Overview

September 24

Legacy systems – some decades old – have long been a challenge for state and local health and human services agencies (HHS). COVID-19 put a dramatic spotlight on the issue: outdated technology couldn’t keep pace with overwhelming demand for social safety net services, failing both citizens and agency staff when they needed help most.

As a result of the pandemic, agencies adopted new cloud-based technologies like video collaboration tools, digital signatures, and analytics. However, many agencies are still struggling with the on-premises, outdated enterprise-level systems that underpin the distribution of their social, medical, and economic benefits. The legacy nature of these systems keeps data locked in silos and forces agencies to operate in inflexible and inefficient ways.

Join Government Technology on September 24 at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern for the first in a series of four conversations on how to transform social services with the cloud. Our experts will discuss the solid foundation you need to set your agency up for modernization success.

We’ll discuss sometimes forgotten but foundational aspects of modernization, including:

Avoiding "big bang" strategies that try to change everything at once
The importance of incremental improvements
Dos and don’ts of cloud

Speakers

Jason McNamara

Health Lead, HHS Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Jason McNamara of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a technology leader with a background in healthcare, public safety, and organizational management. Jason is the Health Lead for AWS’ state and local health and human services (HHS) team, working with HHS agencies and technology partners across the country to improve the lives of our most vulnerable populations. Jason has led enterprise technology implementations, policy development, and organizational change with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Military Health System, Health Information Exchanges, Hospital Systems, and local municipalities.

Jennifer Kent — Moderator

Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government

Jennifer Kent has more than fifteen years of extensive health administration and policy experience in California that spans over three gubernatorial administrations and encompasses both private and public delivery systems. As Director, Kent oversaw the second largest public healthcare system in the nation with an annual budget of over $100B and serving approximately 13 million Californians. She oversaw the administration of twenty-four managed care plans as well as 56 county behavioral health plans. Kent has also held leadership roles in the Health & Human Services Agency and Governor’s offices as well as experience in the private sector as a lobbyist, consultant and association executive.

Webinar

Transforming social services: Building a foundation