The Defense Department treats about 9 million service members and their families per year. The  Veterans Affairs Department provides medical services to about 6 million veterans annually.

Add to this 15 million, the citizens served by the Indian Health Service, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  and a host of other agencies, giving the federal government a timely opportunity to change the way through technology and innovation healthcare is delivered to all citizens.

Market research firm Deltek estimates agencies will increase their spending on commercial health IT products and services to $6.4 billion by 2021 up from $6 billion in 2016.

Deltek says DoD and VA are driving the spending increases through new electronic health care systems as well as the broader digitization of processes and integration of data across the federal healthcare sector.

The move to the cloud and the rise of better and faster data analytics will drive the broader adoption of telehealth and mobile applications for healthcare providers, Deltek says.

These technologies can help hospitals and clinics gain a complete view of any one patient to ensure the service member or veteran or citizen more generally receives unique health plan that makes the most of the existing data, systems and processes.

The challenge many health care organizations face, however, both in the public and private sectors, is the tangled mess of systems and databases that have grown up over the last 20 years. This makes data integration and sharing much more difficult.

Right behind that challenge is the amount of data health care produces each day. IDC Health Insights estimates more than 25,000 petabytes of health data will be created by 2020. How can patients and health practitioners manage, understand and make best use of all that information?

These challenges must be overcome to reach the end goals of these efforts, which like most IT transformation efforts center around lowering the cost of care, improving patient outcomes and improving the patient experience.

Moderator

Jason Miller

Jason Miller is a reporter whose work focuses mainly on technology and procurement issues, including cybersecurity, e-government and acquisition policies and programs.

Panelists

Andrew Jacobs, Technology Strategy Branch Chief, Architecture, Advanced Concepts & Engineering Division, Defense Health Agency

Andrew “Jake” Jacobs is the branch chief for the Technology Strategy Branch and the acting branch chief for the Engineering Branch, two branches of the Architecture, Advanced Concepts & Engineering (AACE) Division of the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Jacobs has more than 20 years of federal, industry, and military experience, leading IT operations and initiatives across large-scale complex organizations, including 10 years as a Navy Corpsman. Before his time as a branch chief, Jacobs was a key leader within the MHS infrastructure office, where he rose through the ranks as a network engineer and liaison to the MHS CTO.  Today, Jacobs continues to provide guidance on all facets of emerging technologies, industry trends, and IT planning for military health.

Col. William Baez, Chief Medical Information Officer, Office of the Air Force Surgeon General

Col William Báez is the Chief Medical Information Officer and Chief Clinical Information Branch for the Air Force Medical Support Agency, Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia. Col Báez is responsible for a team of six active duty members and eight civilian employees who provide medical modernization support in the arena of health information management and technology for more than 42 thousand medics, 2.6 million Air Force beneficiaries, and 76 military treatment facilities worldwide. His office’s mission is to provide medical information management and technology guidance and policy in support of medical expeditionary capabilities and the provision of cost-effective, patient-centered, and prevention-based health care. They also direct the implementation of legacy and future health care information systems and collaborate with Department of Defense and Veteran’s Administration organizations.

Wayne Bobby, Vice President, Infor Federal

Wayne Bobby joined Infor in October of 2013 to establish a Federal sales team and grow the business throughout the Civilian, Department of Defense, and the Intelligence Community. Prior to joining Infor, Mr. Bobby was the Vice President of Oracle’s Public Sector Industry Solutions for North America. He draws from over thirty years of work experience in public sector program operations and technology software solutions. Prior to joining Oracle in 1996, Mr. Bobby spent seventeen years in the Federal government where he was the Director of Financial Management Services for the U.S. Department of State. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Beth Meyers, RN, PhD©, CPHIM, Chief Nurse Executive, Analytics Strategy Director, Infor

Prior to joining Infor, Beth led the Fairview Health System, Minneapolis, supply chain’s business intelligence team, responsible for converting data into actionable information for decision making. Beth also worked as a perioperative nurse in the U.S. Army and held positions in surgery and clinical management with Baldwin Area Medical Center, Baldwin, Wisc. Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in technology management from the University of Wisconsin. She is currently pursuing her PhD in healthcare informatics with the University of Minnesota.

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