Daily Archives: July 29, 2022

Regular COVID-19 Screening in Schools Can Control Infections, Limit Closures – Contagionlive.com

Posted: July 29, 2022 at 5:31 pm

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompted schools worldwide to cancel in-person learning for weeks and months, but a new study argues schools canand shouldsafely operate with a mix of vaccination and regular testing of unvaccinated students.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, is based on a model of school transmission developed based on contact data and pilot screenings from 683 French schools.

Corresponding author Vittoria Colizza, PhD, of Sorbonne University, said the experience of the pandemic has made 2 things clear: having schools open leads to an increase in community transmission and yet keeping schools open should be a primary objective to safeguard the educational, emotional, and social needs of children.

Assessing vaccination and protocols in schools is therefore key to maintaining schools open in light of a continuously evolving pandemic, Colizza and colleagues said.

Using data from 2 periods in 2021, the authors created a model that could be used to see how various interventions might affect transmission and risk in a school setting. The authors calculated school-specific reproductive numbers for COVID-19 for both the Alpha and Delta variants.

For the Alpha variant, the reproductive number was 1.40 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.35-1.45) in the primary school and 1.46 (95% CI 1.41-1.51) in secondary schools. They noted that that rate was higher than the rate estimated via community surveillance.

For the Delta variant, they found something of a divergence, with a significantly higher reproductive number in primary schools, 1.66 (95% CI 1.60-1.71), and a lower reproductive number in secondary schools, 1.10 (95% CI 1.06-1.14).

Using those rates, the investigators calculated that if the schools tested 75% of unvaccinated students on a weekly basis and tested any student with symptoms, they could reduce cases by 34% in primary schools and 36% in secondary schools.

Moreover, such a regime would translate into fewer lost days of instruction. In fact, the authors said such a strategy could reduce lost days by 80% compared to simply testing symptomatic children and then closing their classes.

Our analysis indicates that regularly screening the school population is efficient in preventing infections while reducing absence from school, especially in settings where the school population is not yet vaccinated, coverage is low to moderate, or vaccine protection has largely waned, Colizza and colleagues wrote.

The investigators said even with masks and other precautions, transmission is likely at schools. They said their model affirms that a regular testing protocol is a critical component of viral mitigation at school.

It also provides a cost-benefit analysis considering successive variants, comparing multiple protocols, and evaluating the key role of adherence in the context of partly vaccinated school populations, they wrote.

Notably, while the authors said their goal was to limit both community spread and missed days of school, they said it is not clear that reactive classroom closures are even particularly effective, given that the virus can spread silently, and some people do not have obvious symptoms. They said proactive screening allows school officials to detect more cases, enabling them to take a more targeted approach when deciding which students need to isolate.

Colizza and colleagues emphasized that vaccinating students is essential. While vaccination of teachers is beneficial, the authors said it does not significantly limit spread, even if a schools entire teaching staff is vaccinated.

This results from the small number of teachers and the observed lower rate of interaction they have with students, and it is confirmed even when community incidence in adults is much higher than in the student-age classes, they wrote.

The authors concluded that COVID-19 is likely to continue to be a factor affecting public health and education for the foreseeable future.

Regular testing remains a key strategy to epidemic control in school settings with moderate vaccination coverage or following waned vaccine protection, all the while minimizing days lost, they concluded.

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BA.5 Shows COVID Is Evolving Fast. Why Aren’t We Fighting Back? – New York Magazine

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A transmission-electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus particles (pink) replicating within the cytoplasm of an infected CCL-81 cell (teal). Photo: NIAID Integrated Research Facility/NIAD

Were still in the midst of one of the largest COVID waves of the pandemic, and its fueled by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, the most contagious and most immune-evasive coronavirus strain yet. Scrippss Dr. Eric Topol, who has been one of the loudest voices sounding the alarm over BA.5, has repeatedly described the strain as the worst COVID variant on account of it having more fitness, growth advantage, and immune evasion than any of its predecessors. According to the latest CDC estimate, BA.5 now accounts for nearly 82 percent of all new infections in the U.S., where it has prompted a surge in reported cases, test-positivity rates, COVID wastewater levels, and, thanks to its immune evasion, reinfections. Last week, it even infected President Biden with his first-ever COVID case; this week, an outbreak hit the Senate.

The BA.5 wave has also been driving up the number of U.S. hospitalizations, along with a slight rise in the number of COVID deaths, but it hasnt produced severe outcomes anywhere near the scale seen in previous major waves. Indeed, the rapid onset of BA.5 and its subvariant brethren (BA.4, BA.2, and BA.2.12.1) without a corresponding surge in severe COVID has prompted a sense that were finally in a new phase of the pandemic where new strains come and go, COVID continues to spread and surge and unsettle, but our bolstered immune systems hold the line and we avoid the recurring nightmare of mass illness and death.

Scientists are still studying the new variant, and the BA.5 wave has been playing out differently in various countries, likely due to a complicated combination of factors. But while the far less severe impact of the BA.5 wave in the U.S. has, thus far, been a welcome departure from what weve encountered before, some COVID experts, like Topol, remain concerned. Though its been more than two and a half years since COVID arrived, were still not staying ahead of the virus.

Topol and immunologist Akiko Iwasaki just co-wrote a paper calling for an accelerated Operation Warp Speedlike initiative to pursue nasal COVID vaccines, which could provide mucosal immunity that stops the virus in the part of the body where it starts. Topol has also pushed for the development of other potentially variantproof vaccines, like pan-sarbecovirus and pan-coronavirus vaccines. This week, the White House hosted a summit on future COVID vaccines attended by many of the top minds in the field, including Iwasaki, but its far from clear that any of the promising ideas and goals discussed there will get the government funding theyd need to have an impact on the pandemic anytime soon.

I recently had a long conversation with Topol about BA.5, why hes troubled by it, and what the variant and its arrival portend for the future.

On one hand, here in the U.S. weve seen a significant drop in hospitalizations and deaths amid the wave of cases of BA.5 and the other earlier Omicron subvariants. But youve been calling attention to the fact that in some other countries, BA.5 has fueled some alarming spikes in cases, hospitalizations, and even deaths. So, is the U.S. through the worst of this?I agree that, overall, if you look at it globally, hospitalizations and deaths from BA.5 are not going to reach levels anywhere close to Omicron or previous waves, but theyre not trivial elevations. Deaths are going up over the whole world from BA.5. Our wave is still playing out right now. Were poorly vaccinated here in the U.S. poorly boosted, especially in high-risk people like seniors. So I wouldnt want to conclude that were out of the woods. We could be in for more trouble before the BA.5 wave is finished.

Im actually a very optimistic person. When we were coming down from Delta and had not seen Omicron, I thought, Wow, the worst is over. Then Omicron proved to be an onslaught in terms of spread by any metric as well as the toll it took in more serious outcomes. So with that background, the recent CDC report that came out about the vaccines really has me worried.

Whys that?Its not like all of a sudden theres going to be a variant with total immune escape from vaccines. But in the CDC morbidity and mortality report, it said that two-dose vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization for the original BA.1 Omicron strain were not talking about infections because were well past having good vaccine coverage for that but for hospitalization, it dropped to 61 percent for two doses. And for BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, the latter of which is more like BA.5 but not as bad, two doses against hospitalization dropped to 24 percent. That should set off alarms because we dont have a lot of people with a third shot. For three shots the efficacy jumped back up, but only to 52 to 69 percent with BA.2/2.12.1.

Kaiser Southern California has also had two reports on vaccine effectiveness in their big network of patients, and they show the same attrition against hospitalizations as was seen in this much larger new comparison from the CDC.

So how can you feel good about these data? I dont see how. This narrowing benefit of the vaccines, which I think is due to more immune escape, not due to more infections in the unvaccinated, its still a very big gap. To drop down almost 40 points in effectiveness against hospitalizations with only two shots this should be a signal that something is going on with our vaccine protection. But you dont see anybody raising concerns about this. All you hear is happy talk that we have great protection from hospitalizations and deaths. I dont know about that. These data dont support that.

So that suggests that hospitalizations will likely keep going up in the BA.5 wave? Yeah, theyre going to go up. The number of current U.S. hospitalizations is already over 40,000. I wouldnt be surprised if it gets to 50,000 or 60,000. It isnt going to get near 160,000, like it did with BA.1, only because so many people got infected with BA.1 and theres some cross-immunity. But the number of hospitalizations has been going up substantially. It had gotten down to 12,000 and now back up past 40,000. If you look at the curve, it has a new increased slope since BA.5 started to take effect, and its still on the way up. The question is does it get to 50,000? Does it get to 60,000? Thats a lot of sick people in the hospital.

And the other thing I would just say, parenthetically, is with BA.5, Ive never seen so many infections in my personal network, including family, friends, colleagues. Ive never seen infections last as long. After 10 days, still testing positive, after day 12, 13, 14. The behavior of BA.5 is different and the fact that our CDC still adheres to this five-day isolation recommendation, its incredulous. Theyre actually promoting spread by doing that.

Theres no question that this is a different effect from BA.5 in terms of the length of infectiousness, how much its spread, and maybe not more hospitalizations. But remember, thats with Paxlovid, which now has 90 percent efficacy in preventing hospitalizations for high-risk people.

Right, if a variant emerges that Paxlovid isnt as effective against, that could suddenly leave us much more vulnerable to severe COVID again.Yes. And I think most of us whove really zoomed into the mutations on MPro, the main protease of the virus that Paxlovid works on Id say its just a matter of time. Its inevitable. Already these mutations have appeared naturally because of the pressure that the virus is getting from Paxlovid. Its inevitable. Were going to see resistance to this drug, which, after the vaccines, is the second-most-important advance that we have had to take on the virus. But it may be short-lived, it could be that by years end or the beginning of next year, we wont have Paxlovid as a remedy or rescue anymore. Theres no question Paxlovid is helping keep the hospitalization number down.

Updated booster shots that better target the Omicron lineage are on the way. Will those help us stay ahead of the virus?We need variantproof boosters. No more chasing variants because we are not very good at that. Just get the vaccines that would take on all sarbecovirus and betacoronavirus so we can put an end to the whole idea of trying to anticipate the variant that well need a booster for. We know how to do that. We have over 25 incredibly potent broad neutralizing antibodies. We can make vaccines that induce several of those antibodies to never have to worry about a variant in terms of having protection.

But those arent the boosters arriving this fall.No. The booster plan is for BA.5. And saying that will be here for the fall is highly optimistic. It took seven months to get a BA.1 booster. Then the government sent the pharmaceutical companies back to go get us a BA.5 booster. Thinking that could be available in October or November thats highly optimistic. And we certainly dont know what variant is going to be with us at that time. It wont be BA.5 anymore. Therell be something else that will outcompete BA.5. Once that BA.5 booster is available, it may not work against the then circulating virus because it knows how to evolve.

Why arent these better boosters in the pipeline instead?Well, its pretty clear that Congress is unwilling to fund a dollar more for COVID. And thats, of course, the Republicans blocking any COVID bill. But there are even people in the Biden administration who arent sure how much these next-generation vaccines including variantproof, universal, and nasal are going to help us. Thats just, I think, being out of touch with the science. And any COVID bill dedicated to getting ahead of the virus would need to include better drugs, more drugs. Because we have to plan for Paxlovids obsolescence, and we dont have anything to replace it yet but there are many good candidates in the pipeline.

There seems to be at least anecdotal evidence that a small number of people are now getting reinfected within a matter of weeks. What do you make of that?Those added mutations that we first saw with BA.2.12.1 and now in BA.4 and BA.5 that immune evasion is whats responsible for all these early reinfections. Thats where this virus is going. Its got a flashing light: I have found ways to evade your immune system, and I can keep building on that. Reinfection is perhaps the best real-time signature of immune evasion.

Whats your sense of where long COVID is going? Is there any other way to avoid it than just not catching regular COVID in the first place, which is clearly getting harder to do at this point in the pandemic? Is there some other way to handle it?Well, youre right. Avoid the infection, first. Then, if you had a vaccine, that seems to avoid the chance of long COVID to some extent, but we also have to have treatments for it we dont have any yet that are validated. We have a billion dollars from the NIH toward long COVID, but youre not seeing any real contributions that funding has advanced yet. And we know that long COVID is not a homogeneous disorder. There are different components. Some are much more immune-mediated, some are much more autonomic nervous system-mediated. So theres a lot to unpack with that.

So what are you most worried about with regard to the future evolution of SARS-CoV-2?The known unknown, which is that this virus still has many more ways to become more resistant to our immune response and we should plan on that. We keep thinking weve reached some kind of limit. But the most important lesson from BA.5, to me, is that its worse. If it had come without BA.1 as a predecessor the only reason BA.5 doesnt look horrific right now is because BA.1 had built up the immunity wall. More than half of Americans have had BA.1 or BA.2. And were now seeing in BA.5 the most innovation, the most growth advantage, the most fitness of the virus yet and were just not dealing with it.

If some people think, Oh, it cant get worse, its going to get better. We dont know that. You have to plan for the worst-case scenario. And the worst-case scenario is that the virus further increases its immune evasion. Its already picking up things that worked in prior versions of the virus: For instance, BA.2.12.1 and BA.5 have the same key L452R mutation that the Delta variant had. Anyone who thinks the virus doesnt have room to evolve further is just not paying attention.

Is that a near-term threat? Can we predict a timetable for any of this evolution? No, but its accelerating. We know that much. The time its taken to get from BA.1 to BA.5 is not a good tempo for a whole new lineage to outcompete the prior one and achieve dominance worldwide.

So it doesnt look good. These new strains are clearly happening more frequently than they used to. In the first 12 months of the pandemic, there was no evolution of the virus. We basically had the original Wuhan strain, and then D614G, which arguably only had minor functional consequences. Alpha was mild compared to anything weve seen subsequently, then there was Delta, which obviously had more infectiousness and virulence. But now, with this whole Omicron family, its moving at a very rapid pace.

We cant predict the new mutations. We cant predict the timing. We can try to extrapolate, but even extrapolating, we had no good semblance of what Omicron would look like with its 57 spike mutations in BA.1. No one accurately predicted we would be looking at that.

And its too fast.Its the known unknown. Yeah.

UCL Genetics Institute director Francois Balloux recently explained that he wasnt as concerned about the emergence of further Omicron subvariants as he was about the reemergence of COVID lineages, like Delta, that have undergone a kind of underground evolution. So a strain circulating in some isolated part of the world; or one within an animal reservoir, i.e. an animal population the virus has spilled into from humans; or one that has evolved via a long-term chronic infection in someone who is immunocompromised which is how many scientists believe Omicron itself evolved. How worried are you about these paths?When an immunocompromised person gets infected, they really cant mount a good immune response. So the virus, instead of what its been doing globally for two and a half years, goes through this accelerated evolution in that person, picking up mutations left and right. It basically has unchecked potential to evolve in that person, and then that evolved virus infects other people. Thats pretty certainly what happened with Omicron.

I agree that the animal reservoirs are also a concern because weve already seen spillover to many different species, including hamsters, mink, cats, and deer. So thats another way that the virus can evolve, in an animal reservoir, and come back to spillover in humans.

We also havent contained the virus around the world, so it can continue to evolve through the millions of infections each day. And there are tens of millions of immunocompromised people in the world. It just takes one person, really, to trigger things. And then you have all these hybrid versions of the virus that were seeing, all these recombinants, which could bring about the worst elements of different parts of the virus. Most of the public focus on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has been spike-centric, but there are lots of other parts of the virus that can be troubling, that can make the virus more difficult to deal with. So again, theres lots of room for this virus to go.

There are too many paths. If youre just taking odds, and you have all these different routes and tens of millions of people that are immunocompromised around the world, are you going to bet against the virus evolving into something thats more challenging than what we have today? I dont think so.

Is there anything we can do to defend against COVID strains spilling back over from animal populations?No. No defense at all, unfortunately.

You and some other scientists have suggested that Omicron and particularly BA.5 are so different from any previously dominant COVID strains that in many ways we are now effectively dealing with a new virus. Youve also pointed out that if the original Omicron strain had the characteristics of BA.5,the Omicron wave would have been far worse. I understand thats a way to highlight why people should be concerned about BA.5 and what it means for COVIDs evolution, but is that actually possible? Can a BA.5 evolve on its own without there first having been a BA.1?Its a good question because we dont really know how BA.5 evolved. We just know it did. And could BA.5 have come in from an immunosuppressed person de novo without BA.1? Possibly. We just dont know. Basically new mutations showed up. Four key mutations showed up beyond BA.2 that have caused a lot of trouble, but we dont really know precisely how that occurred.

But we know why it occurred.Yeah. The virus is under pressure from vaccines and prior infections and now Paxlovid. So its finding ways to stand up to find new hosts. All viruses want is to find a new host. So they just keep mutating, and some of them dont work. Most of them fortunately dont work, but a lot of them do, and those are what were seeing.

Meanwhile, globally, were still giving COVID as many opportunities to evolve as we were a year ago if not more because now there are reinfections.Yeah, if not more. Were putting pressure on the virus to find new ways to circumvent our immune response and thats what it continues to do.

And at the same time, weve collectively done virtually nothing to prepare for whatever evolves next.Right. From day one of this pandemic, we have never tried to get ahead of the virus. Labs have come up with all sorts of broad neutralizing antibodies that would be variantproof. Nasal vaccines, to block transmission, to achieve mucosal immunity there are 12 in clinical trials. There are all these drugs in the hopper. Pan-coronavirus vaccines. These are all academic pursuits or largely from small companies. There hasnt been a national or a much larger international initiative to get ahead of the virus.

By initiative, you mean money.Money and an Operation Warp Speed 2, with collaborations and private-public industry partnerships. And not necessarily just the U.S., it should be global. But you dont see that, and its so stupid because look how successful we were. Operation Warp Speed showed how good we could be at this. But we havent done anything. We keep reacting and chasing instead of doing the things we know would get ahead of it.

I look at the data, and it says we can do better than this. I know we can; the science is there. Its just waiting in the hopper to be activated, but were just not taking it seriously enough. And I want to get out of this thing. I thought we were out of it as we came down with Delta in June 2021. Who wouldve thought we would get to now, a year-plus later, and theres still no light ahead of us? Thats why I want to take the aggressive get-ahead stance.

It seems like political will for that stance is nonexistent in the U.S. right now.Its also internationally. You dont see the U.K. which has been a model for science in the pandemic or many places around the world that are capable of it talking about going after pan-coronavirus vaccines. Why arent we making this a global priority?

Im optimistic that we can seize and achieve containment of the virus once and for all. Ive been optimistic like that for many months, but I feel like Im a Lone Ranger not a single voice, but one of a minority.

To be clear, you mean a pharmacological way to contain the virus. Because were never going back to nonpharmaceutical interventions like we saw in the first few years of the pandemic, or at least unless theres an enormous rise in hospitalizations and deaths.Yeah. In January 2021, my colleague Dennis Burton and I wrote in Nature that we need a variantproof vaccine. This virus is ideally suited, as compared to flu or HIV, for a variantproof vaccine. The initial success of Pfizers vaccine was 95 percent against symptomatic COVID. Theres never been a flu vaccine like that. Look at the success of Paxlovid: a 90 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths. This virus is vulnerable. Weve proven that. Were just not building on our successes. Its incredible. This is a less challenging, less hypermutating virus than the flu. Our COVID vaccines make flu vaccines look like a joke, or at least they did.

So we already have COVID on the ropes and can finish it off if we try.Thats why Im so optimistic. We can do this. But were not doing it.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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BA.5 Shows COVID Is Evolving Fast. Why Aren't We Fighting Back? - New York Magazine

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USDA Leveraging Modern Technology and Digital Tools to Improve Customer Service – USDA.gov

Posted: at 5:29 pm

Posted by Megen Davis, Director, Strategic Planning, Information Resource Management Center, Office of the Chief Information Officer in Technology

Jul 28, 2022

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is driven to lead the way in customer-centered, data-driven service delivery across the Federal Government. It is our goal to accelerate the use of modern technology and digital tools that our internal and external customers expect in every aspect of their lives. We have made significant strides in advancing technology capabilities, including establishing the Office of the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and the Office of Customer Experience (OCX). The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) through the IT Modernization initiative, has made major progress in modernizing our information technology (IT) infrastructure to what it is today.

While these advances are a promising start, to achieve USDAs vision, we need to continue our efforts of developing innovative solutions delivery that supports and strengthens American farmers, ranchers, foresters, producers, and consumers. The recently released USDA IT Strategic Plan (PDF, 19 MB) identifies the goals, objectives, and strategies we will use to continuously improve the Departments services to the American public. This IT Plan adds to the FY 2022-2026 Departmental Strategic Plan (PDF, 9.6 MB) to collectively focus on significantly improving life and livelihoods across America.

Both plans seek to establish a new standard of excellence in customer experience and service. When the American public interacts with USDA, they will get a simple, seamless, and secure customer experience that is on par with top consumer experiences. USDA customers should be able to:

We are committed to accelerating and expanding upon those innovations to improve USDAs services to our customers. Through the processes and approaches we propose, USDA can make major strides to enable modern service delivery, enhance data-driven decision-making, eliminate duplication of effort, reduce costly and error-prone manual processes, upskill our IT workforce, and ensure the continued strengthening of the USDA cybersecurity posture.

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USDA Leveraging Modern Technology and Digital Tools to Improve Customer Service - USDA.gov

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NATO marks 70 years of scientific and technological research – NATO HQ

Posted: at 5:29 pm

In 2022, NATO marks 70 years of collaborative scientific and technological research at the service of Alliance defence and security.

Scientific collaboration between NATO nations was first institutionalized in 1952, at the initiative of scientist Dr Theodore von Krmn, in recognition of the critical role that Science and Technology (S&T) plays in ensuring that the Alliance retains its military advantage over potential adversaries. At the time, scientific cooperation within NATO focused primarily on aerospace. The spectrum has since broadened to include applied vehicle technology, human factors and medicine, information systems technology, modeling and simulation, sensors and electronics, systems analysis and studies, and sensors and electronics. In addition, nations work together on maritime research and experimentation at a dedicated NATO-owned laboratory in La Spezia, Italy.

John-Mikal Strdal, Director of NATOs Collaboration Support Office in Paris, welcomed the anniversary, saying: Science and Technology activities are not an end in and of themselves, but an efficient means to strengthen NATOs ability to deter and defend. Our key to success is to foster a knowledge-community that excels in science and technology and that is firmly anchored in the strategic and operational needs and requirements of our armed forces. Together, we address essential challenges and opportunities at the intersection between new technologies and the security concerns of our nations and the Alliance. And that scientific progress creates tangible, efficient and productive results.

Since 2012, NATOs Science and Technology Organisation (STO), building on the legacy of previous NATO research organisations, has brought together military operators, government laboratories, industry and academia, providing a critical forum where ideas can be tested and collective creativity exploited. Over decades, the Alliance has developed the worlds largest international collaborative network for Science and Technology in defence and security.Today, the STOs network of around 5,000 scientists and researchers from 40 NATO Allied and partner countries is working on more than 300 projects.

More recently, STOs research has been at the forefront of NATOs work on emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) and has helped inform NATOs new chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence policy.

Looking ahead, climate change and energy security will also be areas of focus for NATOs scientific research.

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NATO marks 70 years of scientific and technological research - NATO HQ

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Performant Capital Creates Platform Delivering Managed Technology Services and Revenue Cycle Management to the Healthcare Industry – Business Wire

Posted: at 5:29 pm

SAVANNAH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Performant Capital announced today that it has formed Provider Technology, LLC (Provider Technology) through the acquisitions of DavLong Business Solutions LLC and its affiliate Administrative Advantage LLC (collectively, DBS) and On Demand Solutions Inc. (ODS). Provider Technology is a leading technology provider of outsourced software and IT services, revenue cycle management (RCM) and back-office business support primarily to physician practices and health systems. The businesses will continue to operate independently under their respective brands but share best practices across all functional areas.

Performant, investing out of Fund I, closed the DBS and ODS transactions simultaneously in June. The Private Credit business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) provided first lien debt and an equity co-investment to support the acquisitions.

The team at Goldman Sachs has been invaluable as we executed this platform investment, said Mike Ciaglia, Partner at Performant. We look forward to meaningfully accelerating the growth of the business given the scale enabled by Goldmans partnership.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Savannah, GA, DBS provides turnkey IT solutions for physician practices by fully hosting, maintaining, and supporting all software needs for the medical office, from cloud hosting to cybersecurity. DBS combines its proprietary suite of software offerings with leading third-party solutions to provide medical practices with a fully integrated electronic health record and practice management system from a single vendor. In addition to its best-in-class software offering, DBS also provides complete RCM services designed to manage and optimize the entire collections process for practices. Across both primary functional areas, the company leverages technology, analytics, and the expertise of its skilled teams to improve operational and financial performance for customers.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Boise, ID, ODS provides practice management software, RCM, staffing support and business advisory services to healthcare service providers and organizations. Its solutions improve business operational efficiency, reduce administrative costs, and assure managerial control so clients can stay focused on providing quality patient care.

The combination of DBS, AA, and ODS creates a national back-office and healthcare technology platform servicing more than 3,000 medical providers across the U.S and across medical specialties developing best-in-class offerings and technology for specific specialties, such as Ophthalmology, EMS and Hospitalist providers. These businesses are highly complementary acquisitions that together provide enhanced technology capabilities and support services with broader geographic presence to better meet the needs of clients and improve their financial outcomes, said Chris McLaughlin, Partner at Performant Capital. Both businesses have a reputation of providing superior customer support as value-added partners to physicians and health organizations. Customers value our company as more than just a service provider, but extensions of their core teams. With an expanded presence and enhanced capabilities to drive further value for clients, were excited about the future of the combined business under Provider Technology.

Provider Technology continues to look for best-in-class revenue cycle management and managed service provider software businesses to healthcare customers that would expand its geographic footprint and service capabilities. If you have an opportunity that might be an add-on acquisition candidate for Provider Technology, please contact Mike Ciaglia (mciaglia@performantcapital.com) or Chris McLaughlin (cmclaughlin@performantcapital.com)

About Performant Capital

Performant Capital is a Chicago-based, lower middle market private equity firm focused on investments in technology-driven companies. Performant acquires businesses across SaaS, technology-enabled services, and data intelligence products and services. With over 50 years of collective investing and operating experience in these sectors, Performants principals seek opportunities where its depth of investing, operating expertise, and partner network can materially impact performance. More information on Performant Capital can be found at http://www.performantcapital.com.

About Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Credit

Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), it delivers investment and advisory services for the worlds leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals, drawing from its deeply connected global network and tailored expert insights, across every region and marketoverseeing more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision worldwide as of March 31, 2022. Driven by a passion for its clients performance, it seeks to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. Goldman Sachs Asset Management invests in the full spectrum of alternatives, including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. Established in 1996, the Private Credit business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management is one of the worlds largest private credit investors with over $90 billion in assets across direct lending, mezzanine debt, hybrid capital and asset-based lending strategies. Its deep industry and product knowledge, extensive relationships and global footprint position it to deliver scaled outcomes with speed and certainty, supporting companies from the lower middle market to large cap in size.

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Performant Capital Creates Platform Delivering Managed Technology Services and Revenue Cycle Management to the Healthcare Industry - Business Wire

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Here are the biggest technology wins in the breakthrough climate bill – MIT Technology Review

Posted: at 5:29 pm

In announcing the new agreement, Schumer asserted that the legislation puts the US on a path to roughly 40% emissions reductions by 2030.And experts agree the bill could be a game changer in cutting the nations emissions in the coming years, helping to curtail warming and extreme weather events in the coming decades.

In a word, billions. The bill includes hundreds of billions in grants, loans, federal procurements, and tax credits for research and development, deployment, and manufacturing in clean energy, transportation, and other sectors like agriculture.

This is the transformative clean energy and climate rescue package that weve been waiting for, Leah Stokes, an environmental policy professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has been advising Democrats on climate legislation, said in an interview.

One major focus of spending in the bill is deploying clean energy: theres roughly $30 billion in new tax credits for building wind, solar, and other clean energy projects, as well as extensions for existing credits. Theres also $60 billion in incentives for domestic manufacturing of everything from batteries to solar panels to heat pumps.

Subsidy increases in the bill could possibly make it economical for some fossil-fuel and industrial plants to add equipment that prevents climate pollution, increasing the potential role of whats known as carbon capture and storage.

The bill includes $27 billion for research and development in clean technology, as well as $2 billion specifically for research at national laboratories.

Other sectors will see support for climate efforts too. Some $20 billion is earmarked to help cut emissions from agriculture, and theres nearly $5 billion in grants for forest conservation and restoration projects.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, director of the climate and energy program at Third Way, said its an ambitious and politically pragmatic bill designed to boost US manufacturing, provide support where job sectors are shifting, and build out the infrastructure needed to shift to cleaner, modern energy systems.

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Information Technology and Cybersecurity: Using Scorecards to Monitor Agencies’ Implementation of Statutory Requirements – Government Accountability…

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What GAO Found

Since November 2015, this Subcommittee has issued scorecards as an oversight tool to monitor agencies' progress in implementing various statutory IT provisions and addressing other key IT issues. The selected provisions are from laws such as the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (commonly referred to as FITARA), Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2016, the Modernizing Government Technology Act, and the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014. The scorecards have assigned each covered agency a letter grade (i.e., A, B, C, D, or F) based on components derived from statutory requirements and additional IT-related topics. As of July 2022, fourteen scorecards had been released (see figure).

Scorecards Release Timeline with Associated Components

As reflected above, additional important components have been added over time. Initial components were specific to FITARA provisions related to incremental development, risk management, cost savings and data centers. The scorecards then evolved to include additional statutory provisions and related IT topics, such as telecommunications.

The Subcommittee-assigned grades have shown steady improvement and resulted in the scorecards serving as effective oversight tools. For example, during 2020 and 2021, all 24 agencies received A grades for two components (software licensing and data center optimization initiative), resulting in removal of these components from the scorecard. Notwithstanding the improvements made through the use of the scorecard, the federal government's difficulties acquiring, developing, managing, and securing its IT investments remain.

GAO has long recognized the importance of addressing these difficulties by including improving the management of IT acquisitions and operations as well as ensuring the cybersecurity of the nation as areas on its high-risk list. Continued oversight by Congress to hold agencies accountable for implementing statutory provisions and addressing longstanding weaknesses is essential. Implementation of outstanding GAO recommendations can also be instrumental in delivering needed improvements.

Congress has long recognized that IT systems provide essential services critical to the health, economy, and defense of the nation. In support of these systems, the federal government annually spends more than $100 billion on IT and cyber-related investments.

However, many of these investments have suffered from ineffective management. Further, recent high profile cyber incidents have demonstrated the urgency of addressing cybersecurity weaknesses.

To improve the management of IT, Congress and the President enacted FITARA in December 2014. FITARA applies to the 24 agencies subject to the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, although with limited applicability to the Department of Defense.

GAO was asked to provide an overview of the scorecards released by this Subcommittee. The scorecards have been used for oversight of agencies' efforts to implement statutory provisions and other IT-related topics. For this testimony, GAO relied on its previously issued products.

Since 2010, GAO has made approximately 5,300 recommendations to improve IT management and cybersecurity. As of June 2022, federal agencies have fully implemented about 77 percent of these. However, many critical recommendations have not been implementednearly 300 on IT management and more than 600 on cybersecurity.

For more information, contact Carol C. Harris at (202) 512-4456 or harriscc@gao.gov.

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Meet Britain’s new ship that will test autonomous and lethal technologies – DefenseNews.com

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LONDON A Dutch company has delivered a test bed vessel to the British Royal Navy to help the service rapidly experiment and field the latest in autonomous and lethality technologies.

The 270-ton vessel arrived at the Portsmouth naval base in southern England earlier this week, ahead of its official acceptance on July 29 for use by NavyX, the services experimental technology unit formed to lead the innovative work.

Damen Shipyards supplied the vessel less than a year after it was ordered. The ship is a modified 42-meter (138-foot) fast, crew-supply platform known as the Damen FCS 4008. This is the first time the Dutch shipyard supplied a vessel directly to the Royal Navy. The company has set up a maintenance operation in Portsmouth to support the vessel.

The vessel was already built but not previously operated, enabling the Dutch yard to quickly deliver the adapted ship within the rapid timescale demanded by the Royal Navy.

The ship is named XV Patrick Blackett, after a British physicist who served in the Royal Navy during World War I and won a Nobel Prize for physics in 1948.

The XV Patrick Blackett, a new test bed ship meant to enhance experimentation in the British Royal Navy, enters Portsmouth. (Sam Bannister/British Royal Navy)

NavyX has operated since 2019, primarily exploring autonomous vessels for potential use by the Royal Navy. The experimentation unit has tested several advanced technologies, including L3Harris Technologies Mast-13 autonomous maritime demonstrator as well as a BAE Systems-supplied crewless rigid inflatable boat for potential general duties with the Navy.

The new vessel will enable NavyX to experiment without placing demands on the services understrength surface warship fleet.

The arrival of this vessel is a pivotal moment for NavyXs ability to deliver output, and is a step change for the Royal Navy. She will give us greater flexibility to experiment with novel military capabilities, iterate and accelerate new technology, kit and concepts for the benefit of the Royal Navy and industry, NavyX boss Col. Tom Ryall said.

XV Patrick Blackett will take part in Royal Navy and NATO exercises, with the possibility upgrades with autonomous technology, Britain has said.

Damen said the 140-square-meter deck on the FCS 4008 provides a large, unobstructed area for UAVs, AUVs [autonomous underwater vessels] and other cutting-edge technology. The extensive internal area that would normally have seating for up to 100 personnel is being converted into an operations center and a meeting room.

Its the second advanced technology platform revealed by Britain this month. At the Farnborough Airshow on July 18, the Defence Ministry announced it is investing in building a technology demonstrator for the Tempest sixth-generation combat air program.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

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Testing Tomorrow’s Technology at BMC Innovation Labs The New Stack – thenewstack.io

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When we think about techs ultimate disruptors, Apple leads the pack.

Apple was a PC vendor competing with the likes of Commodore in the early 1980s before co-founder Steve Jobs seeded the idea of a portable music player and anticipated the explosive demand for the iPhone.

The companys leadership envisioned what the end user would want years in advance, as well as how to pre-empt problems by solving ahead of time those that would likely occur along the way.

Most technology- and data-driven companies realize that just focusing on meeting todays user demands is not a sustainable business model. In other words, preparing for what the customer will require tomorrow is at least equally important. However, garnering the necessary skills, talent and resources to research future customer needs, is out of reach for many organizations. As a result, they fall further behind the more well-funded competition.

At the BMC Innovation Labs employees, customers and partners collaborate on solutions to solve timely and current problems, focusing on experimentation and technology incubations that can lead to tomorrows disruptive innovations.

To that end, BMC recently announced its BMC Innovation Labs Preferred Partner Program, created to offer participants the opportunity to design solutions to support customers on their autonomous digital enterprise journey. The program provides what BMC describes as dedicated spaces for partners to develop new and disruptive ideas that go beyond traditional enterprise IT.

BMC announced its Innovation Labs Preferred Partner Program during the first annual BMC Innovation Summit, held in June at the companys Innovation Labs in Santa Clara, Calif. The summit provided an opportunity for media and industry analysts to meet with key BMC senior leaders to learn about innovation at BMC, in addition to discussing the Innovation Labs Preferred Partner Program.

Attendees also got an inside look at the types of things BMC is working on, and experimenting with, to serve its customers and partners.

Customers can support their innovation journey by collaborating with both BMC and its Innovation Labs preferred partners to develop, test and provide real-time feedback, delivering immediate value. The lab embraces fresh thinking and new perspectives, with its partners collaborating on ideas to anticipate and address customers needs quickly and more effectively.

We have some pretty top-class tech folks that are intellectually curious and technically solid, Ram Chakravarti, chief technology officer at BMC, told The New Stack. With our tech talent, we have on offer many emerging technologies so we can serve as a vehicle that solves problems and finds new solutions by working with partner companies to conduct experiments and those experiments prove out the value.

During the past two years since its creation, BMCs Innovation Labs have served as a conduit to anticipate things that will become major challenges for customers in three to five years and we start solving for them now, Chakravarti said.

As opposed to being driven by innovation, we are leading with innovation by focusing on things that would become super important to customers from 18 months and up to about three to four years from now.

So what do organizations do so that our product organizations are not burdened with things that are in the future? We at the innovation labs focus on the next set of things that are going to become big, incubate them, run tests and take a subset of them that show promise on the pathway toward commercial commercialization.

True to the BMC focus on technology to power the future, the projects accepted into the Innovation Labs partner program should involve DataOps. DataOps, as defined by Chakravarti, is the application of agile engineering and DevOps best practices to the field of data management to rapidly turn new insights into fully operationalized production deliverables that unlock the business value of data.

Though the Partner Program is new, a few participants have already started engaging. This was demonstrated during the BMC Innovation Summit, which highlighted segments and opportunities that BMC customers and partners care about, such as data, edge computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Each demo was live and represented a technology focus area or vertical.

These included IT solutions provider CyberMAK Information Systems W.L.L., which is working with BMC to develop and extend data-management and artificial intelligence-managed customer support solutions based on AI-determined predictive outcomes, observability and other BMC know-how.

The demo with BMCs innovation preferred partner, CyberMAK, showed how customer service can be easier with intuitive ticketing and advanced automation. It highlighted an agent and a supervisor interaction to show how businesses can better manage customer communication over the phone, email, live chat, SMS text and social media.

Out-of-the-box features like an agent assist, voice of the customer, collaboration console and a global-case monitor, among many others were also demoed.

Already, customers demand self-service that is completely effortless and that predicts what the customer wants and needs before they get on the call, Tasnim Pithapurwala, chief technology officer at CyberMAK Information Systems, said during her Innovation Summit demo.

To meet these demands, the customer-service management system must be able to address both current problems and anticipate other issues before they occur.

How can the system guide the agents to take the next best action without having to scramble to find several data points to get that data? Pithapurwala asked during the summit. And how do we have a supervisor jump in when required? How does the supervisor automatically know when to jump in as a coach to resolve the situation?

One of the more frustrating user experiences can be with the company chatbot, especially when the AI-controlled interactions fail to provide the user with the answers they seek (which they often do). The obvious solution is to improve the AI.

As Pithapurwala said, The system has the ability to understand who has the skill set and who is right for which customer personality.

In another demo shown at the BMC Innovation Summit, the company talked about how technology today is changing faster than our minds can keep up with and because of that, BMC said its seeing an ever-widening skills gap in the industry. For example, operations may not know enough about the technology to keep up with the developers, which can affect business.

The demo shed a bit of light on how the company can address this issue with predictive service operations, featuring three separate videos that addressed the difficulties in keeping up with support and management skills for new technologies. Statistics communicated during the demo showed how business-service failures can be prevented in most cases, if the tech stack is proactively monitored and managed the right way.

In this demo, BMC highlighted how it has taken its BMC Helix Operations Management platform and extended its use of AI and automation to narrow that skills gap to manage business applications and give operations teams the tools they need to keep up with their developers.

Other live demos given during the summit covered the following topics:

As the demos showed, the Preferred Partner Programs projects rely heavily on a convergence of operational technology and information technology and, in particular, the orchestration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and associated data at the edge.

Were solving things at the edge, Chakravarti said. And there, I categorize these things into two sets of use cases: One is things that you absolutely need to solve for at the edge, which involve taking into consideration latency and security at the edge.

The second set of use cases is how do I integrate my edge data with my central compute data to provide even greater value for my organization, with the harmonized set of data from the agent central compute systems of record. The combination of these two sets of use cases is where the magic happens.

You can learn more about BMC Innovation Labs and the BMC Innovation Labs Preferred Partners Program here.

Featured image by Kendall Ruth on Unsplash.

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Empowering Better World with Technology, Hisense and FIFA Create a Perfect Future through Long-term Collaborations – PR Newswire

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QINGDAO, China, July 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 27th, Dr. Lan Lin, Chairman of Hisense Group Holdings Co., Ltd., and Franjo Bobinac, Vice President of Hisense International Co., Ltd., were invited to visit and meet with FIFA President Gianni Infantino and executives at FIFA headquarters in Zurich. This was the first official meeting between Hisense and FIFA, and both organizations had in-depth communication on the long-term collaborations and toured around FIFA headquarters.

Technology for Better Life, Creating a Perfect Tournament Experience

Before FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 kicked off, FIFA headquarters welcomed the world's first Dual Color 100-inch 4K Hisense Laser TV L7. Today, Hisense successfully obtained FIFA's recognition and again installed 3 new Laser TVs at FIFA headquarters. Ahead of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, through its state-of-art technology, Hisense presented a higher level of tournament viewing experience with the world's first Tri-Chroma Laser TV L9G for FIFA headquarters. During the meetings, executives from both sides enjoyed an exciting tournament together using Hisense Laser TV L9G.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed at the Hisense Open Day event before, "Hisense's compelling products and cutting-edge technology will provide football fans with an amazing viewing experience. Through technological innovation, we will join forces to bring fans an unforgettable FIFA World Cup."

In addition to receiving recognition from FIFA, Hisense Laser TV has also gained recognition from many global consumers. As Hisense's premium product, Hisense Laser TV has appeared in international events such as the Harvard China Forum and the United Nations Chinese Day, and entered the royal family in UAE, becoming one of consumers' best choices. From January to June this year, Hisense Laser TV sales in Australia, France, Canada, and other overseas markets have exceeded last year's annual sales.

Building a Sustainable Future through Close Collaboration

Hisense has focused on social responsibility and striving to contribute further to sustainable global development. Embracing the same philosophy as FIFA, Hisense has also cooperated with FIFA Foundation, committing to charity and sustainable development.

In September 2022, Hisense will participate in the FIFA Football for Schools Event, bringing a fun and educational workshop for South African children to give them more emotional support while increasing global environmental awareness, also engaging the public to build a sustainable planet for a greener future.

Hisense has always been adhering to sports marketing and forming intensive collaborative partnerships with FIFA. Benefiting from its sponsorship position, Hisense's brand strength and awareness increased substantially, successfully expanding its global business. In 2022, Hisense has been ranked 7th in KANTAR BrandZ Chinese Global Top 50 Brand Builders and 1st in the Home Appliances category. Driven by globally integrated R&D capability, Hisense consistently launched technological products, contributing to Hisense's revenue reaching 73.1 billion RMB from January to May 2022.

At FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Hisense will work closely with FIFA to bring better tournament experiences to global consumers.

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SOURCE Hisense

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