Jerry Hogge has a first-hand view of the evolution of the health solutions market in the federal sector.
Since joining Leidos in August 2012, Hogge has guided the Reston, Virginia-based Fortune 500 science, engineering and information technology company’s Federal Health Solutions Group by focusing its strategy on achieving customer mission success.
That work has taken center stage within the federal health market over the last two years with the $4.3 billion contract the Defense Department awarded to Leidos to modernize the agency’s Military Health System’s electronic health record, with a new integrated solution known as MHS GENESIS. The effort, known as the Defense Healthcare Management System Modernization, or DHMSM, program, aims to modernize the current EHR deployed within the Military Health System to improve the delivery of care to 9.4 million active military members, as well as their families and beneficiaries.
Accelerating Advancements
“The pace of advancement in health care information technology is tremendous, in both the commercial and federal markets,” said Hogge, senior vice president within the Leidos Health Solutions Group, a $1.6 billion business, with roughly 7,000 employees worldwide.
Hogge leads the defense and international portion of the business, which provides health IT services and solutions focused on supporting military readiness, solider resiliency, behavioral health services, and other mission-oriented solutions.
“We’ve seen accelerating advancements in the use of data analytics and patient care management — to help not only in predicting, treating and caring for disease and illness that manifests physically, but also to support and improve behavioral health and well-being,” Hogge said.
A patient-centered, tailored care plan requires timely information, care coordination and the right mix of people, technology and processes delivered at just the right moments for each individual patient. That vision — a holistic focus on the “full continuum of human health care,” as Hogge puts it — recently took an important step forward within the federal health market when Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin announced his intent to directly adopt the very system, MHS Genesis, which Leidos has been deploying for DOD.
“It was a proud moment for us, as our core EHR provider [Cerner, a supplier of health IT solutions] was chosen for that opportunity,” Hogge explained. “I think it reflects the quality, flexibility and interoperability of the EHR software solution that was at the heart of winning the DHMSM program about two years ago … taking a step forward to put the DOD and VA on the same system, the same platform creates an opportunity for true integration, not just interoperability, and will enable a continuum of care from enlistment, through active duty to veteran status.”
Larger Legacy
Strides over the past two years rest on a larger legacy. Even prior to the DHMSM contract win, Leidos’ expertise in the Military Health System was well-established: The company worked with DOD for 29 years to support its customer to pioneer one of the very first electronic health systems. The DHMSM program builds on that longstanding expertise, replacing custom software with a commercial system, based on Cerner’s Millennium EHR, branded MHS GENESIS for the government program.
Leidos has deployed the MHS GENESIS solution at four major hospitals and related clinics within the Military Health System: Navy Hospital Bremerton, Naval Health Clinic Oak Harbor, Fairchild Air Force Base and Madigan Army Medical Center, all in the Pacific Northwest.
“From this point, the initial operating capability sites will undergo an independent operational test and evaluation process, and once approved, will move into full deployment across the Military Health System,” Hogge said.
Recent merger
Boosting Leidos Health Group’s capabilities was Leidos’ merger with Lockheed Martin’s former IT business, Information Systems and Global Services group last year. The merger essentially doubled the size of the company’s health care group, which now represents broad experience in both commercial health care and public health care markets domestically and abroad.
“Leidos prides itself on having expertise in very complex program management across a variety of disciplines, in the highly regulated environment of the federal marketplace,” Hogge said. “Those skillsets are unique, oftentimes not intuitive, and Leidos has worked diligently over the past 45-plus years to build and refine an extensive base of knowledge, experience and expertise, which we believe allows us to deliver real value to our customers, reduce risk, and ensure mission success.”
That expertise includes the ability to anticipate, predict and mitigate program performance risks, which, Hogge said, can be extended to international markets.
Eyeing international markets
“As we look at the defense and international markets within our health group, we look to further implement the DHMSM program on budget, on scope and on time; as well as to help other governments and entities looking to deploy modern health IT solutions as they advance health care delivery,” said Hogge, an engineer and attorney by training, whose broad experience spans electrical and systems engineering, along with a legal background in patent law. Now, he’s looking to the future.
In the year since the IS&GS acquisition, Leidos’ focus on international markets has focused on places where Leidos has a presence — such as Western Europe (the U.K., in particular), as well as Australia, and a few countries in the Middle East, Hogge noted. No matter the market, Leidos remains focused on the customer mission, and improving the delivery of care whenever and wherever required, Hogge added.
“Our work supports the delivery of health care that is integral to making people healthier and saving lives — that’s a big part of what motivates me and all of us at Leidos Health every day,” Hogge said.
“It’s our goal to provide a portfolio of capabilities and solutions to our customers; commercial and federal, domestic and international, that covers the continuum of care,” Hogge said. “We work every day to expand and refine our customer-focused solutions, with a vision toward better health care in the United States and around the world.”