We're getting on toward the end of the quarter, so we've welcomed back the HIMSS Government Relations team — SVP of Government Relations Tom Leary, Senior Director Jeff Coughlin, and Director for Government Relations and Health Policy David Gray — to share impressions, hopes, and predictions for the new Biden Administration. From the HIMSS Media side, host Jonah Comstock, Healthcare IT News Executive Editor Mike Miliard, and HITN Senior Editor Kat Jercich lead the conversation.

This episode was recorded on Thursday March 10th, just before President Biden's prime time address and about a week before Xavier Becerra's confirmation vote.

Talking points:

• Prioritizing equity and access in vaccine distribution
• HIMSS’s letter to the Biden administration
• What can we learn from the American Rescue Act?
• Spending billions to save trillions — modernizing public health
• What to expect when the info-blocking rules kick in
• The role of the government, if any, in vaccine credentialing
• Broadband and health equity
• Predictions and expectations about Biden’s healthcare appointees, from HHS to FDA
• Impacts of the Democratic party’s slim majority

More about this story:

HIMSS's letter to the Biden Administration

New HHS Secretary Becerra urged to expand digital health access

ONC chief Micky Tripathi talks public health data systems and 'health equity by design'

COVID-19 relief package includes health IT expansion

Compliance with ONC and CMS rules could offer growth opportunity

FDA streamlines pathway to at-home asymptomatic COVID-19 test approval

Medicare for All push resurrected by U.S. House of Representatives

Hospitals and insurers applaud Senate confirmation of a Xavier Becarra as HHS Secretary

Biden Administration invests in expanding COVID-19 testing and treatments in schools and underserved communities

Biden announces national vaccine finder website, May 1 eligibility for all adults

House approves $1.9 trillion rescue plan which now goes before Biden for his signature