General Dynamics has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Vangent Holding, the parent company of Vangent, a developer of health IT and business systems to federal agencies, in a cash transaction valued at approximately $960 million.

The Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Treasury have begun the next steps to establish health insurance exchangesmarketplaces where consumers can choose a private health insurance plan that fits their health needs, similar to the kind of insurance choices as members of Congress. Among other policies, the proposed rules describe how middle-class families will gain access to tax relief to potentially reduce the cost of coverage.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, MD, have announced that the State of Kansas is returning its Early Innovator Grant distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in February for early implementation of portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

An integrated public-private partnership has the potential to improve access, quality and efficiency in healthcare, according to an article published in the August edition of Health Affairs.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has launched the state's health information organization, as stated by the agency in a news release.

Clerity Solutions, a provider of migration, modernization and optimization tools, has unveiled a health IT services wing, Clerity Healthcare, to provide turnkey hardware and software tools for the healthcare market.

The success of health reform efforts will depend, in part, on creating new and better ways to organize, deliver and pay for healthcare, wrote Francis J. Crosson, MD, senior fellow at the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy in Oakland, Calif., in an analysis and commentary piece published in the July edition of Health Affairs.

Analysis of the eHealth Initiatives 2011 Report on HIE: The Changing Landscape showed some encouraging signs, said HIE panelists Laura Kolkman, President of Mosaica Partners, and Camilla Hull-Brown, Principal and Founder, Strategies for Tomorrow, during a presentation last week.