Cathy Betz
Vice President, Government Affairs,
Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions
Cathy is responsible for developing and executing Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solution’s government affairs strategy which is designed to educate and inform federal and state legislators and other interest groups on health policy issues of interest to the company’s various business enterprises. A well respected advocate and spokesperson on health policy and health law issues, Cathy brings over 25 years of legislative and government affairs experience to this role, including policy development, legislative and regulatory analysis, stakeholder relations and consensus building.
Joining the company in 2007, Betz is based in Washington D.C. She holds a BS from James Madison University, a Juris Doctor from George Mason University’s School of Law, and a Master’s in Health Administration from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Posts by Cathy Betz
Written on March 16, 2012
The Obama Administration recently announced voluntary guidelines for companies to protect consumer information online. The “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” would not alter existing laws, but the 50-page blueprint would extend privacy protections to unregulated sectors and would preempt conflicting state laws. The Administration’s framework includes a recommendation for federal legislation and Federal Trade Commission enforcement. It also recommends a national standard for security breach notifications. Read further >
Written on February 13, 2012
The Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering have announced their second annual contest aimed at encouraging undergraduate and graduate students to create health-related mobile applications. Using social networking, mobile apps, and other new technologies, the power of health data can be unleashed to take on the nation’s pressing health issues, the IoM says. Read further >
Written on January 18, 2012
“To infinity and beyond!” charges Buzz Lightyear, space ranger and hero of the hit movie Toy Story. The amount of data in our world has been exploding, well beyond the “cloud” – is “infinity” within reach? Creating, storing, managing, and analyzing these vast digital data sets – so call “big data” – is all the buzz in the information technology world of 2012. Data analytics research firm McKinsey Global Institute has touted big data as “the next frontier for innovation, competition and productivity.” Read further >
Written on December 29, 2011
Facial recognition and detection technology proved critical to the plotline in the 2002 Steven Spielberg film, “Minority Report.” (see trailer) Set in 2054, the movie features Captain John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, as the chief of the PreCrime police force, a specialized police department that apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called “precogs.” Cruise’s character is confronted with digital signs that call out his name as he walks through a futuristic shopping mall. He then undergoes a dangerous underground eye replacement to avoid detection by the city’s optical recognition system as a manhunt directed at him ensues. Read further >
Written on November 25, 2011
The term gift can refer to the transfer of anything that makes another person happier – or, as the case may be, healthier. In the spirit of the holiday gift-giving season, I was interested to hear that pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) is developing an online pharmaceutical game along the lines of Facebook’s Farmville, Castleville, Fishville, and YoVille. Read further >
Written on November 02, 2011
Halloween is all about scares and frights. We scare others, they scare us. When it comes to accessing electronic health records, though, some patients seem, well, scared or at least reluctant to sink their fangs into it. Read further >
Written on September 30, 2011
Data is quickly becoming one of the health industry’s most treasured commodities. New data assets, care approaches, and payment models are on the horizon, generating an explosion of information collection, exchange, and use in the industry. The health care industry is grappling with multiple issues surrounding privacy and security in this increasingly digital world that is characterized as a “data-sharing playground [with] a minefield of concerns.” Read further >
Written on August 24, 2011
Facebook has told pharmaceutical companies that as of August 15, they can no longer disable the comment feature on their Facebook pages. Although pharmaceutical brand pages will no longer be able to disable commenting on their posts, Facebook will, on a case by case basis, allow disabling of the commenting function on branded pages solely dedicated to a prescription drug. But pages that are focused on the companies themselves or that serve as disease- or patient-specific communities will have to be open to public comment. Read further >
Written on August 05, 2011
Want to learn how to interpret an electrocardiogram? Track your calories and exercise? Monitor your blood pressure? Find the nearest emergency room? Say it with me: There’s an app for that. Read further >
Written on June 29, 2011
In a landmark 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court June 23 declared unconstitutional a Vermont statute that makes it illegal to publish or use information about the medicines doctors prescribe for the purpose of marketing brand name drugs (Sorrell v. IMS Health et al, ruling). Data on which doctors are prescribing which drugs is “speech” that is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court said. Data companies like Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions have every right to buy that information and sell it to pharmaceutical companies who use it to target their marketing efforts, the Supreme Court ruled. Read further >
