To date, 25 states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation to incentivize HIE efforts (most often by providing funding), address patient privacy concerns, or both. Often, privacy regulation is seen as an obstacle to technological innovation and the adoption of new services.

In a study forthcoming in the INFORMS journal Management Science, however, researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Michigan find that among states with HIE laws, only those that combined incentives with privacy requirements for patient consent saw a net increase in HIEs that were actively exchanging information (operational HIEs).

“Conventional wisdom suggests that increased privacy regulation impedes technological innovation. We provide evidence that this is not always the case,” said Idris Adjerid, assistant professor of management at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.

Leadership Journey

For Mayor John Fetterman, public policy is like medicine: it should be practiced where it’s needed the most.

“When I was in your shoes, getting ready to graduate, I never wanted to move to Portland, Oregon and make it more delightful than it already is,” said Fetterman.

Fetterman, Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania and current U.S. senatorial candidate, recently visited H. John Heinz III College to speak to a group of students from the School of Public Policy and Management about effective leadership, and to share his personal journey of public service.

“A lot of you may be planning to move to D.C. or San Francisco when you finish here,” he told the students. “And I can understand why. But you practice public policy someplace like that, you’re basically a cosmetic surgeon. What’s going to happen to the poor communities that need help, that aren’t attracting young, ambitious, and accomplished people like yourselves?”

For his part, Fetterman has spent the past 15 years improving lives in Braddock, PA, a once-prosperous community that lost 90 percent of its population following the collapse of the steel industry. When Fetterman first arrived in in Braddock in 2001 to set up a GED program as an AmeriCorps volunteer, it was one of the most impoverished and crime-ridden communities in Pennsylvania.

As a GED program director, Fetterman immediately set ou...]]>

For Mayor John Fetterman, public policy is like medicine: it should be practiced where it’s needed the most.

“When I was in your shoes, getting ready to graduate, I never wanted to move to Portland, Oregon and make it more delightful than it already is,” said Fetterman.

Fetterman, Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania and current U.S. senatorial candidate, recently visited H. John Heinz III College to speak to a group of students from the School of Public Policy and Management about effective leadership, and to share his personal journey of public service.

“A lot of you may be planning to move to D.C. or San Francisco when you finish here,” he told the students. “And I can understand why. But you practice public policy someplace like that, you’re basically a cosmetic surgeon. What’s going to happen to the poor communities that need help, that aren’t attracting young, ambitious, and accomplished people like yourselves?”

For his part, Fetterman has spent the past 15 years improving lives in Braddock, PA, a once-prosperous community that lost 90 percent of its population following the collapse of the steel industry. When Fetterman first arrived in in Braddock in 2001 to set up a GED program as an AmeriCorps volunteer, it was one of the most impoverished and crime-ridden communities in Pennsylvania.

As a GED program dir... ]]>

Analyzing Data Privacy

The ongoing fight between Apple and the FBI over breaking into the iPhone maker’s encryption system to access a person’s data is becoming an increasingly challenging legal issue.

With a deadline looming, Apple filed court papers explaining why it is refusing to assist the FBI in cracking a password on an iPhone used by one of the suspects in the San Bernardino shooting. CEO Tim Cook has declared he will take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

The tech company now wants Congress to step in and define what can be reasonably demanded of a private company, though perhaps it should be careful what it wishes for, considering lawmakers have introduced a bill that compels companies to break into a digital device if the government asks.

But there is an irony to this debate. Government once pushed industry to improve personal data privacy and security – now...]]>

The ongoing fight between Apple and the FBI over breaking into the iPhone maker’s encryption system to access a person’s data is becoming an increasingly challenging legal issue.

With a deadline looming, Apple filed court papers explaining why it is refusing to assist the FBI in cracking a password on an iPhone used by one of the suspects in the San Bernardino shooting. CEO Tim Cook has declared he will take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

The tech company now wants Congress to step in and define what can be reasonably demanded of a private company, though perhaps it should be careful what it wishes for, considering lawmakers have introduced a bill that compels companies to break into a digital device if the government asks.

But there is an irony to this debate. Government once pushed industry to improve personal da... ]]>

Addresses Heinz Students

Joel Rubin is no stranger to conflict. As staffer, advocate, and politician, he has maintained a resolutely progressive stance on hot-button issues concerning energy, the economy, and foreign policy. An outspoken advocate of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, Rubin was also one of the first individuals to testify to Congress during the Benghazi hearings in 2015.

Rubin says his confidence and conviction in the face of potential conflict and criticism are due in large part to the data-driven strategy he began developing as a student at H. John Heinz III College nearly 18 years ago.

“It’s a Heinz thing maybe, but I’ve always maintained that the best ways to win advocacy arguments is to have the data,” he said in a recent appearance before a crowd of Heinz College students and faculty. “When the data is on your side, you’ve got the high ground.”

But for that data to win the day, it must be grounded in a firm grasp of the issues at stake.

“If you’re meeting a member of Congress to present an issue, you might find you only have minutes to make your point,” explained Rubin. “It’s important to know the data so well that you can make the most of the time you’ve got to communicate the value and the meaning of that data.”

It’s a strategy that has served him well. Less than two decades have passed since Rubin graduated with a joint degree in Public Policy and Management and Business Administration from CMU’s Heinz Colleg...]]>

Joel Rubin is no stranger to conflict. As staffer, advocate, and politician, he has maintained a resolutely progressive stance on hot-button issues concerning energy, the economy, and foreign policy. An outspoken advocate of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, Rubin was also one of the first individuals to testify to Congress during the Benghazi hearings in 2015.

Rubin says his confidence and conviction in the face of potential conflict and criticism are due in large part to the data-driven strategy he began developing as a student at H. John Heinz III College nearly 18 years ago.

“It’s a Heinz thing maybe, but I’ve always maintained that the best ways to win advocacy arguments is to have the data,” he said in a recent appearance before a crowd of Heinz College students and faculty. “When the data is on your side, you’ve got the high ground.”

But for that data to win the day, it must be grounded in a firm grasp of the issues at stake.

“If you’re meeting a member of Congress to present an issue, you might find you only have minutes to make your point,” explained Rubin. “It’s important to know the data so well that you can make the most of the time you’ve got to communicate the value and the meaning of that data.”

It’s a strategy that has served him well. Less than two decades have passed since Rubin graduated with a joint degree in Public Policy and Management and Business Administr... ]]>