Jennifer Saha Posts

As the gubernatorial primary winners move into the next phase of the election while considering the needs of the people in their states, CompTIA State & Local Government and Education (SLED) can offer a valuable tech industry resource for their campaign and administration as they map out their policy and administrative priorities.

Last week on June 21, the CompTIA Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG) explored all aspects of health and human services (HHS) and technology in Texas during a half day of meetings. Our HSITAG meeting brought together top HHS leaders as well as top technology and procurement leaders from the state government. Jennifer Sims, Deputy Commissioner with the Texas Department of State Health Services, gave members a rundown of the state’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis.

Part of CompTIA’s monthly Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) meeting strategy is to co-locate with popular industry conferences in order to draw speakers that are not easily accessible. Fortunately, that is just what happened this week when HSITAG hosted Pankaj Bhanot, Director of the Hawaii Department of Human Services and Adam Dondro, Agency Information Officer for the California Health & Human Services Agency.

For the first time, CompTIA’s monthly Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) meeting on April 4 teamed up with a widely attended industry conference, the Healthcare IT Connect Summit in Baltimore, MD.

Illinois has made some great progress in procurement reform over the past year and CompTIA’s State and Local Government and Education (SLED) Council membership gathered in Chicago last week to discuss the current business landscape as well as focus on some new innovative technologies being used in the state.

CompTIA’s Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) met in New York City at the end of November and a transition in leadership was the major focus. Mike Coulson of Deloitte, who has served as Chair for the past two years, turned over the leadership position to Paul Hencoski of KPMG. Elected as HSITAG Vice Chairs for the next two years were Jacque Gombach of Captuva and Kim Shaver of Northrup Grumman.

CompTIA’s Human Services IT Advisory Group (HSITAG) met with officials from the Administration for Children, Youth and Families and the federal Health and Human Services Agency on Sept. 21st to discuss how the agency is using data to help deliver better customer service and care to citizens.

This month, CompTIA’s Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG) participated and held its monthly meeting at the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC) in Baltimore. Traditionally, HSITAG has been focused on Human Services programs such as social services, child care, child support, and temporary assistance for needy families (TANF).

On Thursday, July 20th, senior officials from the UDSA’s Food and Nutrition Services Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) came to talk to HSITAG members about the issues that keep them up at night as well as their outlook on the future of HHS IT funding and projects. With uncertainty surrounding the future of the Affordable Care Act, as well as changes in federal administration priorities, members of HSITAG have been following closely any rumored changes to healthcare and the impacts on technology funding.

For the first time in the history of the Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG), the group convened in Sacramento to hear from State of California leadership earlier this month. While venturing this far west was quite the journey for our traditionally east coast membership contingent, over 50 people were in the room to hear from an extended half day of guests.