the House voted down the idea. McCarthy says that bill wasn’t the appropriate vehicle for such a momentous decision. According to McCarthy, this would be a complex deal that probably wouldn’t be finalized until next year, if at all.  "Clearly, there’s some infrastructure here that is largely laying dormant, that is largely not profitable for the state, that has the potential to be so without us losing control over it, so I think that’s worth exploring," McCarthy says.

McCarthy is the guest on tonight’s IPTV program, "Iowa Press," and during the show’s taping this morning he floated the idea of selling the Iowa Communications Network. "One of the things I find intriguing of the Republican proposals for revenue that they put out this week was the possibility of leasing or selling the I.C.N., " McCarthy said. "I think that may have some merit."

According to McCarthy, it makes more sense to sell that Iowa Communications Network than it did to sell the Iowa Lottery, an idea which has been set aside. "The Lottery is more of a function that has ongoing revenue — $57 million a year we get," McCarthy said. "Well, here we have with the I.C.N. arguably the best infrastructure in the entire country and it largely remains dormant and we have a robust private enterprise in telecommunications that has no access to it."

McCarthy concedes the state-owned fiber optic system has been good for rural schools which use the network for "distance learning" classes, but McCarthy said a leasing deal that gives private companies access to the fiber optic lines could yield "quite a bit" in annual cash payments to the state.

 

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,
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