Please join the HIMSS National Capital Area (NCA) chapter for our November monthly program series on a discussion about the impact of active Health IT legislation on agency priorities and missions. We are happy to hear from Federal government speakers for a discussion on their challenges, and successes in navigating various missions with the Impact of Health IT legislation.

5:30 - 6:15pm - Networking

6:15 - 6:30pm - Welcome & Announcements

6:30 - 7:30pm - Program

7:30 - 9:30pm - Networking

Location: LMI Building

7940 Jones Branch Dr. Tysons, VA 22102

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Moderator:

Mr. Jude Soundar, Prior Executive Director, Health IT, for Social Security Administration
Jude Soundar is the Microsoft US Government Affairs Federal Health Director. Previously, he worked as a Principal and Solutions Architect in Federal Health for Thoughtworks, a global consultancy.  

Jude has served in a number of executive roles in Federal government. Jude served as the Executive Director, Health Information Technology, for the Social Security Administration where he was in-charge of increasing the amount electronic health data used in the disability adjudications determining eligibility for disability benefits including Medicare and Medicaid. In this role, he worked closely with Federal partners, health systems, and technology and electronic health record companies. 

He also served as an Associate Deputy General Counsel and ethics counselor for the Army Office of the General Counsel in the Pentagon where he focused on financial compliance and ethics. Before that Jude served as a senior policy advisor for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. 

In addition to his civilian federal positions, Jude served as a Major in the Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In his military capacity, he regularly conducted missions to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to teach ethics and advise on conflict mineral issues.

Before entering public service, Jude was a Senior Compliance Officer at JPMorgan Chase, concentrating on banking compliance, internet and technology issues. 

Before practicing law, Jude worked as a database administrator for ABN-AMRO and Grant Thornton with a concentration on Sybase, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server.  Jude’s experience in traditional databases lead to his interest in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data. 

Jude received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois, and a J.D. from the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow in the Truman National Security Project, a former Board Member of the Filipino Veterans and Recognition and Education Project, and a 2020 MBA graduate of The Duke University, Fuqua School of Business.

Speakers:

Ms. Cori Hughes, Director, Program Integration at FEHRM

Ms. Cori Hughes is the Program Integration Director for the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization (FEHRM) program office as well as the Program Integration Director for the Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS). Ms. Hughes supports the FEHRM’s mission to implement a single, common federal electronic health record (EHR) to enhance patient care and provider effectiveness. In this role, she manages cross-cutting functions for the FEHRM including leading communications and government affairs activities; addressing risks, issues and opportunities; maintaining integrated master schedules; and optimizing performance. Related in mission, PEO DHMS aims to transform the delivery of health care and advance data sharing through the federal EHR for Service members, Veterans and their families. Overseeing public and government affairs at PEO DHMS, Ms. Hughes manages media and public engagements as well as congressional and audit activities.

Dr. John Scott, Acting Director, Data and Analytics section, Office of Health Informatics, Veterans Health Administration

Doctor Scott is a pediatric cardiologist and clinical informatics specialist who has many years of experience in the Military and Veterans health care systems. His has helped coordinate strategy for electronic health records and related health information technology both within and between them.
A 30-year Army medical corps Veteran, he transitioned from active military service to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in 2020 to work in its Office of Health Informatics. As the Acting Director of the Data Management and Analytics division, he supports the maturation of VHA data governance and helps to apply VA's data strategy to enterprise data management platforms. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the VHA Data Governance Council and is a VHA voting representative on the VA level Data Governance Council. In these roles he is part of the team working to responsibly unlock the enormous potential of big data analytics to promote health. Dr. Scott’s focus in that effort is developing the data governance tools necessary to ensure that the products of advanced analytics truly benefit Veterans.

Mr. John Rancourt, Director of the Interoperability Division, Office of Policy

John Rancourt serves as the Director, Interoperability Division, Office of Policy, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Interoperability Division advances health IT policy implementation through such activities as: The Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), State and Medicaid interoperability efforts, The Public Health Informatics & Technology (PHIT) Workforce Development Program, Social determinants of health data interoperability, Value-based transformation enabled by health IT, Consumer engagement and data access, and Engagement with public health, behavioral health, EMS, and long-term and post-acute care providers.

John joined ONC in 2011 as a Presidential Management Fellow. During his career, John has worked on Capitol Hill, for pharmaceutical companies, for the Government Accountability Office, for the National Academy of Medicine, as a patient advocate, and as a journalist.