Cisco E-Book Delivers Ethics on the Go

May 22 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, SMB, Technology News |No Comments

Cisco systems converts its Code of Business Conduct to an e-book so its 73,000 employees get quick advice.

By Ruth Savolaine Contact All Articles, Law Technology News, May 21, 2013

Cisco Systems Inc. offers information technology and network infrastructure for the internet. Our products and services support online connectivity and collaboration for business, education, government, and home computing, security, and phone capabilities. Cisco generates around $12 billion in global revenues annually and has about 73,000 employees in 475 offices across 165 countries. So out of necessity, Cisco’s ethics team leverages technology to reach our mobile global workforce in ways that strengthen employee engagement and proactively mitigate risks. Cisco employees are tech-savvy and many work remotely, which creates both challenges and opportunities. Adding to the complexity is our company’s steady appetite for international acquisitions, which frequently bring in new employee populations and different styles of working.

Our ethics team is led by senior manager Jeremy Wilson, and includes a blend of people. Some report to Wilson, others are assigned to corporate communications and training departments.

Goals. Cisco strives to be a paperless workplace, so a printed code of ethics booklet would not align with our operational or environmental goals. Our IT products and services are designed to support flexible work environments. We practice what we preach: Nearly 85 percent of Cisco employees regularly work from home or on the road, so providing traditional on-site compliance training or ethics communications (e.g., posters) does not work well for us. More online, interactive ethics content is essential. <READ MORE>

Collaboration Is Key to Defending Cyberattacks

May 21 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, Security, SMB, Technology News |No Comments

Chief security and legal officers look at collaborative defenses to enterprise cyberattacks.

By Sean Doherty All Articles, Law Technology News, May 21, 2013

Collaboration appeared to be the best defense to cyberattacks on private enterprises at the Chief Information Security Officer and Chief Legal Officer (CISO/CLO) Summit on Monday, entitled “Defending the Enterprise.” The CISO/CLO Summit, held at Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Fla., coincided with the Computer and Enterprise Investigations Conference (CEIC) and featured a number of sessions aimed at developing strategies to defend enterprises from cyberattacks and data breaches.

Attendees of the summit, sponsored by Guidance Software Inc. andFireEye Inc., got the opportunity to engage retired four-star General Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency, in a question-and-answer session prior to his CEIC keynote address on emerging global cyberattack hotspots. Hayden, nowprincipal at the Chertoff Group, responded to a number of questions on strategies to thwart cyberattacks that focused on collaboration and private enterprise.

When confronted with the premise that bad-guy hackers were collaborating “everywhere” on strategies to attack governments and enterprises and asked when “good guys” would start to collaborate to repel and mitigate cyberattacks, Hayden admitted that government cybersecurity groups were currently in lock step with the government when they should be collaborating and supporting the private sector in securing critical infrastructure, which includes financial centers, power grids, and enterprise networks with intellectual property, corporate secrets, and confidential client data. CISOs and CLOs were in agreement, but the question remained: When? <READ MORE>

Silicon Startups

May 20 2013 by RandyC in SMB, Technology News |No Comments

Stanford Law School has a new role — as an incubator for innovative legal technology.

By Tam Harbert All Articles, Law Technology News, May 20, 2013

Stanford University is a legendary breeding ground? for startups — Silicon Valley giants Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc. all came out of the Palo Alto, Calif., institution’s computer science and engineering departments.

Now, Stanford Law School is getting in on the action. In the last four years, the school has become a hotbed of entrepreneurship in the field of legal technology. Since 2009, at least five startups have spun out of the school. The first was Lex Machina, a company that maps electronically available patent litigation events and outcomes to build a litigation database.

Since then, startups have been happening with increasing frequency, observes Clint Korver, a partner at Ulu Ventures, which has invested in three.? “I think Lex Machina broke the ice, showing the commercial potential of collaboration between the law, business, and engineering schools.” <READ MORE>

Hands on: New Google Maps make maps interesting again

May 17 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, SMB, Technology News |No Comments
PC World – Armando Rodriguez@megapenguinx, May 16, 2013 9:30 AM

We may not have a new version of Android to drool over, but at least we’ve got more feature-filled, better-looking maps. At its Google I/O keynote Wednesday morning, Google announced an enhanced version of its popular Google Maps service. The demos shown on stage drew some applause out of the otherwise listless attendees, and I was itching for the chance to put this improved version of Maps through its paces.

After playing around with Maps and virtually visiting several locales around the world, I’m impressed with how much Google has improved its already great mapping tool—though I think the company might have oversold it a bit on stage.  READ MORE

ICD 10 – It’s Closer Than It Seems

May 13 2013 by RandyC in Healthcare |No Comments

CMS – News Updates | May 10, 2013

Dates of Service: Is It ICD-9 or ICD-10?

With the October 1, 2014, ICD-10 deadline approaching, you may be wondering how you will code a claim that you are submitting in October 2014 for a service that your practice provided in September 2014.

Even if you submit your claim on or after the ICD-10 deadline, if the date of service was before the October 1, 2014, deadline, you will use ICD-9 to code the diagnosis.

For dates of service on or after the October 1, 2014, deadline, you will use ICD-10. You may not be able to use ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes on the same claim based on your payers’ instructions. This may mean splitting services
that would typically be captured on one claim into two claims: one claim with ICD-9 diagnosis codes for services provided before October 1, 2014, and another claim with ICD-10 diagnosis codes for services provided on or after October 1, 2014.

Some trading partners may request that ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes be submitted on the same claim when dates of service span the compliance date.  Trading partner agreements will determine the need for split claims.

Here’s an example of a split claim:
A patient has an appointment on September 27, 2014, and is diagnosed with bronchitis. He returns for a follow-up appointment on October 3, 2014. In this case, a practice will submit a claim with an ICD-9 diagnosis code for the first
visit and another claim with an ICD-10 diagnosis code for the follow-up visit.

Make sure that your systems, third-party vendors, billing services, and clearinghouses can handle both ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes depending on the dates of service in the months following October 1, 2014.

Please note that future ICD-10 Email Updates will explore how Medicare will handle dates of service for inpatient settings (e.g., a hospital inpatient stay that begins before the transition date and ends after the transition date will be coded on a single claim with ICD-10). Stay tuned for details.

Keep Up to Date on ICD-10

Visit the CMS ICD-10 website for the latest news and resources and the ICD-10 continuing medical education modules
developed by CMS in partnership with Medscape to help you prepare for the October 1, 2014, deadline.

Tech Circuit: Enron’s Toxic Sandbox Edition

May 6 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, Security, SMB, Technology News |No Comments

Does the public Enron email database have too much private information?

By  Contact All Articles, Law Technology News, May 6, 2013

CEO John Martin announced on Tuesday that he had “discovered” personally-identifiable information while working in the Enron sandbox with his company’s namesake document analysis software, BeyondRecognition. In his blog post, and in a conversation with LTN, Martin seemed to point blame at George Socha and Tom Gelbmann, co-founders of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model, for not redacting PII from the EDRM Enron Email Data Set, a version of document set that was made public by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In his blog post, “ Lessons from the EDRM/FERC/Enron Data Privacy Breaches” Martin states: “While working with the EDRM Data that we downloaded from the EDRM website, BeyondRecognition discovered that there were over 7,500 instances of unredacted social security numbers, credit card numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and phone numbers — a startling breach of privacy. Most of the data breach victims were Enron employees, but the victims also included spouses or children of the employees as well as third party contractors.” <READ MORE>

CMS News

May 1 2013 by RandyC in Uncategorized |No Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Contact: CMS Media Relations, Tuesday, April 30, 2013, (202) 690-6145

Obama Administration simplifies, significantly shortens application for health insurance

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that the application for health
coverage has been simplified and significantly shortened. The application for individuals without health insurance has been reduced from twenty-one to three pages, and the application for families is reduce by two-thirds. The consumer friendly forms are much shorter than industry standards for health insurance applications today.

In addition, for the first time consumers will be able to fill out one simple application and see their entire
range of health insurance options, including plans in the Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and tax credits that will help pay for premiums.

The applications released today, which can be submitted starting on October 1, can be found here: http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/other/index.html#hie

“Consumers will have a simple, easy-to-understand way to apply for health coverage later this year,” said CMS
Acting Administrator Marilyn Tavenner. “The application for individuals is now three pages, making it easier to use and significantly shorter than industry standards. This is another step complete as we get ready for a consumer-friendly
marketplace that will be open for business later this year.”

The online version of the application will be a dynamic experience that shortens the application process
based on individuals’ responses. The paper application was simplified and tailored to meet personal situations based on important feedback from consumer groups.

Consumers can apply online, by phone or paper when open enrollment begins October 1, 2013. There will be clear
information provided about how to complete the application, and how to access help applying and enrolling in coverage.

This consumer-focused approach will facilitate the enrollment of millions of Americans into affordable, high
quality coverage while minimizing the administrative burden on states, individuals and health plans.

For more information about the Health Insurance Marketplace, visit: www.HealthCare.gov

International Standard Project for E-Discovery Approved

April 30 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, Security, SMB, Technology News |No Comments

International Organization for Standards approved an e-discovery project.

By Steven Teppler All Articles, Law Technology News, April 30, 2013

A technical committee of the International Organization for Standardization, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27, gave final approval for the development of an international standard for the discovery of electronically stored information at its meeting last week hosted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute in Sophia Antipolis, France.1 ISO standards are widely adopted and in some countries have the force and effect of law or provide substantive legal precedent.

The official document title for the standard is ISO/IEC 27050, Information Technology — Security techniques — Electronic discovery. U.S. participation in this project will be managed by the International Committee for Information Technology Standards Technical Committee,CS1 Cyber Security, specifically the CS1 Storage and Evidence Ad Hoc Committee. Project EditorEric Hibbard, CTO Security and Privacy at Hitachi Data Systems, and Co-Editor Angus Marshall, principal scientist, n-gate ltd., and the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27 Working Group 4, which develops standards for security controls and services, will manage the project. <READ MORE>

Android or iPhone?

April 29 2013 by RandyC in Attorneys, Healthcare, SMB, Tech Devices, Technology News |No Comments

By John Edwards Contact All Articles, Law Technology News, April 24, 2013

Attorneys often find themselves operating in separate camps, such as plaintiff-defendant, prosecution-defense, civil-criminal, private-public and, perhaps most contentiously, Android-iPhone.

While both iPhones and Androids deliver a smartphone experience that keeps attorneys connected wherever they go, each platform takes a unique and sometimes idiosyncratic approach to features and capabilities. These differences have helped build strong user loyalties in both camps.

Yet times are changing. Androids and iPhones have each undergone a series of changes over the past year or so, prompting some users to consider moving to the opposing camp in order to take advantage of one or more improvements, such as a larger display or stronger app security.

Switching smartphone platforms should never be done on a whim, however, since a changeover requires learning how to use a new device as well as building a fresh app collection from scratch. It’s also important to have a solid understanding of what each platform offers (or lacks) so that the switch doesn’t lead to any unpleasant surprises.

Here’s a look at how iPhone and Android phones shape up in several key areas and where both platforms may be headed:

READ MORE

Are We on the Cusp of Major Changes to E-Discovery Rules?

April 23 2013 by RandyC in Uncategorized |No Comments

The U.S. Courts’ Advisory Committee on Civil Rules votes to send a slate of controversial amendments up the rulemaking ladder.

By Henry Kelston Contact All Articles, Law Technology News, April 17, 2013

By this time next year, we may be on the cusp of another major set of amendments to the discovery provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The United States Courts’ Advisory Committee on Civil Rules voted last week to send a slate of proposed amendments up the rulemaking chain, to its Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, with a recommendation that the proposals be approved for publication and public comment later this year.

The most significant — and controversial — of the proposals would narrow the scope of discovery under Rule 26; impose or reduce numerical limits on written discovery and depositions under Rules 30, 31, 33 and 36; and, in Rule 37, adopt a uniform set of guidelines concerning the imposition of sanctions when a party fails to preserve discoverable information. Proposed amendments to Rule 34 would tighten the rules governing responses to requests for production of documents. <READ MORE>

Next Page »