Product development using agile methodology has been a popular strategy for more than a decade for many good reasons. Should agile product development methodology be considered for regulatory-governed product developments in healthcare industry like medical device development, electronic health record system deployment, or clinical facility expansion projects? What should the selection criteria be? Would a hybrid methodology employing both waterfall and agile work better? This panel of agile practitioners will share their knowledge and experience in an attempt to bring some clarity to whether agile is for healthcare software deployment.
Jenny Buhring is a results-oriented IT professional with over 20 years of combined Project Management, Business, Systems, and Data Analysis experience. She has led complex, enterprise wide initiatives and has achieved sustained success providing analysis and hands-on technical expertise in solution and product development, implementation, and ongoing enhancement.
In a Scrum Master capacity, Jenny has facilitated daily calls and stand-ups, reported daily progress, facilitated Scrum Retrospectives and reported on issues and risks. She has hands-on experience leading Agile teams, creating User Stories and Acceptance Criteria by translating high level business requirements into User Stories and Acceptance Criteria. She has designed and created wireframes to communicate with the development team how a specific interface was desired to look to the user by the business
Technically savvy, she has previous experience in a Lead Data Architect capacity was responsible for database design and approval for enhancements to Oracle, DB2, DB2/UDB and MS SQL Server databases; reviewed data models for soundness of data structures and adherence to corporate standards. She has performed conceptual, logical and physical data modeling, both at an application level and at an enterprise level. Her wide array of skills and experience uniquely qualify her to discuss and deliver full-life cycle projects successfully while understanding each component of the project life-cycle in depth.
Jenny holds her B.S. in Broadcasting with minor in Speech Communication, University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Jenny can be reached at jbuhring@safenetconsulting.com.
Tim Hahn is an Sr. IS Project Manager with Allina Health. He is an accomplished, respected, and energetic leader with over 15-years of experience, in a variety of industries. Such as, financial, education, service, construction, and most recently, healthcare. He has been PMP Certified, since 2007. He is a driven professional with a proven ability to identify, analyze and solve problems to increase customer satisfaction and control costs.
Tim’s specialties include Conventional Project Management Methodology (Waterfall), Agile, Lean, Consulting, SDLC, Public Speaking, Interacting with Senior Leadership, Risk Management, QA, Project Schedule Development / Management, Cost Reduction and Avoidance, and Conflict Management / Resolution.
He recently got married (Nov ’16) and is a father of 2 (Daughter 12, Son 9). He attended the University of MN for his undergraduate and graduate degrees and is an avid fan of Golden Gopher sports. In his downtime, he enjoys training for triathlons. Tim can be reached at Timothy.Hahn@allina.com.
Scott Kerssen is an experienced healthcare strategist dedicated to reducing cost inefficiencies and improving healthcare market delivery. He is a solution driver possessing a unique combination of (strategic), technical and business acumen. Scott’s healthcare industry expertise spans Payer, Provider, and Pharmacy Benefit Management with an emphasis on government programs (Medicaid, Medicare, and Individual ACA) insurance, population health, risk adjustment stratification, and pharmacy benefit management programs. Recent projects include utilizing agile, iterative, and waterfall methodologies on the same project to successfully deliver a global solution for ordering, supply chain management, and delivery of medicare device surgical kits to hospitals. Scott also managed the development of an off-line salesforce.com application the allowed nurse practitioners to sync schedules and patient data allowing them to complete healthcare assessments using the agile methodology. Scott can be reached at skerssen@safenetconsulting.com.
Deirdre Ryan is a Consultant with SafeNet Consulting. She has over ten years of experience in the Healthcare industry spanning Digital Modernization, Case Management, Clinical Decision Making, Document Architecture and Quality Management, Long Term Care, Claims, Enrollment, and Eligibility requirements. She has experience in Product Management & Ownership, Project Management and Business Analysis and has over 4 years of experience leading delivery teams using the Agile methodology. She has demonstrated leadership in the alignment of business needs with technology solutions, driving conceptualization, strategy, build through deployment to launch new capabilities and products for innovative healthcare projects.
For UCare MN, Deirdre was responsible for enterprise wide digital strategy implementation including mobile application and interactive health management tools providing oversight to initiatives designed to expand their brand footprint, increase consumer engagement, and optimize the user experience within digital environments leveraging the Agile methodology. Most recently she has served as the Product Owner collaborating across 16 SCRUM teams for a digital modernization project for a portal that is used by 2.9 Million eligible insured and has 450,000 visits per month. In an Analyst capacity on Agile projects Deirdre has extensive experience writing User Stories; most recently for Provider and Member Portals and Mobile applications.
Deirdre holds her Bachelor of Arts in Education from the College of St. Catherine. She can be reached at dryan@safenetconsulting.com.
