A Cybersecurity Assessment of Health Data Ecosystems

This paper is an exploratory study that investigates data collected and used by health plans and reviews the laws and regulations governing this data to identify the gaps in protections and provide recommendations for eliminating these gaps. Health insurance companies collect a wide array of data about the people they insure, data that is often only peripherally relevant to the service these companies provide. The data environment currently consists of seven categories of data: personal health information, summary health information, personally identifiable information, financial information, professional information, biometric information, and lifestyle data or social indicators of health. Much of this data is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and under an array of other health care laws and regulations; however, there is a category of data not covered by these protections. Lifestyle data or social indicators of health is a category of data that is readily available through digital interactions with third-party platforms, wearable devices, and internet of things devices. This data can be identifiable to the individual but lacks the most basic regulatory and security protections. Weaknesses in HIPAA provide loopholes for data traditionally thought to be protected

Planning for strategic change in the project delivery strategy

For organizations such as state departments of transportation, other public agencies, or private companies, adopting a new approach to procure services for delivery of construction projects requires significant organizational changes; modifications to both their work processes and existing organizational structures may be needed. These adjustments, encompassing many different aspects of the organization's interests, must occur for the change initiative to be successfully put into practice. In this research, the adoption of integrated project delivery methods within the transportation project sector is investigated to better understand the dynamics of this change. In the context of this study, an Owner's project delivery strategy is defined as the set of project delivery methods that are adopted for delivering capital projects. This dissertation presents findings from a study of Public Owner organizations that have implemented the designbuild method for delivering highway projects. Using as a case study the new $1.3 billion SH-130 tolled expressway project in Central Texas, the author analyzed project documentation and conducted many interviews with individuals affiliated with owner, legal, engineering consultants, and contractors. Findings suggest that project representatives institutionalize practices and routines connected to the new approach by adapting to new challenges, rather than "overwriting" previously existing practices. Similarly, the institutionalization of innovative approaches to project delivery happens concurrently with a deinstitutionalization of the previous approaches. Building upon these findings, a conceptual framework is presented for helping Owner organizations implement change in their project delivery strategy. The proposed conceptual framework is based upon both existing published literature and interviews with managers involved in implementing a strategic change in project delivery strategy. This framework was further refined by making a comparative study of four transportation projects in the United States. In addition, a detailed implementation framework was validated and further developed through a Delphi study with representatives from several organizations whose major responsibilities and experiences include the management of change in procurement approach. Findings from these studies, including application to the construction industry and other industries are presented.Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2020/2021

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-safety-homeland-security-annual-report/1000/thumbnail.jp

Partnering to combat corruption in infrastructure services: a toolkit

Problems with corruption have long been recognized as key constraints to the development of sustainable infrastructure services. The objective of this Toolkit is to propose a framework and tools geared to understanding, exploring and acting on corruption in the delivery of services. The scope of the work covers infrastructure services in urban and rural areas of developed and developing countries. A number of Toolkits on corruption have been published in recent years; however, to date, these have not been focused on the infrastructure sector or the impacts of corruption on the poor. This Toolkit is intended to fill that gap. The Toolkit is cross-sectoral in its approach, making it of relevance to those working on water supply, sanitation, drainage, roads and paving, transport, solid waste management, street lighting and housing sectors. This Toolkit brings together, in a systematic way, a variety of individual tools, which support the process of combating corruption in infrastructure services. The tools themselves are synthesized from real world experience; derived from a review of literature, desk-based case surveys and country case studies. These are not academic concepts, but genuinely operational tools. This Toolkit avoids taking a blueprint or top-down approach, but rather takes the perspective of operators, regulators and service users, especially the poor. By taking these tools, and relating them systematically to various aspects of combating corruption, this Toolkit should fulfil the urgent need expressed by policy makers, professional staff, regulators and consumers

Accountability arrangements to combat corruption and improve sustainability in the delivery of infrastructure services

Internationally, it has been recognised that corruption in planning, procurement, construction and operation and maintenance (O&M) undermines the sustainability of infrastructure services (defined here as water supply, sanitation, drainage, access roads and paving, transport, solid waste management, street lighting and community buildings). What progress has been made, therefore, in implementing greater accountability to combat corruption in the planning and delivery of infrastructure services? This paper documents the growing interest (in developed and developing countries) in securing greater accountability for the delivery of infrastructure and assesses the potential to improve both provision and performance of infrastructure services

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2019/2020

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-safety-homeland-security-annual-report/1002/thumbnail.jp

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2021/2022

https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/govpubs-tn-safety-homeland-security-annual-report/1001/thumbnail.jp