The 13th Annual NJDVHIMSS 2020 Virtual Fall Conference


The 13th Annual NJDVHIMSS 2020 Virtual Fall Conference

Every fall, we look forward to connecting with key vendors, sponsors, and members to discuss the innovation of healthcare. Usually, this event takes place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. This year at the 13th annual DVNJHIMSS event, we went virtual and welcomed 450-plus vendors, sponsors, and members to participate in exciting educational sessions to hear presenters offer insight into the latest trends in healthcare technology.

Kicking Off Day One

Wednesday, we kicked off the event with opening remarks from our chapter’s President, Chas Thawley. Then, Sean Slovenski, CEO of BioIQ, shared his insights on consumerism in healthcare and how imperative it is to adapt before you fall behind and end up like Blockbuster. “If you can’t adapt consumers will leave, there are plenty of other options at this point,” said Slovenski. "Given the disruptive engagement unleashed by consumer tech companies, consumers have reframed their expectations of health.”

Virtual Vendor Hall

After this keynote and panel discussions, there were opportunities for registrants to stop by the virtual sponsor hall. Vendors set up virtual booths to promote their company, solutions, and address questions via Zoom; prizes were offered to encourage virtual booth traffic.

Compelling Keynote Presentations and Panel Discussions

Around noon, there was a panel discussion that was based on the game show, “The Dating Game.” Instead of one contestant and three prospects, there were three CISOs that asked questions of the three vendors. There was a variety of different topics ranging from cybersecurity, working remotely, and building a comprehensive security framework for your organization.

The panel discussion was moderated by Rich Temple, CIO of Deborah Heart and Lung and featured the following panelists: Tara Mathews, CISO of Einstein, Hussein Syed, CISO of RWJ Barnabas, Robert Babin, CISO of St. Peter's in New Brunswick, Steve Nardone, Director Security Practice of Connection, Matthew Gardiner, Principal Security Strategist of Mimecast, and Vikas Khosla, Chief Digital Health Officer of Intraprise Health.

The final keynote presentation on Wednesday was presented by Cletis Earle, CHCIO, SVP and CIO of Penn State Health and Penn State College of Medicine Penn Medicine where he covered diversity in healthcare IT. He talked about his “why,” which was his family, working towards racial justice and discussed how he navigated different industries and ultimately chose healthcare because “it was one of the only industries that he knew he could change the lives of those he could care for.” He wrapped up the panel discussion by saying “Challenge yourself personally and professionally. If we want to make a difference, we have to make a change.”

Starting Strong on Day Two

On day two, the panel discussion focused on regional HIEs and interoperability in the age of COVID-19. The discussion was moderated by Jim Hennessy, CEO of e4 Services, and Dr. Kennedy Ganti, MD, FAAFP, Physician Informatician of Cooper University Health Care ran the Q+A. The following panelists were featured for this panel discussion: Jennifer D’Angelo, SVP of NJII, Tom Moore, SVP, Innovation of Healthix, Dr. Laura McCrary, President and CEO of Konza, Christine McBride, Manager, of Camden Coalition of Health Information Exchange, and Information Network, Inc.

Following the panel discussion, Russ Branzell, CIO of Chime covered the future of healthIT related to COVID-19 and how so much of healthcare today is digitized. “Reality is there is a lot of room for us, especially, in this COVID-19 world to make healthcare better,” exclaimed Branzell. “For the first time ever, we have the unique opportunity to make healthcare better.”

John Ulett, Sr. Solutions Architect of New Jersey Innovation Institute was the moderator of the final panel discussion of the day titled, “Technology Disruptors.” The panelists consisted of Andy Cohen, MD, Medical Director of Virtua Health, Kat Collard, CNIO of ChristianaCare, and Kimberly Burress, AVP & CNIO, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Partner Collaboration

A special thank you to our 30 sponsors for supporting our chapter as this cannot happen without you and to everyone who joined us this year to make our first virtual fall event a memorable one! 

Be sure to visit the DVNJHIMSS website and click the "downloads" button in the toolbar to rewatch all the keynote presentations, panel discussions, and sessions.