In April, ABL will hold its Round Tables via ZOOM to ensure Social Distancing for our Members. See your Round Table invitation for participation instructions.


• 4/02 - Orange County Round Table
• 4/03 - San Gabriel Valley / Monrovia Round Table
• 4/10 - West Los Angeles / Santa Monica Round Table


• Explore Membership in ABL's Executive Round Tables >>>

COVID-19's IMPACT
• COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Prompts Relaxed Enforcement of HIPAA Requirements Relating to Telehealth
• LAUSD Contracted with Verizon to Provide Internet Access
• Providence Provides Coronavirus Assessment Tool for All to Use
• 5 Things to Know About the New Coronavirus Paid Leave Law
• Meanwhile, the Senate Continues to Negotiate Phase III Stimulus Bill
• IBM, AWS & Cisco Put Resources into Coronavirus Fight
• Resources for Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19

TELECOMMUTING & "WFH" (WORK FROM HOME) STRATEGIES
• Roundup of Articles with Tips & Strategies Regarding Remote Working
• Work from Home Triggers Demand Surge for Chips, Laptops & Network Goods

• Cornerstone: Acquiring Saba + Providing Free Online Learning Platform Regarding Coronavirus
• DarioHealth Digital Diabetes Management System is Now Available at Albertsons
• Eckert & Ziegler Producing Lutetium-177 & Funding Development of Lymphoma Treatment
• Electrosonic Delivers 3 of 2020’s “Top 10 Museums”
• FayeBSG Named Global Reseller of the Year
• GF Piping Systems Earns Intel’s Quality Supplier Award & Debuts Safety Solution for Potable Water
• Parasoft Incorporates AI & ML into Software Test Automation for Safety-Critical Market
• ProProfs CEO Spotlighted in Industry Journal

• Dave Berkus on: Preparing for Black Swan Events
• Get Visible on: Helpful Resources Available Online
• PeopleG2 Provides Remote Working Strategies in On-Demand Webinar & Magazine Articles
• AfterNow on: Defining Mixed Reality
• BeSmartee on: Why LIBOR Will be Replaced
• LookinLA on: Winning Perspectives from Business Leaders
• Pegasus One on: Azure DevOps Tools & Practices

• Alvaka Networks Discusses How to Protect Your Business from Cybercrime
• CareAcademy Collaborating with Leading Educator on Dementia Training
• Concern Debuts Digital Mental Health Hub
• Elemeno Health Partners with Gulf Coast Provider for Superior Patient Care & Workforce Development
• Kaiser Permanente Study Finds Improved Outcomes After Portal & Phone App Use
• MedWand Files for Emergency Use Authorization; Highlighted in USA Today
• Select Data Examines AI, Documentation, Coding, PDGM & More

From a Nelson Hardiman Client Alert: In the midst of the current COVID-19 public health emergency, providers may make “good faith” use of audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients via any “non-public facing remote communication” product available to communicate with patients, and these technologies may be used without entering into a Business Associate Agreement with the vendor. While the Office of Civil Right (OCR)’s notice seems to suggest that any use of these products would be appropriate, we note that OCR has also encouraged notification of patients that these third-party applications potentially introduce privacy risks, and has stated that providers should enable all available encryption and privacy modes when using such applications.

We also note that in our view “good faith use” does not involve using products that are more convenient when a secure solution with a BAA in place is available. So before using a product, we recommend reviewing what relationships already exist with vendors supplying secure products under a BAA agreement. In addition, health plans are introducing lists of acceptable platforms that should be reviewed if possible to ensure reimbursement. This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether or not the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19. It also applies to all patients regardless of payer status, including those patients who receive Medicare or Medicaid benefits and those that do not. (Read: Nelson Hardiman Client Alert, 3/23/20)

Since the LA Unified School District will remain closed until May 1st, the District has contracted with Verizon to provide internet access to students who don’t have it at no charge to them so learning can continue, according to Supt. Austin Beutner. (Read Article: LA Times, “Coronavirus Today,” 3/23/20)

At this website, Providence is providing a Coronavirus Assessment Tool - a healthcare bot available to anyone, which can assess your current risk for the virus. Providence is one of the largest health systems in the U.S., headquartered near Seattle and serving seven Western states. The tool can bring a prospective patient directly into a telehealth session with a clinician to get immediate care. It also aims to prevent healthy people or those with mild symptoms from showing up at clinics and emergency departments, which helps to limit community infection and saves hospital beds and equipment for those who need it.

Congress passed and President Trump signed into law emergency legislation: the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which includes several provisions, with two of them having a particular impact on employers with fewer than 500 employees. Such firms employed 47% (~59.9 million) of people in the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Now those same employers, many of them already thrown into operational crises due to scaled-back consumer demand, revenue and operations, are scrambling to implement the FFCRA's emergency leave protections by its effective date, April 2. The Act has become known as “Phase II” of the legislative response to COVID-19. As discussed in King & Spalding's Health Headlines for the week of March 16, 2020, the Phase II law expands paid leave for certain workers, mandating two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave, while excluding certain healthcare providers and emergency responders. The Phase II law also provides that testing will be covered by private insurers and government payers without cost-sharing payments. (Read Article: King & Spalding Health Headlines, 3/23/20)

HR Dive asked legal experts a few questions aimed at shedding light on a few of the law's most pressing mandates, including: Are employers paying for the FFCRA's emergency paid FMLA and paid sick leave? How does the FFCRA's expanded FMLA leave provision work? Can an employer obtain an exemption from the FFCRA? (Read Article: HR Dive, 3/23/20)

On March 19, Senate Republicans introduced the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or the “CARES Act,” S. 3548, which has become known as the “Phase III” legislative response. The CARES Act remains a work in progress after twice failing procedural votes in the Senate this week, but a draft of the bill reveals the types of relief that might be included in the final version. King & Spalding also anticipates that a supplemental appropriations package will be included as a component of CARES. The most recent draft included $75 million to “reimburse, through grants or other mechanisms, eligible healthcare providers for healthcare-related expenses or lost revenues that are directly attributable to coronavirus.” (Read Article: King & Spalding Health Headlines, 3/23/20)

IBM has partnered with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Energy, and several others to create the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, which will provide free access to 16 supercomputing systems to researchers in an effort to make "the most immediate impact" on fighting the coronavirus. (Read Article: Venture Beat, 3/22/20) Meanwhile, Amazon is launching a diagnostics development unit through Amazon Web Services with a $20 million fund to help researchers develop a faster and more affordable test for the coronavirus. (Read Article: ZDNet, 3/20/20) And, Cisco plans to dedicate $225 million in cash and services to support various causes dedicated to combating the spread of coronavirus and helping those affected. The investment, which includes $8 million in cash and $210 million in products, will be dispersed to a variety of groups including the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and the World Health Organization’s various coronavirus efforts. Cisco will also provide funding for unspecified “heads of state, government agencies, and businesses to rapidly deploy COVID-19-related technology solutions.” (Read Article: Fortune, 3/22/20)

The Consumer Technology Association announced that it will keep a resource page up-to-date with the latest information, news and direction on where to find support for small business loans and government relief during this economic disruption. (CTA, 3/20/20)

> The Remote Playbook: Who Succeeds in the Coronavirus-driven Shift to Remote Work? (Read: CIO Dive, 3/16/20)
> How Your Company Can Create a Remote Workforce - Fast (Read: Silicon Valley Business Journal, 3/9/20)
> Work from home 101: Every remote worker's guide to the essential tools for telecommuting (Read: ZDNet, 3/20/20)
> The best online collaboration tools in 2020: How remote teams stay productive (Read: ZDNet, 3/20/20)
> 2 cybersecurity considerations for a remote workforce (Read: CIO Dive, 3/19/20)
> Coronavirus: Critical IT Policies & Tools Every Business Needs (Read: TechRepublic, March 2020)

With more employees working from home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, demand is surging for laptops and network peripherals as well as components along the supply chain such as chips, as companies rush to build virtual offices. (Read Article: Reuters, 3/23/20)

Cornerstone OnDemand has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Saba, a global leader in talent experience solutions and a portfolio company of Vector Capital. The cash and stock transaction is valued at approximately $1.395 billion and has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. With the addition of Saba, Cornerstone will have an expanded reach and ability to help a larger, diverse group of clients realize the potential of their people with the right learning and development opportunities. The combined company will have 75+ million users and serve approximately 7,000 organizations, of all sizes, globally. Meanwhile, Cornerstone has launched Cornerstone Cares, a free online public learning platform where users can access best practices training, information, and resources relative to the COVID-19 crisis and working from home. (Adam Miller, West Los Angeles)

DarioHealth Corp. has launched its digital therapeutics solution for managing chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension on Albertsons Marketplace, an online shopping venue. Albertsons Companies is one of the largest retailers in the U.S., with 2,000+ grocery stores, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and more. Through 1,700+ in-store pharmacies across the country, Albertsons services millions of patients each year. (Rick Anderson, West Los Angeles)

Eckert & Ziegler (EZ) has developed a new technology for the production of carrier-free lutetium-177, a highly demanded substance in many new cancer drugs. The new technology is based on the irradiation of ytterbium-176 and the subsequent separation of the resulting lutetium-177 in a radiochemical facility. The process has achieved a particularly high degree of purity. Following the successful validation of the production process, commercial production has now begun and the first batches of material have been delivered. And, EZ will financially support the clinical development of two proprietary new radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of malignant lymphomas. (Frank Yeager, Monrovia)

Each year USA Today conducts its popular “10 Best Reader’s Choice Travel Awards,” covering a broad number of categories. And this year three museums that Electrosonic contributed to achieved honors, including the reader’s top choice, the National Comedy Center at #1, as well as the Mascot Hall of Fame at #6, and The Royal Alberta Museum, at #9. Meanwhile, recent blog posts from Electrosonic include: The Way Forward for Sustainability in Audiovisual Design and New Dark Ride Plunges Guests Into Mysterious New World. (Bryan Hinckley, Monrovia)

Faye Business Systems Group has been awarded Global Reseller of Year by SugarCRM, a leading customer experience management platform with over 200 partners worldwide. The award is presented to the highest achieving SugarCRM Partner for overall growth, technical expertise, commitment, customer service, support, and marketing efforts to further advance the message and position of SugarCRM in the global marketplace. FayeBSG was also awarded SugarCRM Presidents Club honors for having the greatest Q4 sales revenue among any other partner. (David Faye, Monrovia)

Intel has recognized GF Piping Systems with a 2019 Preferred Quality Supplier Award, given to those who exceed high expectations and uncompromising performance goals while scoring at least 80% on an integrated report card that assesses performance throughout the year. Suppliers must also achieve 80% or greater on a challenging continuous improvement plan and demonstrate solid quality and business systems. Meanwhile, GF Piping has introduced the Hycleen Automation System, a revolutionary automated balancing and flushing solution for improving potable water safety in premise plumbing. The new system is particularly suited for buildings with larger hot water distribution systems found in hospitals, schools, offices, hotels, and skilled nursing homes. (Mike Smith, Monrovia)

Parasoft has announced the new release of Parasoft C/C++test, a unified C and C++ development testing solution for real-time safety- and security-critical embedded applications and enterprise IT. With this, Parasoft is bringing unique AI and machine-learning capabilities to help organizations with the adoption of static analysis for secure safety-critical applications development, allowing teams to achieve industry compliance standards easily. Meanwhile, Parasoft is participating in the Secure Software Factory from DLT Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tech Data and a premier government technology solutions aggregator. Parasoft and DLT have a common goal to ensure that government customers’ software systems are developed and delivered with security, quality, and on time, right from the start. (Elizabeth Kolawa, Ph.D., Monrovia)

Sameer Bhatia, Founder and CEO of ProProfs.com, was recently interviewed in Authority Magazine, which provides “leadership lessons from authorities in business, film, sports, and tech.” Sameer talks about the creation and progression of ProProfs; three main steps he’s taken to build his company’s large community; his monetization model; the five most important things one should know before starting an app or a SAAS; and more. (Sameer Bhatia, West Los Angeles)

In Do you even know what questions to ask?, Dave says, “Who would have thought about COVID-19 and the public’s panic responses? Two weeks ago we all thought we had our responses dedicated to supply chain disruptions. By the next week it was protecting our associates and employees. And by the third week, we witnessed mass panic shopping, closures of most all venues, limits to how many could be in a store at once, empty shelves and much more. Most every white-collar worker was telecommuting. What could follow?

Have you called your team to brainstorm the next steps in this ever-moving black swan event? How do you avoid being sideswiped by the new product you never saw coming, or by the “black swan” event no-one ever thought of that might threaten your business? Speaking with a roundtable group of fellow associates, we addressed this question and spent an hour brainstorming how to protect against just such a lack of forward vision.” (Dave Berkus, Monrovia & West Los Angeles)

Jason Ciment, CEO of Get Visible, has provided the following:
> A 'What-to-Do About Covid' FAQs page for employers.
> ‘Find a way or fade away.’ “I heard this at a client pitch and would put this up as one of our 7 core principles. We will always try to find a way,” Jason declares.
> Make an animated GIF from a YouTube video. Jason provides this example from a prospecting email format he’s playing with.
> Read 5 Persuasion Techniques That Aren’t Manipulative.
> Learn how to spy on your competitors' ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. (Jason Ciment, West Los Angeles)

The recent PeopleG2 webinar - Remote Success - is now available to watch on-demand. And, CEO Chris Dyer has written several timely articles:
> Will coronavirus change company culture for the better? for C&IT magazine;
> The Future Is Here, and It’s Remote: Why Companies Can’t Afford Not to Go Virtual for Recruiter;
> 4 Ways to Build a Great Company Culture for Remote Workers for TD magazine;
> Avoiding common virtual workplace pitfalls for Business Graduates Association;
> and Chris is quoted in the Forbes article, This Is How Leaders Build Trust With Remote Teams. (Chris Dyer, Monrovia)

In All Mixed Up: AR and VR are Mixed Reality, AfterNow explains that mixed reality (MR) is any experience that mixes real and virtual elements. This means that virtual reality is MR - mixing reality by using real-world sensor data and bringing real objects into a virtual environment. And augmented reality is MR, because it overlays virtual elements onto the real world. MR is a continuum with the real world on one end and the virtual world on the other. Meanwhile, click here to read AfterNow’s other blog posts, including: “DataViz: Sleep Activity Visualization”; and “Spatial Review - Collaborating in AR.” (Philippe Lewicki, West Los Angeles)

In Mortgage Rates Impacted: LIBOR is Getting Replaced, BeSmartee shares that LIBOR has long been the benchmark for loan interest rates for everything from home mortgages to student loans. But the LIBOR rate may be phased out as early as 2021 and financial institutions have yet to prepare for the standard's demise. Find out more about what LIBOR is, why it's going away, the standards that may replace it, and what impact that will have on the mortgage and lending industries. (Veronica Nguyen, Orange County)

Ali Payani, CEO of LookinLA, hosts a podcast series, called The Leading Mindset, which highlights winning perspectives of business leaders. Recent episodes include: “Creative Solutions in a Restricted Market with Alyssa Tucker”; “Staying Ahead of the Curve with George Mekhtarian”; “Recognizing Hidden Opportunities with Julian Gonzalez”; and more. (Ali Payani, Monrovia)

In An overview of the benefits of integrating Azure DevOps tools and practices, Pegasus One explains that Microsoft’s Azure DevOps tools provide end-to-end solutions for planning, developing, delivering, and operating for application lifecycle management. Formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services, implementing Azure DevOps ultimately provides an organization with greater levels of collaboration and coordination. Pegasus One describes what you need to know about its benefits and implementation. (Tushar Puri, Orange County)