This interview with DMI’s Lana Hadzihasanovic, Senior Vice President for Federal Health IT, looks at integrating AI and ML into the Federal health sector, the opportunities and the challenges, and what Government needs to do to prepare.
Tell us about your excitement surrounding the increased integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into the Federal health sector?
The increasing adoption of AI technologies will help the Federal Government solve some of the most complex problems faster and in ways that we couldn’t imagine until recently. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) already uses AI to identify fraudulent and improper payments – a program CMS estimates has saved the Government about $42 billion.
Another exciting use case for Government grants management systems is making sense of unstructured data and building recommendation systems. For example, a grant recommendation system can suggest to the end user another potential grant opportunity they might be interested in applying to, based on what similar users have applied to in the past. This can increase user interest in the system and even provide agencies with more and better qualified applicants for their grants. Also, whereas in the past, users were limited to plain text queries, AI can be used to create smart search technologies allowing users to ask questions related to available grant opportunities or other unstructured data in natural language. The potential for AI to transform the Federal health sector is unlimited.
What do you consider to be the most promising business use case of AI and ML?
I’m particularly intrigued with the promise of Machine Learning algorithms in overcoming complex patient care challenges and with the use of AI in telemedicine software platforms. With the help of AI and data-driven decision-making, it is possible to reduce the number of times a patient needs to visit a doctor’s office, helping make a diagnosis remotely, and/or suggesting further tests. The use of telemedicine in Healthcare is a particularly exciting AI development and we are eager to help Government agencies modernize to support such advancements.
What are the challenges with Artificial Intelligence in the Federal health sector?
AI’s potential to deliver such benefits as discovering new drugs, reducing costs, and improving patient care is significant. However, AI is only as good as the data it leverages. Federal agencies are often restricted in their ability to access the data needed to develop AI tools. Regulatory obstacles can also undermine data collection, access and use. What’s more, some organizations are still not fully digitized, making the collection, sharing and analysis of data impossible and limiting the benefits that the data can provide. We have observed that organizations that undergo a digital transformation are more adept at integrating AI and ML into their processing pipelines and experience fewer technical and cultural adoption challenges. Finally, the AI industry at present requires considerably more workers with skills and expertise around AI platforms.
As a leader within your industry, what recommendations do you have for Federal health CIOs?
To continue cloud migrations and business process automation, and to increase the adoption of AI and overcome barriers to data-sharing, Federal agencies should foster collaboration and continue testing emerging technologies with a special focus on user experience. Building reusable platforms, allowing secure data sharing and leveraging human-centered design should be a high priority. Federal agencies should invest in building the right support infrastructure via digital transformation, build a skilled AI-focused workforce and continue collaboration with industry partners.
Tell us about DMI’s work with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
DMI’s partnership with HHS spans more than fifteen years. Our team makes it possible for Government health, grants, food, drugs, agriculture, and investigative agencies to effectively deliver services by providing secure application development, cloud data hosting, machine learning-enabled tools, award-winning mobile application development, mobility platforms and strategic planning. At the same time, we deliver business benefits through multi-disciplined execution around human-centric design, business strategy development, enterprise architecture, and program management. In 2019, we made a strategic investment to create a new business unit that solely serves the Federal health sector. We were also excited to have been awarded a seat on the $49 million HHS contract to support the Program Support Center, which offers more than 40 shared services for all Federal agencies as a fee-for-service provider. The DMI team will leverage its technical capabilities and expertise to rapidly deploy machine learning, blockchain, process automation and other IAAI solutions to transform business operations and enhance mission delivery. The IAAI contract has a base period of five years and covers a host of development services for introducing emerging technologies, from ideation and prototyping to operations and maintenance, into Federal agencies to empower them to run better, faster and more efficiently.
About Lana Hadzihasanovic
Lana Hadzihasanovic is DMI’s Senior Vice President for Federal Health IT. She is responsible for operational, business development and growth initiatives of DMI Federal Health IT Practice. Hadzihasanovic oversees the team that provides innovative solutions for Government health, grants, food, drugs, agriculture and investigative agencies. Hadzihasanovic’s team delivers services through secure application development, cloud data hosting, digital transformation, machine learning-enabled tools, award-winning mobile application development, mobility platforms and strategic planning.
About DMI
DMI is a global digital transformation company purpose-built to reinvent business for today’s mobile and connected world. DMI takes a human-centric, mobile-first approach to help clients disrupt their markets and evolve their business models. With over 20 offices worldwide, DMI has been continually recognized by industry analysts as a leader in digital services. DMI’s unique, integrated approach to digital transformation has resulted in dramatic growth, as well as an expanding client base, which includes hundreds of Fortune 1000 commercial clients and has included all fifteen U.S. Executive Departments.
