The administration says it seeks to bolster the IT posture of federal agencies by making "intentional investments at the right time," as well as address cybersecurity, health disparities and public health infrastructure needs.

Improving the nation's cybersecurity

Citing the Administration Cybersecurity Priorities for the 2024 Budget Memorandum, the Office of Management and Budget lays out three cyber investment areas for agencies – improving defense, deepening cross-sector collaboration to defend critical Infrastructure and strengthening the government's digital foundations.

To that end, the President's budget proposal released last week increases funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency by $145 million, raising CISA's budget to $3.1 billion next year, including:

• $98 million to implement the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act.
• $425 million to improve internal cybersecurity and analytical capabilities.

"The budget bolsters cybersecurity by ensuring every agency is increasing the security of public services and is successfully implementing Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity," the administration said in the budget request.

Increasing public health resilience

For the U.S. Health and Human Services Agency the budget proposes funding to advance capacity, access and healthcare equity. 

Discretionary funding of $10.5 billion would be available to build public health capacity at the Centers for Disease Control, and at the state and local levels, in order to respond to emerging threats and modernize public health data systems.

"These critical capabilities are necessary to ensure that CDC and our nation are well positioned to prevent and address current and emerging public health threats," according to an HHS announcement about the proposed 2024 budget.

With another $11 million, the budget would also provide HHS with the means to test ways "to improve access to benefits for people facing financial shock by improving underlying eligibility data services and systems."

Funding for health data and experience improvements

The budget proposal includes $471 million for the ongoing implementation of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, released in June 2022. 

Goal three of that plan seeks "to improve data collection in states, hospitals, health centers and insurance programs to support better surveillance and quality measurement and improve outcomes."

For 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration says continued funding would strengthen social determinant data collection and analysis to improve access to maternal care.

In the budget proposal, the administration also says it recognizes that rural areas have higher rates of suicide, overdose and mental illness, so funding is requested to support behavioral health services. 

With $30 million, the administration says it will support rural healthcare workforce training programs and telehealth. 

An additional $9 million would fund HHS and the Social Security Administration to jointly pilot Medicare-enrollment experience improvements.

Also of note, the budget calls for $6.4 billion for the Veterans Affairs Office of Information Technology to continue upgrades to VA IT systems.

Another $1.9 billion is proposed to support the VA’s electronic health record modernization project. Some lawmakers want to scrap the plagued Oracle Cerner rollout. 

Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.