The Future of the Veterans Health Information System Technology Architecture with David Whitmer of DSS inc.

The Public and Private Sides of Supply Chain Management

Global geopolitical changes, weather, health and macroeconomics play a part in managing our everyday supply chain. Addressing these factors while accounting for operational agency challenges are becoming a critical part of a supply chain practitioners job. Gaps in reliable, complete data, integrated analysis, undocumented risk assessment procedures, and unclear roles and responsibilities are contributing factors to a vulnerable supply chain risk management program. Elizabeth (“Beth”) Van Absher, Director of the NIH Division of Logistics Services (DLS), and Moshe Nelson, Partner in Guidehouse’s Defense & Security Segment, provide public and private sector perspectives on how we can collectively further supply chain resilience.

Elizabeth Van Absher, Director of Logistics Services and Supply Chain Management, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Elizabeth "Beth" Van Absher is the director of Logistics Services and Supply Chain Management at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) overseeing $1.9B worth of accountable personal property, fleet, and the NIH Supply Center (NIHSC). The NIHSC is the agency’s priority source for laboratory, fire, safety, and administrative supplies, and is the agency’s mandated source for personal protective equipment (PPE). Van Absher is the lead for the NIH Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Council, in addition to serving as the agency representative on the HHS SCRM. She is a critical driver of good for government outcomes, ensuring supply chain stability through strategic sourcing, enterprise data sharing, collaboration, and modernization.

Van Absher is an integral part of the NIH and HHS teams to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Public Law 117-58, collaborating across acquisitions, policy, HHS agencies and suppliers to ensure compliance with IIJA. Beth was also the lead for the PPE Plan of Action under Section 708 of the Defense Production Act in Response to COVID-19, during which the NIH Supply Center provided critical PPE to national intake sites on behalf of HHS to volunteers, children, families, and refugees. She also served as the agency lead for nitrile glove enterprise sourcing on behalf of HHS’s BuySmarter program.

Moshe Nelson, Partner Guidehouse
Bio: Moshe has provided supply chain management strategy, technology, and analytics across the public and private sector for nearly twenty years. As a result, clients have reduced operating costs by over $300M, fielded advanced technologies in an efficient and effective manner, and established accountable and data driven means for critical lifecycle supply chain management. Moshe has supported the health, defense, homeland security, diplomatic, and infrastructure arenas to improve supply chain resiliency across the United States.

Guidehouse
Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets, with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. By combining our public and private sector expertise, we help clients address their most complex challenges and navigate significant regulatory pressures focusing on transformational change, business resiliency, and technology-driven innovation. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and digital services, we create scalable, innovative solutions that help our clients outwit complexity and position them for future growth and success.

Striving For Health Equity with Kamala Green of NGS

As of January 1, 2024, CMS implemented new policies for addressing health-related social needs (HRSN) to proactively treat and better understand the needs of our country's most underserved and chronically ill populations. These policies will support physicians that help patients identify and connect with the appropriate clinical and community resources to address unmet HRSN that may influence a patient's treatment.

Today we speak with Kamala Green, social drivers of health program manager at National Government Services, and we discuss as social, economic, and physical factors affecting patient health evolve and diversify, it's important that federal health agencies continue to prioritize health equity practices and initiatives to provide the highest quality of care possible for every citizen.

Kamala Green, social drivers of health program manager at National Government Services, an Elevance Health Company
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 has been empowering federal healthcare agencies to improve lives and communities and deliver care to millions of Americans through outcome-driven innovation. The company helps bridge the technology gap to make IT an enabler of healthcare, not an obstacle to operations. 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.

Ensuring an Inclusive AI Community Using AIM-AHEAD with the CEO of stackArmor

The AIM-AHEAD program mission is to enhance the participation of underrepresented communities in the development of AI/ML models. The program improves the capabilities of this emerging technology, beginning with electronic health records (EHR) and extending to other diverse data to address health disparities and inequities.Today we speak with the CEO and Founder of stackArmor Gaurav "GP" Pal on their program.

Gaurav “GP” Pal, CEO and Founder of stackArmor
Gaurav “GP” Pal, CEO and Founder, has over 20 years of IT consulting experience with large US Government, Defense, and Commercial Organizations driving cloud adoption and implementing NIST security standards for FedRAMP, FISMA, and DFARS/CMMC 2.0 compliance.

GP’s countless industry and government relationships led stackArmor to establish an AI Risk Management Center of Excellence (CoE), comprised of former prominent federal government technology experts, including Maria Roat, Suzette Kent and Richard Spires. stackArmor and its CoE work closely with government to ensure safe AI adoption.

stackArmor
stackArmor provides FedRAMP, StateRAMP, DOD CC SRG, FISMA/RMF, and CMMC/DFARS compliance acceleration services on leading hyperscale cloud providers. stackArmor’s ATO for AI™ and ThreatAlert® ATO Accelerator Security Platform reduces the time and cost of an ATO by 40%. We serve enterprise customers in Defense, Aerospace, Space, Government, and Healthcare markets as well as ISV’s looking to offer cloud solutions for Government.

Improving Performance, Readiness, and Resilience in our Service Members and their Families

Enhancing performance, readiness, and resilience for service members and their families is paramount for several reasons. First and foremost, optimized performance ensures military effectiveness, which is critical for national defense. Next, readiness that encompasses whole health, preparedness, and skill development ensures that service members have what they need for rapid response to evolving threats. Finally, building resilience to maintain their well-being is crucial for coping with the unique challenges faced by military service members and their families. Today, Kevin Kaiser, serving as Division Manager, Performance and Readiness at Leidos, takes a look at how improved performance, readiness, and resilience not only contributes to mission success, but also enhances the overall quality of life – reinforcing the military's capability to navigate dynamic scenarios while prioritizing the physical, mental, and emotional welfare of those dedicated to serving their nation.

Kevin Kaiser serves as Division Manager, Performance and Readiness at Leidos and has 30 years of experience managing and executing tasks on military health contracts in the areas of performance, readiness, and research involving more than 1,400 employees supporting dozens of programs across the United States and international locations. Kaiser graduated from UCLA in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and then earned a master’s degree in public health at San Diego State University in 1994, with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Making an Impact and Finding Solutions for Federal Agencies: Amanda Warfield

Today we speak with Amanda Warfield. Amanda currently leads the Optum Serve program integrity practice, overseeing support and integration of key IT capabilities and solutions for Federal agencies.

Amanda Warfield
Amanda manages a portfolio of projects supporting agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, while supporting growth and strategic direction for the organization. She also spearheads Optum Serve’s internal research and development investments in cutting edge technologies and solutions designed to meet emerging federal needs. Her works includes fostering collaboration across Optum’s enterprise, identifying opportunities for private to public partnerships to solve problems. Amanda has worked with Federal government clients for more than a decade in designing and implementing approaches to tackle key challenges like fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. She holds a master’s degree in communication management and is certified in SAFe agile, and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).


Optum Serve
As the federal health services business of Optum and UnitedHealth Group, Optum Serve offers federal agencies the robust health IT solutions that have proven successful at one of the largest health care organizations in the world — UnitedHealth Group. Our unrivaled health care knowledge combined with our end-to-end technology allows us to be a unique and reliable partner.