Keeping IT Brief: The Power Perspective

 Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal health agencies are now evaluating what their shortcomings were and how they can improve. Key issues that have come to the forefront include future-proofing the workforce, combating misinformation, and maximizing data utilization. In this episode, ICF SVP of Federal Health John Auerbach shares the biggest priorities for federal health agencies in improving health outcomes and preparing better for future pandemics.

  

John Auerbach

Senior Vice President, Federal Health

John is ICF’s primary federal health expert and thought leader within the company’s public sector business. Amid tremendous global health and social challenges, ICF’s capabilities and solutions for federal health agencies have never been more relevant. John’s thought leadership advances ICF’s combination of proven domain and scientific expertise with leading-edge analytics and technology solutions to drive improved health outcomes for clients.

John came to ICF from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he most recently served as the director of intergovernmental and strategic affairs. In this role, he was the lead strategic advisor on CDC engagement with government agencies at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, as well as public health and other external partners. He also had oversight of CDC’s health equity workgroup and served as the chief equity officer for CDC’s COVID-19 response.

John brings additional leadership experience in the nonprofit sector and state government. He is the former president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting sound public health policy and making disease prevention a national priority through research, reports, and communications campaigns. He is also the former public health commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health where he developed innovative programs to promote health equity, combat chronic and infectious disease, and supported the successful implementation of the state’s health care reform initiative.

An established industry leader and recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Excellence in Public Health Award, John is the co-author of many publications on topics covering social determinants of health, mental health, substance misuse, the health and wellbeing of older adults, and more. He serves on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineer

ICF

ICF is a global advisory and digital services provider with approximately 8,000 full- and part-time employees. Not a typical consultancy, ICF business analysts and policy specialists work hand-in-hand with digital strategists, data scientists and creatives. ICF combines unmatched industry expertise with technology to help organizations solve their most complex challenges. Since 1969, public and private sector clients have worked with ICF to navigate change and shape the future.

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In an increasingly fast-paced and complex digital world, the ability of different information technology systems and software applications to communicate, exchange data, and use that information is becoming increasingly more vital. Achieving a greater speed and efficiency through an enriched data exchange framework will permit greatly enhanced data sharing across clinicians, labs, hospitals, pharmacies, and patients regardless of the application or application vendor.

When disparate systems can work in tandem to share patient data seamlessly across all networks, within and across organizational boundaries, providers are able to advance the effective delivery of healthcare for individuals and communities. In essence, any healthcare professional from anywhere in the world can access a patient’s records and provide treatment and care without delay.

Masood Ahmed, Chief Technology Officer, Civilian Health Solutions, Leidos

Masood Ahmed serves as Chief Technology Officer for Civilian Health Solutions at Leidos, where he leads development of innovative technical solutions for customers including NIH, FDA, CDC, CMS, SSA and NCI in support of growth and operations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering telecommunications from the University of Wollongong, Australia; a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia; and a master’s degree in executive leadership from Harvard. https://www.linkedin.com/in/masood-ahmed-9076504/

Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company’s 44,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $13.7 billion for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. For more information, visit www.leidos.com. 

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Taking a look at the importance of inclusive teams when looking at tech in the fedhealth tech space with the Director of Product at CivicActions.

 

Liz Tupper, Director of Product

Civic Actions

Liz Tupper is a strategic technology leader with over 20 years of experience working in the civic tech, social good, AI (artificial intelligence), IoT (internet of things), web, mobile application, and video game industries. She leads the Product team at CivicActions and works to co-create experiences that make an impact alongside our clients, the people they serve, and our project teams. She is passionate about removing barriers and making technology accessible to people of all backgrounds and abilities. Well-intended software can be oppressive, and Liz is working to change that.

Civic Actions

About CivicActions: Founded in 2004, CivicActions is a digital services company that helps the government deliver better public services through open technology and design. With expertise in digital accessibility, free and open source software, and human-centered design, CivicActions is committed to use technology to help build a world that works for all.

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Susan Sharer talks to Joe Salgado, a successful capture manager with Red Team Consulting, on T4NG as well as the subsequent on-ramp about the recently released T4G2 Draft RFP to provide his thoughts on the differences in approach and substance of the two procurements and what that might mean for offerors and Veterans Affairs.

Link to the 2nd draft:  
https://sam.gov/opp/ec26c57e247540e99fe559c21d2a3358/view
 

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Today Susan Sharer, the CEO of FedHealthIT, took Keeping IT Brief on the road and met with Brandon Utt, the Vice President of Growth from MKS2 to discuss the T4NG2 contract the morning after the T4NG Happy Hour, where industry came out in huge numbers to discuss this exciting opportunity.

Brandon Utt, Vice President of Growth

Brandon has been part of the MKS2 team since December 2019 and has been responsible for driving the company's overall growth objectives for all target customer markets, as well as acting in the capacity of VA Capture Manager. Prior to joining industry in 2016, Brandon was a contracting professional at the VA Technology Acquisition Center, working primarily on the original T4 program, and before that, in the same capacity at the CECOM Acquisition Center, Ft. Monmouth, supporting the Army and Department of Defense. 

MKS2

MKS2 is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business headquartered in Austin Texas. Led by Founder and CEO, Brendan Mullen, MKS2 is an IT service provider performing Cyber Security, Software Development, Cloud Modernization, Infrastructure Support, and Instructional Design in support of our Federal Government customers in the Department of Veterans Affairs, Defense Health Agency, Army, Navy, and SOCOM. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-utt-9a350ba8 

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Compliance requirements and siloed communication have resulted in major interoperability and scalability challenges for government agencies, and these issues have persisted during IT modernization initiatives.

In the wake of the pandemic, abrupt changes were made to digitize necessary resources, but as the federal health landscape looks forward it is imperative that any modernization solution implemented is based on scalable infrastructure. Furthermore, systems and applications should be designed to work together seamlessly in order to drive innovation and efficiency.

Judy Jiao

Ms. Jiao serves as the National Government Services Chief Information Officer. Judy is leading the NGS organization through a digital transformation based on Human Centered Design, which is in alignment with the government’s path to modernization. With over 20 years of experience in health care industry, she leads a talented and innovative team of software engineering, security, data analytics, IT infrastructure and services, and agile project management to deliver and expand NGS business. Driven by her passion to help people improve their health conditions, she takes pride in providing the best business technology solutions possible to advance the effectiveness and quality of health care.

National Government Services (NGS)

For more than 50 years, National Government Services has been empowering federal healthcare agencies to improve lives and communities. Its core business areas include digital health, providing federal IT solutions and services for healthcare, and business process Solutions. This includes its role as a Medicare contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Part of the Anthem family of businesses, NGS is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, and employs more than 1,500 associates across the country.

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Where the Health Community Should Start Research from KFF estimates that disparities in healthcare amount to approximately $93 billion in excess medical care costs and $42 billion in lost productivity per year, in addition to economic losses due to premature deaths. Health outcomes are not just centralized to local communities, but rather, have a lasting effect on improving the nation’s overall health and economic prosperity. Without healthy citizens, fewer people are available to work, and costs in hospitals rise due to more frequent ER visits.

Kamala Green

In her current position as the Social Drivers of Health Program Manager at National Government Services, Kamala assists with strategic design, implementation and evaluation of social drivers of health initiatives, where she partners to recommend initiatives related to unmet social needs, such as food, housing, legal support and income. Since joining NGS in November 2021, Kamala is instrumental in level setting and shaping the agenda for health equity and the social drivers of health (SDOH), specifically for Medicare.

National Government Services

For more than 50 years, National Government Services (NGS) has been empowering federal healthcare agencies to improve lives and communities. Its core business areas include digital health, providing federal IT solutions and services for healthcare, and business process Solutions. This includes its role as a Medicare contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Part of the Anthem family of businesses, NGS is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, and employs more than 1,500 associates across the country.

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Today we speak with Brooke Pierce, Vice President, CMS Division Manager, with Leidos on how Servant Leadership can draw the most out of your team in a positive way.  This non-traditional style of leadership entails a set of behaviors and practices that places the primary emphasis on the well-being of the entire team.

Brooke Pierce, Vice President, CMS Division Manager, with Leidos

Brooke Pierce (Patterson) is the VP and Division Manager for the CMS Division within Leidos’ Health Group, a $250m annual, 587-person division.  This division supports the Nation’s largest healthcare payer’s information technology and innovation objectives through mission critical hosting, technology insertion, data analytics, end-user support, and modernization.  Previously, Pierce served as Sr. Program Manager for the Infrastructure Hosting & Centralized Connectivity Services contract for CMS.  Prior to that role, she was the Senior Program Execution Consultant where she was responsible for engaging with and restoring troubled programs. Pierce was also responsible for creating and implementing the Independent Program Assessment initiative. Before joining Leidos, Pierce served as VP of Government Solutions for Cotiviti; SVP of Government Services for ARDX; Director of CMS at FEi; and a number of other contractors in varying roles focusing solely on Healthcare IT.  Pierce graduated from Notre Dame of Maryland University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, with an emphasis in information technology, and from the same university with a master’s degree in teaching with an emphasis in technology.  Pierce has been nominated for the women’s leadership cohort at Northrop Grumman, the Executive Mentoring Program at Leidos, and was a recipient of the FedHealthIT100 award.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrookepierce/

Leidos 

As a leading provider of healthcare solutions for federal agencies and select non-federal customers across the healthcare ecosystem, we deliver secure, holistic health solutions, across ever-changing sites of care, to improve patient outcomes and system efficiencies. We use our expertise in digital modernization, data analytics, life sciences, care enablement and human performance to address our customers' most important challenges. 

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The VA’s EHR rollout aimed to modernize the systems that give veterans access to essential healthcare services, but it has posed numerous modernization challenges that echoed poor citizen experiences being felt across the public sector.

With public health crises like COVID-19, the importance of modernizing IT infrastructure to adapt to healthcare challenges and meet citizens’ needs is paramount for federal agencies. Agencies must work towards modernization but are faced with many logistical issues that make rapid implementation infrastructure difficult.

iTech AG provides the government with cutting-edge technology solutions to help agencies modernize systems to fit their needs, enable health care organizations to truly serve citizens, and optimize results and predictions.

Frank Antezana

Frank Antezana is the CEO and co-founder of iTech AG, providing executive leadership and ensuring the firm’s vision and mission are integrated into all iTech AG’s initiatives. In this role, Frank leverages over 20 years of IT consulting experience in both the federal and commercial/private marketplaces. Throughout his career, Frank has built multiple startup companies in a variety of industries, including textiles, telecom, contact centers, and software development. In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, he has been in executive roles at a number of Fortune 500 Firms. Frank received a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Business Scaling from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis on finance and marketing from Universidad Privada Boliviana (UPB).

iTech AG

Founded in 2008, iTech AG is a technology consulting firm that helps federal, state, local, and private organizations streamline their operations to achieve better, faster, and more predictable results. Using a wide range of innovative solutions, the company modernizes customers’ systems and processes to help them unlock their true potential. iTech AG is the only 8(a) disadvantaged small business that is a ServiceNow Elite Partner, and were recently awarded 8(a) STARS III, a Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle with a $50 billion ceiling.

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No matter what agency or industry, the CX approach leverages the true nature of HCD, allowing for the development of innovative strategies that make life better for people across the country. A customer-focused approach also delivers effective policies, programs and services to support each citizen’s needs, with a primary approach of citizen discovery, engagement and delivery.

Rita Breen 

In her current position as the Agile and Human Centered Design Practices Director at National Government Services, Rita’s primary goal is to solve mission-critical challenges for federal patients and customers. She has nearly two decades of project management (PM) experience and has been a part of the NGS team since 2018. Rita mainly supports the technical PMs and HCD teams that drive the customer-centered approach to FedHealth IT. She and the team focus on solving major pain points while bolstering product quality and improving customer experiences across the board. Rita is truly passionate about identifying the key needs of citizens, setting actionable metrics and learning to meet them with empathy and understanding.

National Government Services 

For more than 50 years, National Government Services (NGS) has been empowering federal healthcare agencies to improve lives and communities. Its core business areas include digital health, providing federal IT solutions and services for healthcare, and business process Solutions. This includes its role as a Medicare contractor for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Part of the Anthem family of businesses, NGS is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, and employs more than 1,500 associates across the country.

Follow the show on your favorite podcast platform, and discover more conversations with the FORUM Media Network at GovForum Podcasts.