Highlights of the Professional Services Council FedHealth Conference

The conference opened with a talk from FDA’s CIO, Vid Desai, who discussed the collective data challenges in the current U.S. healthcare ecosystem. He stated that the industry is undergoing a culmination of changes. Science is changing. Regulations are changing. Technology is changing.

At FDA, data is essential, in part due to the volume of products monitored by their 18,000 employees. Desai stated that in the U.S., the issue of data is complicated due to 417 healthcare systems, over 6,000 hospitals, 10% of the population still being uninsured, and 30% of the population being covered by publically funded health insurance.

Desai believes these obstacles can be overcome. One example he cited was Operation WARP Speed to produce COVID vaccines. He is also optimistic about the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) and the rapid science and research it will be able to perform to predict and combat diseases and disorders.

Panelists Dr. Melinda J Baldwin with SAMHSA, Matthew Miller with Suicide Prevention at VA, and Giovannina DiPietro at ICF discussed the post-pandemic mental health crisis.

Panelists Dr. Gil Alterovitz Director of VA’s Director of National Artificial Intelligence Institute, Anne Lord Bailey Director for Clinical Tech Innovation for VHA’s Office of Healthcare Innovation and Learning, and Matthew McMahon Director of the SEED Program at NIH discussed leveraging emerging technologies to improve civilian and military healthcare.

Alterovitz is focused on implementing VA’s AI strategy, which came out in the fall. They are in the process of designing an internal review board for AI with a checklist that should be considered at the beginning of a use case. Initially, VA is focused on building trust in the veteran community for AI. After that, VA’s AI strategy involves building an AI community within VA to learn lessons from each other.

Bailey’s areas of focus include immersive technology, data analytics, digital health, and advanced manufacturing. Her office concentrates on collaborating with frontline staff and working with industry on co-design.

McMahon’s Small Business Education and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) Office at NIH has the goal of transitioning more of the science R&D funded by NIH into commercial products and services.  His office helps academic researchers turn their research into products by providing seed funding and business help.  His office focuses on balancing both the science and technology potential alongside the product development and commercial potential of a venture. McMahon’s office provides $1.2B per year in seed-stage funding much like a venture capitalist. 

The final panel discussed acquisition and budget trends with panelists Diane Frasier, Director of NIH contracting, and Andrew Jernell, Director of FDA IT contracting.

The top three priorities for Jernell at FDA are:

1. Making procurement simpler by awarding contracts more quickly and making the proposal process less burdensome.
2. Reducing the number of contract transactions by awarding more FDA enterprise contracts.
3. Expanding small business opportunities and diversifying the supplier base.

The top three priorities for Frasier at NIH include: 

1. Path to Excellence and Innovation (PEI) – This is an initiative to increase contract awards with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).  NIH is working with schools to provide staff training, a database to get information on opportunities and policies, and forums for NIH contracting staff and school staff to form relationships.
2. Streamline Acquisition Process – Her office is striving to improve the relationship between the program and contracting staff.  They are applying technology to help with this and evaluating the structure of the acquisition organization to optimize its performance. 
3. Supply Chain Management – Focusing on Made in America and expanding relationships with vendors.

Jernell and Frasier both mentioned several procurements in their pipelines including an 8a set-aside contract for HR support services and a data management support services opportunity at FDA, and the Catalyze program and BPAs for ServiceNow licenses at NIH.