Jules Patel

• Health IT

As federal agencies officially begin to leverage data as a strategic asset, per the direction of the Federal Data Strategy and several legislative directives, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said agencies focused on health care delivery are already well-positioned leaders in applying data in meaningful ways for the citizens they serve.

• Cybersecurity

As “the nation’s risk advisor,” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency moves into its second full year with an eye on securing election systems before November, alongside its mission areas of protecting critical infrastructure, coordinating emergency response and defending the dot-gov domain from adversaries. 2020 also brings a new leader to the cybersecurity directorate: Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Bryan Ware.

• Cloud
• Cybersecurity

As more and more federal agencies look to transition to the cloud, both to save costs by closing data centers and to give their employees greater freedom to work remotely, maintaining network security has been a stumbling block.

• Artificial Intelligence

A federal prize competition currently underway aims to spur health care innovation by reducing hospital readmission rates and providing patients with value-based care.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is aiming to overhaul its single 30-year-old core accounting system, as part of a financial systems modernization push that follows a more long-term approach to technical reform.

• Artificial Intelligence

With artificial intelligence and its cousins machine learning and robotic process automation some of the most talked about topics in technology, the White House is following suit with its own efforts.

• Data
• Health IT

The Department of Health and Human Services has been leveraging data and data analytics to help prevent fraud, waste and abuse of resources and to manage its grants programs in more effective ways — especially over this past year, said HHS Office of Inspector General Chief Data Officer Caryl Brzymialkiewicz.

• Cybersecurity

The first days of 2020 have been a roller coaster for those involved with and adjacent to defense and national security issues.

• Artificial Intelligence

A working group tasked with addressing best practices and guidelines for the National Institutes of Health to advance artificial intelligence in research efforts released recommendations last month to address areas like data generation and ethics around the technology.

• Artificial Intelligence
• Data

In 2020, data will become even more crucial to IT and digital services, serving as the foundation of automation and future innovation.

As the chief acquisition agency for the federal government, the General Services Administration demonstrated innovative thinking in its approach to procurement in 2019.