“HHS is focused on the need to share electronic health records to gain insight into how to assist the mission of HHS to enhance the health and well being of all Americans,” according to Oki Mek. In this edition of Keeping IT Brief, he digs into how this can happen effectively in a large agency like HHS.

About Oki Mek

As the Senior Advisor to HHS CIO, Oki Mek’s focus is on initiating and leading changes through digital transformation that aims to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans; by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services. He also works on strategic analysis; scalability, sustainability, feasibility, and most importantly marketability. Champion collaboration as an essential component to innovation and serve as a conduit to improve HHS ability to deliver mission outcomes, provide excellent service, and effectively steward taxpayer dollars on behalf of the American people. He embraces the big data paradigm shift and continues to evolve not only to change the lives of the American people, but aim to change the world through emerging technologies.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

 Standing out in the competitive and complex hiring process is important in getting the right staff to meet all of your companies needs.  Mark J. Tyrrell, the Founder of Right Resources, discusses how whether you need someone for an important project, or someone to join the team full-time, it is crucial to make the people you work with a top priority and understand that starting with the right people makes every project easier.

Mark J. Tyrrell – Founder of Right Resources

Mark has recruited professionals in healthcare technology for over a decade. He graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelors in Business Administration and started his career as a systems consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. He has recruited on positions for some of the most respected companies not only in and around Baltimore, but nationwide across the health tech industry. He lives in Catonsville, MD with his wife, his daughter, his son, his dog, and the cat, and he is truly grateful for all the opportunities God has provided, including this company.

Right Resources

At Right Resources they support mission-driven tech companies that are passionate about the impact of their work by connecting them with highly sought-after technical talent. They bring the right people together in successful and productive work teams so that all their work will be good and useful for the world. They aim high, fail fast, laugh it off, and get it done!

We had an amazing number of speakers at the 2021 Innovation Awards.  If you missed it, be sure to check out the full list of winners and register to check out a recording of the event at: https://www.fedhealthit.com/2021/05/2021-fedhealthit-innovation-award-winners-announced/.

Here is a bite from Amir Capriles of Pegasystems, one of the event sponsors.

Amir Capriles

Amir Capriles is a Vice President at Pegasystems, overseeing all client-facing functions serving the public sector business across the United States. Prior to Pegasystems, Amir held sales leadership roles at Salesforce.com and Microsoft Corporation, leading national teams responsible for enabling public sector and commercial enterprise customers in their Digital Transformation journey through the use of cloud based, intelligent business applications.

Amir has over 30 years of experience in the information technology field, including sales, marketing, product development, implementation and support of large, transformational solutions across public and private sector; organizations ranging from small municipalities to large state and local governments and federal agencies as well as large enterprise commercial organizations.

Pegasystems

Pega delivers innovative software that crushes business complexity. From increasing customer lifetime value to streamlining service to boosting efficiency, we help the world’s leading brands solve problems fast and transform for tomorrow. Pega clients make better decisions and get work done with real-time AI and intelligent automation. And, since 1983, we’ve built our scalable architecture and low-code platform to stay ahead of rapid change. Our solutions save people time, so our clients’ employees and customers can get back to what matters most. For more information, visit www.pega.com 

Does the Sentar/QOMPLX combined company’s future mean benefits for its customers?  The president of Sentar, Darren Kraabel goes over what to expect now and in the future of the Health IT industry.

About Darren Kraabel, Sentar President

Darren joined the Sentar team in 2019 with over 25 years of experience leading large, mission-focused organizations. Since Darren joined in 2019, Sentar has grown substantially, positioning itself as a leader in cybersecurity. The company’s continued success led to a three-year sales growth of 105 percent in 2020, marking Sentar on the Inc. 5000 for the fourth year in a row. Moreover, the company has doubled the size of its team since 2017. Sentar’s recent successes include multiple award-winning initiatives, primarily for our work securing Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Connected Medical Devices. Prior to joining Sentar, Darren was the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer for Jacobs, where he led their global digital transformation. Darren also previously served as a USAF Officer where he helped develop leading-edge combat capability for Special Forces units.

About Sentar, a QOMPLX Company

Sentar is one of the fastest-growing cyber intelligence, analytics and operations solutions providers focused on the National Security sector. Its cyber domain solutions blend expertise in cybersecurity, intelligence, analytics, and systems engineering into holistic solutions that combine these disciplines to deliver superior results to mission partners. Key clients include the Defense Health Agency, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and the Missile Defense Agency.  Sentar has offices in Huntsville, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbia, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. Visit www.sentar.com for more information.

A Tech Talk with CMS was one of the highlights of the 2021 FedHealthIT Innovation Awards.  The 7th Annual Event recognizes and honors the Federal Health technology and consulting community by celebrating programs nominated and selected by their peers for DRIVING INNOVATION and RESULTS across the Department of Veterans Affairs, Military Health, Health and Human Services, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Let’s hear an expert of what he had to say.

Quentin Tyson  

Quentin Tyson is the Chief Technology Officer in the Information System Group, Center for Clinical Standards and Quality within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services with over thirty years of IT experience of which twenty of those are in the federal government. Quentin received his Masters of Science in Telecommunication from Johns Hopkins University and Bachelors of Science in Information Technology with a focus on networking from University of Maryland Baltimore County. Quentin focuses on strategic thinking, identifying opportunities for growth, building partnerships and leaning out and improving the overall IT environment to help reduce cost, increasing efficiency and deliver IT services and technology to our partners and consumers. Quentin enjoys spending time with family and friends along with cycling, racquetball and 80’s kung fu movies.

CMS

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is one of the largest purchasers of health care in the world. Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provide health care for one in four Americans.

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor. Federal agencies must provide reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate.

  Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com. 

As a 2021 Innovation Award Winner, VA OTI leads a coordinated leadership body focused on ensuring the Veteran journey is seamlessly enabled through interoperability of the systems that support them. Dr. Paul Tibbit’s provides an inside look at the Interoperability Maturity Model (IMM) that provides for measurement of the intangible concept of “Interoperability” between business entities and processes within VA. 

Paul Tibbits, MD 

Executive Director, Office of Technical Integration, Department of Veterans Affairs. His Office is an Innovation Program Award winner for 2021. Dr. Paul Tibbits has over 35 years' experience leading change management, process re-engineering, and IT initiatives that support Federal health care programs. He developed and implemented two worldwide medical record systems in the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), restructured IT management, and regularly represented IT projects to senior government and private sector executives and Congress. He currently serves as Executive Director for OIT’s Office of Technical Integration (OTI), which works across OIT and with our VA business partners on critical modernization initiatives like Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM), VA Logistics Redesign (VALOR), Financial Management Business Transformation (FMBT), and the MISSION Act. Dr. Tibbits is board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiology and is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He is also a Veteran, having served 26 years in the U.S. Navy, and was qualified in Undersea Medicine.

The team focused on the Democratizing Data project is addressing the challenges of leveraging vast amounts of VHA clinical data to better understand, present, and respond to Veteran issues. Amanda Purnell, a Clinical Data Specialist for the Care and Transformational Initiatives Portfolio of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem discusses how excited the team is to win a 2021 Innovation Award.

Amanda Purnell, Clinical Data Specialist

Amanda has been working as Clinical Data Specialist for the Care and Transformational Initiatives Portfolio of the VHA Innovation Ecosystem since October 2020. Prior to that year, she was the Senior Innovation Fellow, working on projects to democratize data to serve Veterans. She has also held roles as an Innovation Specialist within Innovators Network since October 2016. She loves to empower others, ignite curiosity, and wonder about what’s possible. Prior to her work in the VHA Innovation Ecosystem, she held leadership roles in implementing programs for prevention, integrative and complementary care, and health behavior change at the VA. She has extensive experience and training in facilitation and advancing learning in adults. She has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from The Ohio State University.

VHA Innovation Ecosystem

VHA IE is the catalyst for enabling the discovery and spread of mission-driven health care innovation to advance care delivery and service that exceeds expectations, restores hope, and builds trust within the Veteran community. As part of VHA Office of Discovery, Education and Affiliate Networks, VHA IE leverages the collective power of innovation champions from across VA, academia, and industry to operationalize innovation in the Nation’s largest integrated health care system.

Check out the full list of 2021 Innovation Award winners.

Dina Guerrero, a recent DHA Cyber Security Engineer joins us to discuss the most daunting cyber alignment challenges of migrating federal medical IT services into one electronic health record system. She dives deep on not only the obstacles but what to expect in the months to come. If you are traveling down this road, this is an interview you won’t want to miss.

About Dina Guerro

Dina Guerrero has served as an IT and cybersecurity professional for over 24 yrs in the DoD military health community as a Government civilian and contractor. She has held various positions in the Service Component Medical IT community and Defense Health Agency providing sound and secure solutions through her combined experience in policy development, program management, and delivery of system and network design, deployment, and customer support.

About Sentar

Sentar is a cyber-intelligence company, applying analytics and systems engineering expertise to protect our national security and way of life by innovating, building, and securing mission-critical assets. Established in 1990, we have a long history of innovation. Today, we are one of the fastest-growing cyber-intelligence companies serving the National Security sector. Sentar has offices in Huntsville, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Columbia, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. Visit www.sentar.com for more information.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

This podcast, featuring Joyce Hunter, Executive Director of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Information (ICIT), discusses the cost of security breaches and the growing importance of cyber security in Healthcare and the steps that can be taken to secure not only industry information related to FedHealth but also that of individuals.

About Joyce Hunter

Joyce Hunter is a strategic-doer and a philanthropreneur. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to the position of Deputy Chief Information Officer for Policy and Planning at the Department of Agriculture (2013-2017) and was the Acting Chief Information Officer from March 2016 to July 2016. Ms. Hunter demonstrates a strong ability to build and sustain relationships with public/private stakeholders, develop and lead innovative projects and inter-agency initiatives and was recently named by Security Magazine one of the most Influential People in Security for 2020.

About ICIT

The Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) is a non-profit, cybersecurity think tank providing objective, nonpartisan research, advisory, and education to legislative, commercial, and uppublic-sector cybersecurity stakeholders. Data Science Camp Inc. is a 501(c)3 corporation providing a design thinking project led subject matter specific camp utilizing data to tell a story and advocate for change.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.

Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) are exploding across the world and here in the US private companies, states and even large counties are launching their own HIEs. Competition to provide the most information about patients to the largest number of providers has high stakes.  Companies and organizations looking to improve the customer experience with improved speed, security and reduced cost (as well as trying to become the biggest HIE on the block) will look to merge these existing HIEs. This inherently will cause massive confusion with the use of different patient information nomenclatures, categories and partner designations.  Today we speak with Kristin Brown of Tamr to try to clarify some of the confusion.

Kristin Brown:
Kristin Brown is a Federal Civilian Account Manager at Tamr, where she focuses on developing business for Tamr’s Civilian and SLED Government solutions Team. Kristin has over 15 years of strategic account and partner management experience. Before joining Tamr, Kristin has worked within the Federal market at numerous firms such as Varonis, Tenable, Vectra AI and Collibra.

Tamr:
Tamr and through its subsidiary, Tamr Government Solutions, is the leading data mastering
company that accelerates data-driven business outcomes for large organizations. Public sector leaders like: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Army, U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy trust Tamr to manage their enterprise data as an asset.  Tamr's unique approach of using human-guided machine learning algorithms to accelerate data mastering projects lets the world's largest organizations enhance their data operations, rapidly activate latent data, and increase the velocity of business outcomes through data-driven insights. With a co-founding team led by Andy Palmer (founding CEO of Vertica) and Mike Stonebraker (Turing Award winner) and backed by investors including NEA and Google Ventures, Tamr is transforming how companies get value from their data.

Check out our other podcasts at FedHealthIT.com.