HHS Health IT Innovation Exec Joins INVEST Agenda at Critical Time for the Department

The Trump administration has made substantial cuts to HHS, slashing its workforce across the FDA, CDC, as well as medical research funding. Medicaid could be in jeopardy for millions of people, depending on how Congressional budget negotiations play out. It raises questions about what the government’s strategy is for the rest of HHS. What are the government’s plans to advance health tech innovation and interoperability? To address these and other questions, the MedCity INVEST conference has added Stephen Konya, Chief, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, ASTP — the federal entity that coordinates health IT efforts and promotes nationwide health information exchange.

Konya will take part in a town hall-style talk at the conference, scheduled for May 20-21 at the Willis Tower in Chicago. He will discuss different approaches and levers deployed to support innovation and the role of public-private partnerships.

Konya has a wealth of health tech experience. He serves as the primary liaison to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the external healthcare startup and investor community. He currently leads the Digital Health Innovation Workgroup under the Federal Health IT Coordinating Council, an interagency collaboration community of innovation representatives from 40 other federal agencies.

He previously served as the primary federal government lead and co-founder for CancerX, and has led other federal projects, including the HHS Pandemic X Innovation Accelerator, the national Health IT Playbook, the ONC Patient Engagement Playbook for Providers, the SMART App Gallery, and the FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST) Initiative.

In addition to Konya, the conference will include panel discussions on AI in healthcare, health systems’ strategic plans, and spotlight healthcare and life science startups as part of the Pitch Perfect contest.

Click here to view the full agenda.