The New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association’s Business Builder Series is making its return, offering a free online panel that aims to provide aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools needed to establish themselves in the state’s cannabis market.
Scheduled for Oct. 26 at noon, “From Brick & Mortar to Click & Order: Launching and Running Your Dispensary” will feature industry-leading experts who have each successfully opened cannabis ventures in New Jersey:
Suzan Nickelson, founder and CEO of Holistic Solutions, New Jersey’s first Black woman-owned medicinal and recreational dispensary;
Todd Johnson, NJCTA executive director and co-founder of Community Greenhouse LLC, a Class 5 retailer opening soon in Newark;
Evan Kolakowski, senior director of regulatory and quality assurance at TerrAscend, the operator of three The Apothecarium dispensaries within the state, including New Jersey’s first drive-thru dispensary.
The hour-long discussion – which will be moderated by Foley Hoag LLP cannabis law attorney and NJCTA General Counsel Mike McQueeny – will address topics such as financing, recruitment, marketing and technology. Click here to register for the event.
Johnson said, “Preparing for the launch of a dispensary is a significant undertaking that requires careful preparation and planning to address the requirements of the cannabis industry in New Jersey.”
“Gaining guidance and insights from established cannabis industry professionals, learning about their successful strategies in a challenging landscape, all without incurring any cost to do so, underscores the core mission of the Business Builder Series, which aims to aid in cultivating success within our industry,” he said.
Created in response to the areas of need highlighted by the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC), the educational, social equity-driven series has previously covered topics like navigating local approvals and recruiting and retaining talent.
Virtual care, particularly telehealth, experienced significant growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to continue evolving.
Artificial intelligence is poised to transform the industry by improving patient care, addressing staffing shortages and reducing costs; however, the ethical use of AI is a major concern, and efforts are being made to ensure responsible implementation.
The pandemic has accentuated disparities in health care, and technology must be leveraged to bridge these gaps.
As part of NJBIZ’s latest virtual discussion, experts from New Jersey-based organizations weighed in on how technology can be used to make health care delivery more efficient, inclusive and sustainable.
Moderated by NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige, the Sept. 26 panel featured: Susan Loughery, associate executive director, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton, a provider of integrated health and human services to over 100,000 individuals in Central New Jersey; Paul Marden, CEO for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, UnitedHealthcare, which has about 1.6 million people in the Garden State carrying some type of plan through the insurer; and Kash Patel, executive vice president, chief digital and information officer, Hackensack Meridian Health, the state’s largest hospital network.
During the hour-and-a-half roundtable, panelists dove into topics such as the latest developments on electronic health records, potential uses of artificial intelligence in health care settings and whether technology can help narrow the socioeconomic gap in treatment outcomes.
They also weighed in on which pandemic-era innovations have proven to be valuable for patients, providers and insurers. After the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, health care executives were forced to move quickly to ensure patients could continue accessing care in a manner that was safe, leading to some very innovative changes, particularly when it comes to technology.
Not only are some of those offerings here to stay, but they’ve expanded to better serve patients and providers.
Marden said, “Virtual care exploded during the pandemic for obvious reasons and we’ve continued to build on options for members … Now, I think people expect to have access to virtual care through their health plans. And so, we’ve provided some choice. We have 24/7 access to virtual care. We’ve made it convenient so that members can access that through their smartphone or their computer tablet – however they want to do it. But, they have choice of virtual care options.
“I think 88% of Americans are going to continue to use virtual visits when they can, when it’s appropriate. The second piece is really around virtual behavioral care because members have much higher compliance and prefer seeing behavioral health providers virtually in many cases,” said Marden, who noted there’s also been expansion into other specialties, like musculoskeletal, and expects further growth into different areas as time goes on.
Patel agreed, saying, “The demand is there. COVID sort of ignited it and the regulatory environment sort of caught up. But it’s absolutely here to stay.”
“The switch from telehealth to ‘I want to go and see a real physician’ is also important and not a separate appointment. It’s the continuum of care and we need to make access to either a specialty referral or the physician care piece much easier,” he said.
According to Patel, Hackensack Meridian is also experimenting with the use of chatbots to help direct a patient to the right doctor or specialist.
The Sept. 26, 2023, NJBIZ Health Care Technology discussion was moderated by (clockwise from top left) Editor Jeff Kanige and included panelists Paul Marden, CEO for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, UnitedHealthcare; Kash Patel, executive vice president, chief digital and information officer, Hackensack Meridian Health; and Susan Loughery, associate executive director, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton.
“Where you can have an interactive conversation with an avatar to answer all your initial questions – basic ones – sort of a triage,” he said. “At some point, I do see that technology evolving into more and more of an enhanced AI experience,” Patel explained.
“Chat virtual is a part of everyday life and in so many aspects of people’s lives, so using that functionality in the health care space is evolving and I think it can be leveraged extremely effectively. And obviously, you have to monitor exactly what you’re going to offer and how you offer it to make sure that it’s appropriate. But I do believe that most people expect those types of options to be available in health care,” said Marden.
“We added Talkspace [online therapy platform] as an option for behavioral health care because it was something that members were utilizing. Now, that’s not for everybody, but there was a percentage of the population that had success with it and so we made that one of our options, for example.”
“So, I think this is about trying to meet people where they are and giving them options that they’re comfortable with. And so that is one of the options. In addition to in person therapy or other types of therapy that are available to members who want to access it,” he said.
Under a watch-ful eye
When it comes to wearable devices – such as smart watches that capture health-related data, like steps, calories burned, heart rate and sleep habits – Patel said there aren’t any clinical regulations right now regarding how that information can be interpreted.
“So, what’s happening is what we’re finding is there are layers in the middle. Taking that data and sort of making recommendations right around the number of steps you should take number calories, you should eat, etc. We’re finding individual physicians who are engaging looking at that data as an extra piece of information to help with that episode of care,” he explained.
“The physician is looking at the trends and sort of any deviation from that,” Patel said. “That’s what the tech is providing now—a summary of all that luminous data.”
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
For remote monitoring, Patel said there are numerous guidelines issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on validated devices.
“There’s a whole new sort of business that we’re calling ‘hospital at home’ that’s evolving in America. It’s this notion that instead of being admitted into a hospital bed, you go home for care, but the hospital, in turn, will take care of you as if you were in a hospital setting,” he explained.
“And so the equipment needed for remote monitoring is very different. Like bed sensors, weight scale safety phone calls, the ability to call a nurse, call a doctor or on-site visit by a nurse. It’s a very structured element of care and that remote sort of monitoring piece is a business and need that is growing. The demands there and regulations are changing to support it more and more each year,” Patel said.
“And we, just like many other hospitals, are going to centrally start to develop services in hospital at home, which is what I would say formalize remote monitoring,” he said.
Marden said, “From a wearable perspective, you could take it from a number of different angles. But if members are actually willing to wear a wearable you can actually leverage that for clinical purposes, but also for wellness.”
A patient tests her glucose level with a continuous glucose monitor on her smartphone. – CANVA
“Some of the clinical uses are if a member wants to wear a continuous glucose monitor. We actually will sell level funded products that manage diabetic costs. And what we found is that if we have a member that signs up for our level 2 program, they’re agreeing to wear a CGM, sync it so that they have access to that, and obviously UnitedHealthcare – if they’re willing to do that,” he said.
“What we found is that the clinicians have better real time data into their blood sugar levels throughout their day, their week, their month and it helps identify when their blood sugar is spiking and when it isn’t, so they can talk to their physician and see how they can modify their behavior to avoid those peaks and valleys,” he said. “So that’s been highly successful in helping people control their blood sugar if they’re diabetics.
“At the end of the day, if they agree to do that, they save money and the company saves money. And they’re healthier,” Marden said. “We also will incentivize our members if they have a wearable, our rewards program that all our members have access to will reimburse members based on the steps that they take during the day. If they hit milestones, they get money deposited in their account, or they can get a debit card mailed to them. So, you know, it really spans from clinical uses all the way to wellness, I think. We’re really trying to incorporate wearables into health insurance for better outcomes,” Marden said.
Loughery said, “We do a lot with remote patient monitoring where we’re able to use smart tools, smart pulse, smart stethoscope to extrapolate data and really paint that picture of everything that’s happening with that patient. And where the impact is, is around prevention. It gives us a whole dashboard for prevention individualized for that patient and that reduces their risk for hospital readmissions or ED [emergency department] visits.
“There’s tremendous opportunity with wearables, as well. It just becomes a natural part of everyone’s day to day; looking at their wellness and assessing how they’re doing individually and being proactive in reaching out to their providers when they’re seeing something on their wearable that might be an indicator of something more serious,” she said.
Electronic health records
As for electronic health records, panelists agreed that there’s been dramatic improvement in recent years but more needs to be done.
Loughery said, “Twenty years ago, electronic health records were customized for each individual provider, whether it be a hospital system, large hospital system, or a community provider that might be specializing in mental health. And now what we’re seeing with electronic health records is a movement toward structured, validated data. And where that gives us opportunity with interoperability is that we can extrapolate this data.”
She explained, “We can pull this data out and we can push it to the regional health exchanges and have that complete data picture on a particular patient. It also allows for having a patient portal where a lot of patients have multiple portals depending on their different providers.
“As we move toward structured data and the electronic health records become more synergistic. We have a lot of opportunity to then create a better technology experience for that patient,” she said.
Marden said, “From an insurer perspective, when a member goes to seek care somewhere whether they’re filling a script, or they’re seeing a provider of any type, that provider wants to get paid, they will submit a claim to their insurance company for that service. So, we will have a lot of information on that member from all their providers. And if we’re administering the prescription drug, we’ll have that information as well. So, we have a very rich data set on all of our members, and what we are trying to do as fast as we can is push that data out directly to providers into their own EMRs.
“We are currently pushing out information to over 600,000 doctors nationally. There’s a number of different EMR systems that we will integrate directly in, and what that helps with is it just gives that physician information they wouldn’t necessarily have right in their EMR; they can actually get benefit information on that member,” Marden explained.
“They’ll be able to get prescription drug information. What is the lowest cost? Or what’s the copay for a medication available to that member and if there’s a prior authorization required. A lot of times if we are hooked into the electronic medical record of that provider that’s done automatically,” he said.
“We are pushing this out as aggressively as we can with provider systems [that] weren’t engaged with many here. We’ve got thousands in New Jersey that are linked up to this. A lot of the health systems have been consolidating, so we have to work with them when they’re ready for it,” Marden explained. “We are ready and we want to engage more because we think it’ll enhance the member experience and make it easier on the provider experience.”
Putting AI into practice
Panelists agreed that artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the practice of medicine and delivery of health care in a way that improves patient experience, addresses staffing shortages and reduces the rising cost of care.
Patel said, “With the advent of technology around AI, there have been some amazing conversations going on the last 12-18 months we’ve been in the thick of it. We’re a huge partner with Google specifically, so we’ve been working with them and others.”
Potential uses include employing the technology to help radiologists screen results quicker and condensing the notes a clinician reviews from dozens of pages to just a few paragraphs, he said.
While there is wariness surrounding potential misuse of AI by “bad actors,” Patel noted that Hackensack Meridian created a committee made up of data scientists, bioethicists, physicians and lawyers to help govern how – or if – the technology will be put into practice.
Patel said, “We have these sort of gate reviews, where it goes from ideation to where does it make sense? Does anything make sense? Is it feasible? So, everybody in the room has an opportunity to have a conversation about it. Is it safe? Is it equitable? Is it the right thing to do? Can we even act on this? Is it actually actionable? We have all of these questions at every gate review, about every AI sort of conversation that we’re creating.
“We’re learning all the time, so we might speak to a partner about it or another health system, too … We have to be really deliberate and methodical about how we’re rolling it out,” he said.
Amid labor shortages and heavy workloads, health care providers are increasingly exploring artificial intelligence and automation to improve operational efficiencies and innovate care delivery models.
Patel said, “We’re looking at it to ease the burden on nurses around education and upon discharge. And looking at efficiencies on how we can do things remotely and internally from an operations perspective for things like documentation.”
Loughery said, “We’re looking at it in the context of efficiency and business process and augmenting where we have resources, staff resource shortages and making it a tool for the clinical managers. And we’re doing that in a couple of different ways. We’re looking at transportation routes, and how do we facilitate? How do we use AI to maximize our routes and our transportation? We’re looking at it in the context of clinical supervision. How does it become a meaningful tool for clinical supervisors to really evaluate how their staff are doing. And I think there’s a tremendous opportunity.
“But I also get concerned about us creating a data footprint or an AI footprint that is not comprehensive enough for those that might be falling under the radar—that might not be accessing the broader health care system, that might be accessing the system in a fragmented way through maybe a charity care clinic here, or a mental health clinic there. And, you know, how do we make sure that when we’re looking at AI for data-driven decisions and developing algorithms that we have that complete picture and avoid something like a black swan effect where we have unintended consequences,” she said.
The human touch
Technology may be changing health care delivery, with tools like AI and chatbots enabling providers to hand off administrative and repetitive tasks, but providers must also consider how to maintain human contact in an increasingly digitally driven landscape.
Patel said, “When you’re sick, you want to speak to a human being. But when we talk about the cost, the chatbot idea is about reducing the cost, the burden and the challenge with the physicians’ time. So, we’re training the chatbot to have a more empathic conversation.”
“It’s not a clinical ‘Pick 1, Pick 2’ conversation anymore. The tech now is listening to nuances in English and the context in the words,” he explained. “The training of these things are now model based, so there’s a lot of thought going around into how we’re interacting.
“As we’re digitizing the experience more and more, as we’re having more and more digital interactions and we are making a note of empathy. So, when we look at other vendors that are developing this – new startup companies are organizing this – they’re also building a thought process around empathy,” he said.
“We’re definitely conscious of that as we’re digitizing more and more. It will become really, really, really important to ensure that a patient feels that they have a human connection, because when you’re really miserable the last thing you want to do is speak to a robot,” Patel added.
Minding the gap
Although the pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology, improving access for some segments of the population, it also disproportionately affected other groups and worsened global health outcome gaps. As a result, existing disparities are in even sharper focus, but panelists are hopeful better outcomes can be achieved if all stakeholders work together to improve health equity.
Patel said, “It’s a growing gap. While we can come up with ideas and use cases to try and reach a broader audience – creating mechanisms for transport, for education, for translation services – that gap is just getting bigger and bigger.”
“It’s not a technology solution or doing it out of goodwill,” he said. “There is a need from a larger sort of setting here, from public health, to do something about this. Cities have tried organized efforts for Medicaid waivers, which is a large amount of money available for underserved communities. But the environment is such that these activities start and end, then start and end. And we don’t necessarily get the continued support that’s required to make it happen.
“So, between new models of care and technology, we’ll get to so many people, plus some more, but we’re not going to get to everybody unless we have a broader, more wholesome conversation about public health,” Patel commented.
“Telehealth, technology and health care just exploded during the pandemic,” said Susan Loughery, associate executive director, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton. – PEXELS
Loughery said, “Telehealth, technology and health care just exploded during the pandemic. We had a lot of latitude for being in different places of service, and what we quickly learned because we were in the field the entire time is that we had to innovate very quickly because there were issues around facilitation. With seniors, for example, being able to access a telehealth appointment was something that really needed side-by-side support of a community health worker.”
“Then, there’s the issue of tech equity and being able to have a technology device with a data plan where you can engage in telehealth. So, we did a lot of facilitation. Nurse-led community health workers, really supporting individuals who struggled to be part of this new technology health care environment,” she explained.
“We see the need for a lot of integration for our patients – for the homeless, for individuals with disability and individuals who have struggles navigating the system to connect in a lot of different ways … With telehealth and telemedicine [you’re able] to bring a lot of those services directly to that individual where they’re at. In addition, it brings specialty providers, which are oftentimes a challenge to access for individuals who are in poverty,” said Loughery, who went on to say, “Being able to bring the technology to individuals where they’re at, you can really design a care plan around the needs of that individual and include the language, capability, specialty providers and really wrap around all social determinants of health. There’s lot of opportunities here.”
She added, “In thinking about the new opportunities that we have with technology for us and community services, and in particular, for community public health for individuals who can’t access the system, the ability to have more providers is critical—and specialty providers. And what technology does is it gives us a broader footprint to augment and to offset where we have those provider shortage areas and individuals that might have a lack of transportation, a lack of child care and inability to travel in order to get that health care.”
Marden said, “There are absolutely certain places and a percentage of the population that do have issues with access. And we try and identify those by looking at our data for interactions with a health care system, whether it’s filling a script or a claim, whatever it may be … But we’re trying to identify people who actually are having problems accessing the system.”
While Marden stated that “the majority of the population and membership has access,” UnitedHealthcare is “trying to make sure we have a lot of options available for those folks, and then for those who need help, we’re trying to get them help in various ways.”
“In the context of our overall public health, if we want to reduce disparities, we have make technology widely available to everyone who needs it. Because it currently isn’t and so we are starting to see that the gap widen for individuals who went into the pandemic already with significant health disparities,” Loughery said.
Reducing that gap and exploring what is best for the residents of New Jersey will require cooperation between “payer, provider and state government,” she went on to say.
“We’re doing a lot of work in terms of informing our colleagues at Department of Health Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services on what could be or what the opportunities are, what we’ve seen in the field, and what we see that we need going forward. And right now, we’re functioning under a lot of temporary waivers. And so, we’re at that point where it’s time to develop what the system will look like. And it’s a collaboration of every stakeholder, including the patients and the voices of the community on what they need and what they prioritize as important in their health,” she said.
When it comes to reaching those without access, Marden said he believes UnitedHealthcare has made “a great deal of progress” but “clearly we need more of it.”
“It’s getting into the communities that are underserved to provide them with money resources to get the care that they need. Because I think as a society, we all pay for that when somebody’s condition deteriorates. It’s going to result in higher medical care and lots of other downstream costs associated with somebody who cannot get healthy, who doesn’t have stable housing, who’s hungry. And so, I think that we need to continue to invest in ways to get underserved communities and better resources so that they can live better,” he said.
And I really do believe that there will be an ROI for everybody living in any community if we can lift those folks up,” Marden said. “I think, it’s everybody’s responsibility, no matter what industry. If you’re an insurer, you’re a provider, you’re just a business. I think that, ultimately, we all pay the price when those folks are neglected, and it just results in lower quality of living and higher costs for everybody. And now prevention can go a long way. So, I think it’s multifaceted … I think everybody would agree that certainly more funding, more attention, more resources in that community will benefit everybody.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 10:17 a.m. ET on Oct. 6, 2023, to clarify a remark from Paul Marden that 88% of Americans, and not UnitedHealthcare members, will continue to use virtual visits.
Public policy experts from New Jersey’s legislative, regulatory and philanthropic sectors are stressing the need to introduce more equitable practices in the government contracting process.
During a May 24 virtual panel hosted by national urban affairs magazine and nonprofit Next City in partnership with award-winning social good public relations and marketing agency Tara Dowdell Group, stakeholders discussed the importance of increasing access to procurement opportunities for minority-owned ventures.
Despite the fact that businesses owned by Blacks, Latinos and other minorities make up nearly 20% of U.S. employers, just 10% of federal agencies’ contracting dollars go to these companies, according to the Biden-Harris administration.
The discussion – which featured Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter, D-35th District, Wells Fargo Foundation President Otis Rolley and New Jersey Economic Development Authority Chief Community Development Officer Tai Cooper – explored actionable tips on how policymakers can make the process more equitable.
The event also explored practical strategies for streamlining procurement to attract diverse talent, reduce costs, and increase outreach to small businesses—particularly Black and brown-owned enterprises.
Instant replay
To watch an archived video of the free webinar, click here.
“Soon after the George Floyd uprisings, companies and venture capitalists went on record committing billions of dollars to support Black businesses, resulting in historic year-over-year gains in capital for these entrepreneurs. However, by the end of 2022, that generosity dried up, resulting in a 45% drop in financing going to these entrepreneurs,” stated Rolley. “However, while the private capital markets pull back their spending, governments and philanthropic organizations have stepped in to fill the void.”
Through the NJEDA, Cooper said the state provides “a multitude of resources and opportunities for small business owners to help them jumpstart their ventures, including step-by-step walkthroughs of the application process.”
“We understand that interfacing with the government can seem intimidating, and we are here to let the public know that we’ve heard you, and we’re here for you if you have any questions or require assistance. Our mission at NJEDA is to let the public know that opportunities are available to ensure government is equitable and inclusive,” she added.
Sumter said, “For too long, Black and brown people have largely been excluded from the government contracting process. We see that over 90% of prime contracts go to non-minority males, particularly in industries where Black and brown owners are well represented, like the construction, professional services, and goods and services industries.”
“Luckily, New Jersey has been a national leader in championing policy solutions at the state and city levels that help level the playing field for these entrepreneurs. By intentionally reaching these communities, New Jersey can bridge the divide and broaden its network of minority small business partners,” said Sumter, who went on to thank Rolley and Cooper for participating in the talk.
A lot of things seem out of control these days. As costs rise and disruptions in the supply chain persist – and without clear-cut ends to some of the most prominent causes of those issues – the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, for example – it’s unclear how long these challenges will persist. However, there are things business owners and executives can do to put themselves on solid footing to navigate and operate under the current circumstances.
During NJBIZ’s The Future of Construction and Development virtual panel discussion experts explained where we are, how we got here, and shed some light on ways to work around and through the setbacks.
NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige served as moderator for the May 24 event, joined by:
Brad Bohler, principal, Bohler
Zachary Csik, director, Real Estate-Commerical-NJ/PA, Rockefeller Group
Kate Gibbs, deputy director, Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative (ELEC)
Lisa Lombardo, director, Construction Law & Litigation Team, Gibbons PC
Mitchell Taraschi, co-chair, Construction Group, Connell Foley LLP
“[W]e’re really facing a perfect storm here,” Lombardo said of the current climate. She traced its start back to trade relations between U.S. and China under the Trump administration, leading directly into COVID and the disruptions the pandemic caused to production. “That was worldwide,” she explained. “So it’s not as if we can say all right, only a segment of the world is dealing with this, the entire world was dealing with it.”
And the entire world is still dealing with it, to at least some extent.
Not only have prices for commodities skyrocketed, but availability is precarious. “You just don’t know exactly what it’s going to be, and when it’s going to hit and it’s really difficult to plan for it,” Csik said of access to materials like steel, piping, roofing and even fire hydrants. Bohler agreed, pointing to swaps during construction due to delays for materials. One work around suggested by the group is to plan ahead.
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
“Folks are ordering their materials in the approval process just to make sure they get in line so they’re not sitting there waiting … to go to construction for 12 months after they get their approvals,” Bohler said.
NJBIZ held its virtual Future of Construction and Development panel discussion on May 24, 2022. – NJBIZ
Taking that line of thinking a step further, Lombardo recommended ordering long lead items in advance—not hoarding, she cautioned, but warehousing the essentials, so “you have availability of materials that you know you use all the time in the industry,” she said.
An example provided by Taraschi spoke to another benefit that kind of thinking can provide: avoiding paying premium prices for the items you need. He cited an example of a client building a bridge in New Jersey. Looking ahead, the company purchased most – but not all – of the steel needed for the project when it was awarded the contract. Flash forward and today the cost of steel is almost 300% higher than it was when they purchased the initial load, Taraschi said. According to him, that issue affects all areas of the construction industry.
Another way to plan ahead, and work toward mutually beneficial outcomes, is in the contract process.
Taraschi said for existing contracts nobody wins if the situation does not work. For contracts you’re entering now, though, there are a couple things that you can do to combat pricing, supply chain and delivery issues and it all comes down to sharing risk. “You can have a price escalation clause. That’s now getting to be popular,” he explained. You can also build time into the contract for supply chain issues so that disruptions are “an excusable delay.”
“It’s all about sharing risk because … it benefits both parties to share the risk because if the owner takes a hard line now at the contract drafting stage that the contractor is going to bear that risk, what’s going to happen is every contractor is going to come to that owner with a very, very high price. So the owner is going to be paying one way or the other,” Taraschi said.
Lombardo echoed the idea of working together for mutually beneficial outcomes, suggesting that getting everyone involved in the process as early as possible can help. Having design professionals involved could assist with coming up with alternative materials or methods for getting work done. Bohler agreed, saying that some people are bringing contractors on a little earlier in the process these days, which benefits the design team as well as the developer.
And all that is in the interest of what everyone wants, especially when it comes to upgrading critical infrastructure in the state: getting the work done, according to Gibbs. She cited state legislation that allows for design build project delivery.
“Especially now with what is happening with the supply chain and price escalation, it makes more sense than ever to use this new procurement tool in order to move public projects forward as well as on the private side,” she said.
It was a robust and timely discussion as NJBIZ held its latest Town Hall Ask the Experts event April 26, featuring a group of business community members including Luis De La Hoz, first vice president, regional director, commercial lending, Valley Bank; Daniel Stolz, partner and chair of Bankruptcy, Reorganization & Creditor’s Rights, Genova Burns; Brian Lowe, president and CEO, BML Public Relations & Digital; and Richard Jania, managing director, CBIZ Marks Paneth.
The event was moderated by NJBIZ Chief Editor Jeff Kanige, who opened the discussion by asking the group about their current workplace realities due to the pandemic.
“I’m curious to go around the room and see how the nature of work for all of you and in your organizations has changed,” Kanige said.
The answers varied, offering insight into how different companies in different types of industries are adapting to the new normal.
“Our firm is trying to bring people in two days a week to try and encourage people to come back in,” Stolz said. “Hopefully, we’re on an upward pattern where they relax things. But it’s been challenging.”
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
“We adjust to using technology. Valley moved 70% of the employees to work remotely in almost like a week,” De La Hoz said. “And we use the branch as our best ally because customers can visit the branches to the drive-thru to provide documents and to provide the information that we need in order for us to assist them.”
“It’s a little bit difficult. Everybody’s trying to find a happy medium between coming to the office and working remotely,” Jania explained. “Our industry has taken the position, for now, both accounting firms, that it’s optional to come to the office. Our offices are open. We encourage employees to come to the office, but at the current time it is optional to the office”
“We actually reopened our office back in February. And I probably don’t sound like the most popular person on this webinar because of it,” said Lowe. “Once we got in, I think that we found that the collaboration just worked better for us.”
Lowe also referenced Jania’s happy-medium point, saying his organization has strived to reach it. “We’ve also instituted a bank of remote time that are virtual days that people can use,” he Lowe.
The discussion ran through issues such as technology, inflation, interest rates, hiring and retention costs, and, of course, questions from the audience.
A full wrap-up from this event will be featured in the May 2 issue of NJBIZ.
The scene has changed for women working in STEM careers, which historically held a reputation as “men’s work.” In fact, the scene has changed in the field, generally. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center report, women accounted for half of people working in STEM jobs; and at 50% that figure is even slightly higher than their share of the overall workforce (47%).
When LANXESS Plant Manager Pamela Dudish was starting out, though, she says she did have quite a few people ask her if she was sure she wanted to be part of a male-dominated career. “[At] Rutgers, I think my graduating class was 250 and there were maybe four women that graduated in mechanical engineering that year,” she said. “But to me, that was kind of a challenge … I don’t want to hear that I can’t do something I am interested in.” Now, her company runs four plants in New Jersey – and they’re all led by women. Beyond that, Dudish said it’s not the same experience she’s had with her own children.
Dudish offered her insights as a woman working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics on March 29 during an NJBIZ virtual panel discussion on the subject also featuring Burns & McDonnell Project Manager, Transmission & Distribution Services Michelle Butler; Kean University School of Computer Science and Technology Executive Director Patricia Morreale; SJI Utilities, South Jersey Industries President Melissa Orsen; and HDR Lighting Designer Anne Ullestad.
Though some women, like Dudish who said she started looking at engineering schools when she was 14 years old, know early on that they want to be involved in STEM, that isn’t always the case. Which makes it even more important to lay a strong foundation early on that encourages interest in its subjects.
“[T]he earlier that you can start the better, and definitely making it fun,” Butler said, equating the early start to laying the foundation for building blocks to be added to throughout a child’s lifetime. And blocks aren’t just a great metaphor for these childhood experiences, they can be literal. Butler explained that playing Legos with her 5-year-old son, for example, activates problem-solving skills. “That way of thinking, kind of training your mind, is something that’s transferable throughout your entire life,” she said, and important for a STEM focus.
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
Ullestad, whose father was an engineer, was averse to the industry growing up. “It was kind of reverse engineering,” she said of the impression she got seeing people in his office working from their cubicle, stuck in front of computers. “It look[ed] so boring, to me, so I was kind of always like I don’t want to do that.” But, Ullestad’s interest in math was accompanied by an aptitude for the subject when she was school-aged, which she said prompted her teachers to tell her parents to encourage her prowess in the subject. “I always was drawn to math and science in school, as well as art classes,” she said, which led to her taking some architecture classes in high school that then led to her pursuing architectural engineering in college.
According to Morreale, having a parent – particularly a father – who is an engineer is one of the biggest predictors for women entering the STEM fields. In fact, Dudish said her father was also an engineer.
Examples of people working in STEM fields and, even more so, that encouragement, the panelists agreed throughout the discussion, is really important to cultivating long-term interest in STEM. Another touchstone for cultivating success: creative thinking.
“[W]e had to practice a lot and I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that these … problem-solving skills, we need to practice,” Morreale said. “And practice and positive feedback to the learner are really, really important to encourage them to persist and try harder.”
From the infrastructure perspective, Orsen used renewable energy as an example. “It’s problem solving, right?” she said. “STEM and STEAM [which incorporates an “a” for arts] is that perfect example, so we need young people coming in and problem solving on how we can get there. What are those solutions that we can come up with? And it’s fascinating to see those young minds at work.”
As the makeup of workers in STEM continues to evolve, and time passes, appreciating and keeping those young minds at work will make all the difference.
“We must be careful as adults, not to project our biases, if you will, on to the children,” Morreale said. “They may be preparing now for jobs that we can’t even conceive of, so we need to keep them in the game and in the hunt for those future opportunities.”
According to Mike Bridges, president and chief operating officer of Paperclip Inc. – a tech company focused on secure document capture, processing and storage – as we approach the third anniversary of COVID-19, we also find ourselves amid a “breach pandemic.” And even if your business isn’t operating on the scale of, say, the Colonial Pipeline, that doesn’t mean you’re safe.
Bridges spoke during a virtual NJBIZ panel discussion exploring cybersecurity on Feb. 22, joined by Karen Painter Randall, chair of cybersecurity, data privacy and incident response at Connell Foley LLP; Julie Tracy, vice president of cybersecurity at Withum; and Carl Mazzanti, co-founder and president of eMazzanti Technologies.
Ransomware attacks, for example, are proliferating. According to Randall as many as 4,000 take place each day. And that adds up in dollars and cents, as well. A Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Financial Trend Analysis covering the first six months of 2021, found that the value for ransomware-relation transactions reported in suspicious activity reports, or SARs, was at its highest since 2011: $590 million – or a 42% increase – compared to 2020.
Maybe you think being a smaller-scale operation can inherently protect you from being a target. But according to Randall, that’s no longer the case. “Unfortunately, in this day and age, these attackers are focusing on the small- to medium-sized businesses,” she said.
And even if you think your business – a hair salon, for example – doesn’t deal in the kind of data bad actors are looking for, you need to take into account the kind of information you have on hand.
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
“People need to sit down and classify the electronic data they have,” Bridges said. “Do I capture any non-public information? Or is there any personal information that I’m collecting, in the conduct of my business? Because that’s going to be a big defining line.”
And, Bridges cautioned, it’s important to remember that once you capture that data, you’re on the hook for it.
“[W]hen you get into the areas of a breach that’s when people are able to steal confidential information that you’re entrusted to protect. … [I]f you’re collecting confidential information you are considered the data owner, and you’re ultimately responsible. Even if you hire someone or take information and put it … into a third party, they are considered the data holder. And if the data holder has data that’s extricated, you’re on the hook.”
Help is on the way
So what can you do? Mazzanti says start building.
“Defense and depth … the idea is you layer it, like a cake … Here’s one device, and if it got through that then there’s another one below that, there’s another one below that,” he said. “So when we mention firewalls, email security, endpoints on the devices, DNS security for outbound request — you can layer on a whole bunch of different technologies so that no matter which ones fail, it would be very difficult to go through all of them and then have some sort of outbound result take place.”
Maybe all those layers sound expensive – even more likely, they probably sound confusing. According to Tracy, when it comes to costs – and confusion – there are options. Like, hiring a qualified consultant instead of bringing someone into your organization full time. Another important precaution is to figure out where you stand with a business impact analysis.
“Saying, OK, so this is my business, this is what it costs me … if I were to have a breach, these are the things that could happen and so really looking at it in a dollars and cents perspective from people, and not just a firewall … But understanding that those costs are investments in securing what is most precious to them and helping them keep those costs in line with our business,” she said.
After you have your layers in place, it’s important to test your work.
“Once people start to layer these defenses – the firewalls, features, email filtering, the endpoint MFA [multifactor authentication] and the like – you need a security test. Like a pen test or assessment or something out of the environment to point out all the things that you don’t do,” Mazzanti said.
In an increasingly digitized world, making sure you’re not ignorant about what’s going on with your cybersecurity and taking a proactive approach to protect your information can be the biggest step toward making sure you’re not vulnerable.
“You’re not going to be judged as much by the cyberattack because the number of cyberattacks are increasing on a daily basis,” Randall said, “but you will be judged by the response effort.”
New Jersey employers should not expect the hiring shortage to end soon, and employees will likely have leverage for quite some time.
That’s according to a group of experts gathered for a Nov. 30 NJBIZ panel discussion titled The Great Resignation: Recruit & Retain, which covered a variety of issues related to hiring in a difficult environment.
“We don’t see this as a temporary situation,” said Manisha Subramanian, the owner and strategic partner at the Edison recruiting firm PrideStaff & G.A. Rogers.
While COVID-19 had not been the “primary culprit of the hiring shortage” – the exact cause has been debated in academic, political and business circles – the hiring shortages will nonetheless “continue for the foreseeable future,” she said.
Initial expectations in the spring and early summer were that once the federal $300 weekly unemployment relief checks ran out around in early September, many people would simply return to the office, or to their retail, restaurant or other hospitality jobs. But the effect was muted at best.
A recent survey by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association found that three in four employers – 73% have been faced with hiring shortages over the past year. Many reluctantly raised wages in order to attract workers. Many prospective workers – 57% – simply did not show up for their interviews, while 49% opted to stay unemployed and 46% canceled interviews.
– FILE PHOTO
The NJBIZ panelists suggested that employers will have to work harder and adopt some tactics that might have seemed unthinkable before the pandemic.
Some are obvious. Base pay is important and “you want to be competitive there,” explained David Pearson, a senior vice president at the Woodbridge human resources firm ExtensisHR. But benefits – paid time off, holidays and health care – should be high-quality.
Smaller firms that can’t afford these more “generous compensation packages” can be creative with perks such as unlimited vacation time, Subramanian explained.
And remote work offerings may be considered essential, according to Delores Murphy, who heads human resources at the information technology firm Integris. “So many more candidates are looking to work from home as opposed to coming into the office, so we have to have that flexibility,” she said.
Subramanian said that this remote-work reality means that employers can recruit from outside their local areas, and even “reach across the country.”
In addition, employers should reach out to non-traditional communities. Lynn Spence, a senior executive for human resources at the engineering consulting firm T&M Associates, said that virtual career fairs, scholarship opportunities, participation through professional organizations such as the society for women engineers all help to build “brand recognition.”
“Again, showing that it’s not just words, for us, in terms of waiting to diversify our population, but supporting and making changes in our process and the way we approach the relationships that we build to expand the diversity of our workforce,” she continued.
Murphy agreed, saying that employers will need to go beyond the higher education route for finding talent. That means working with community schools such as two-year colleges.
“We’re helping younger students branch into the IT world a little earlier than they would because they’re still in school, but getting that exposure,” Murphy said.
On job interviews and the recruiting process, Mazars USA Managing Partner Paula Ferriera said that employers need to conform more to the applicant’s timeframe, rather than the other way around. “It can’t be at the same pace that we did 18 months ago. We have to act a little bit quicker because there’s a lot of people out there looking for candidates,” Ferriera said.
“So where in the past, we may have taken a few days to a week to get back to somebody, I don’t think that time exists anymore.”
In addition, employers might need to be more “forgiving” in what constitutes grounds for rejection, amid the hiring shortage Pearson said.
“Whether it’s in somebody’s home and the dog is barking in the background, rewind the clock a couple years ago, ‘no I am not working with this candidate’,” Pearson said. “If they have to hold the interview in their car, that’s OK because they’re trying to get out of a noisy environment.”
New Jersey is home to 287 companies that make some type of personal protective equipment, or PPE. New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program CEO John Kennedy shared that with panel members and attendees of NJBIZ’s manufacturing panel discussion. Panel members, including Gillian Bleimann Boucard, executive vice president at Carteret fragrance manufacturer Berje Inc.; Mazars CPA Alisha Jernack, and Mark Howe, vice president of sales and marketing at Berkeley Heights industrial equipment supplier The Knotts Co., told Kennedy that they didn’t know about the state’s PPE manufacturing presence.
Clockwise from top left: Moderator John Kennedy, CEO of the NJMEP; Alisha Jernack of Mazars; Gillian Bleimann Boucard, executive vice president at Berje Inc.; and Mark Howe, vice president of sales and marketing at The Knotts Co.
“Neither did I before [the pandemic], and that’s part of our problem: we don’t understand our supply chain,” Kennedy said. He’s working with U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on legislation to support a national supply chain database, so MEPs around the country and the manufacturers they serve can source materials from places around the country they may not have known existed.
The panelists addressed several issues critical to the manufacturing sector during the Oct. 26 virtual event, including supply chain problems, raw material costs, labor challenges and how to attract young talent.
“We often hear [that bringing manufacturing] back to the U.S. [would] be more costly. However, I would argue the point of you’re going to have faster turn times and you are likely missing out on revenue today as a manufacturer or distributor if you’re getting stuff from overseas and you’re unable to get that inventory,” Jernack said. “If you’re not able to get the inventory or you’re not able to receive it timely, then you don’t have a sale. So you can offset the increased costs by having your inventory, your raw materials, your goods closer to you. And by understanding the consumer and the patterns better and being able to have that predictability, you’re able to turn faster and the outcome of that is you’re going to have increased sales, which should offset any increase that you’ll have for additional labor costs.”
Howe said one of the manufacturers that Knotts works with has an average run size of three items, and that having local suppliers with the right inventory in stock is important. “To manage that level of supply chain, it could be something as simple as a bearing could hold up an entire order for months because it’s stuck on a boat somewhere. With our local customers that we work with it really comes down to ‘can we look at a different part within the system? Can we substitute it with with something else?’ [Asking] ‘what is your lead time you promised to the customer?’ so we can have a better understanding what you need, [and figuring out] how we look at our portfolio of what we offer to get you where you need to be.”
It comes down to flexibility, he said, and Knotts has had manufacturers it works with change material requirements and even certifications due to that. But having something that works in inventory is “mission critical right now,” he said.
“Inventory’s king, so if you have enough in your facility to answer some orders then you’re gonna win that top spot in that instance,” Howe said.
Bleimann Boucard noted that in some instances, sourcing domestically isn’t a possibility. Roughly 40% of Birje’s materials are produced in China, and it’s Mother Nature’s doing.
“Eucalyptus oil—there’s not the land, there’s not the environment … to allow a lot of those products. [That puts] us at a severe disadvantage that we’re still struggling with,” Bleimann Boucard said. “Because of those factors mark, either the regulatory landscape, or people, [there’s no way for] many of those products be made here, and there are formulas that are reliant on those products that we supply and produce here.”
Labor costs, as mentioned by Jernack, are one thing, but a constant issue in U.S. manufacturing is staffing in general.
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
Knotts has been involved with FIRST Robotics, a nationwide program that introduces grade school and high school students to robotics and engineering. “I think one thing we as manufacturers can do is we could potentially develop more partnerships, not at the college level, but with the middle school and high school levels, and give them tours give them opportunities to see what see some of the high value jobs. Manufacturing gets this this bad rap of being all dirty and dangerous, when the reality of it is manufacturing has advanced tremendously. There’s a lot of technology and a lot of thought process that goes into the floors,” Howe said.
“If you don’t start building a pool now, again, with the amount of individuals retiring and the generational shift, we’re just making manufacturing a lot harder to get … future needs,” he added.
The pervasive negative perception of manufacturing sector work keeps people out of the pursuing jobs in the sector, and the responsibility of changing that perception, Jernack said, falls on industry leaders.
Kennedy noted that 33,000 manufacturing jobs were open in New Jersey pre-pandemic, and now 45,000 positions must be filled. Some of these jobs don’t require degrees, and some do.
“Cost accountants are in that top five, because if you can’t make money making it, don’t make it. Engineers, we’re not producing engineers, we’re just not. Others, CNC machinists, we can’t find them, welders … but the one that comes out on top that surprises me is technical sales. Because, look, if you can’t sell it, what are you building?” he asked.
Younger people need to be informed about these jobs, Kennedy explained, but they also have to learn that a manufacturing job is like a job anywhere else: “We also have to educate our young people that you don’t start at the top. I’ve worked with a lot of young people, and they get disappointed if they don’t get a raise and promotion in six months.”
Bleimann Boucard said Berje noticed that dynamic when the company had a training program for people right out of college. She said the company “wanted to be people’s second job, not first job,” because executives found that “a lot of expectations that people had for their first job were difficult to live up to or unrealistic.”
To stay competitive, Berje heightened its focus on retention. “We’ve changed our shifts I think over three times, really listening to people, saying ‘OK, what works for families? What works for working [parents]? Constantly being flexible,” she said.
Despite challenges, panelists agreed that making things here in America and sourcing more materials domestically would be a good thing. “You know 95% of our blood pressure medicine is made in China; 50% of the American adults are on blood pressure medicine. How is that good business?” Kennedy said.
Kennedy later tied in the blood pressure medication with commentary on tariffs and on made-in-America requirements. When the machine shop he owned was doing an installation in China, Kennedy said he was required to do 50% of the manufacturing within the province or he wouldn’t get the job.
“That was China’s rule. I’m not saying we should have the same, but we certainly should control some of that,” he said.
New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program CEO John Kennedy shared that with panel members and attendees of NJBIZ’s manufacturing panel discussion. Panel members, including Gillian Bleimann Boucard, executive vice president at Carteret fragrance manufacturer Berje Inc.; Mazars CPA Alisha Jernack, and Mark Howe, vice president of sales and marketing at Berkeley Height’s industrial equipment supplier The Knotts Co., were unaware of the in-state PPE manufacturing presence.
“Neither did I before [the pandemic], and that’s part of our problem: we don’t understand our supply chain,” Kennedy said. He’s working with U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on legislation to support a national supply chain database, so MEPs around the country and the manufacturers they serve can source materials from places around the country they may not have known existed.
The panelists addressed several issues critical to the manufacturing sector during the Oct. 26 virtual event, including supply chain issues, raw material costs, labor challenges, and how to attract young talent.
John Kennedy- AARON HOUSTON
“We often hear [that bringing manufacturing] back to the U.S. [would] be more costly. However, I would argue the point of you’re going to have faster turn times and you are likely missing out on revenue today as a manufacturer or distributor if you’re getting stuff from overseas and you’re unable to get that inventory,” Jernack said. “If you’re not able to get the inventory or you’re not able to receive it timely, then you don’t have a sale. So you can offset the increased costs by having your inventory, your raw materials, your goods closer to you. And by understanding the consumer and the patterns better and being able to have that predictability, you’re able to turn faster and the outcome of that is you’re going to have increased sales, which should offset any increase that you’ll have for additional labor costs.”
Labor costs are one thing, but a constant issue in U.S. manufacturing is staffing in general.
The Knotts Co. has been involved with FIRST Robotics, a nationwide program that introduces grade school and high school students to robotics and engineering.
“I think one thing as manufacturers can do is we could potentially develop more partnerships, not at the college level, but with the middle school and high school levels, and give them tours give them opportunities to see what see some of the high value jobs. Manufacturing gets this this bad rap of being all dirty and dangerous, when the reality of it is manufacturing has advanced tremendously. There’s a lot of technology and a lot of thought process that goes into the floors,” Howe said.
“If you don’t start building a pool now again with the amount of individuals retiring and the generational shift, we’re just making manufacturing a lot harder to get toward that future needs,” he added.
Kennedy noted that 33,000 manufacturing jobs were open in New Jersey pre-pandemic, and now 45,000 jobs must be filled. Some of these jobs don’t require degrees, and some do.
“Cost accountants are in that top five, because if you can’t make money making it, don’t make it. Engineers, we’re not producing engineers, we’re just not. Others, CNC machinists, we can’t find them, welders … but the one that comes out on top that surprises me is technical sales. Because look if you can’t sell it, what are you building?” he asked.
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
Younger people need to be informed about these jobs, Kennedy explained, but they also have to learn that a manufacturing job is like a job anywhere else: “We also have to educate our young people that you don’t start at the top. I’ve worked with a lot of young people, and they get disappointed if they don’t get a raise and promotion in six months.”
Bleimann Boucard said Berje noticed that when the company had a training program for people right out of college. She said the company realized they “wanted to be people’s second job, not first job,” because they found that “a lot of expectations that people had for their first job were difficult to live up to or unrealistic.”
To stay competitive, Berje heightened its focus on retention of the people they already have.
“We’ve changed our shifts I think over three times, really listening to people, saying ‘OK, what works for families? What works for working [parents]? Constantly being flexible,” she said.
Clockwise from top left, NJBIZ Editor-in-Chief Jeff Kanige, Hackensack Meridian Health Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark Eimer, Holy Name Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Sai Kandamangalam, Caregility Chief Strategy Officer Peter McLain McLain and Online Computers CEO and founder Carl Scalzo take part in the NJBIZ Health Care Technology Virtual Panel Discussion on Sept. 28, 2021. – NJBIZ
Telehealth was bolstered by the pandemic for two reasons, Caregility Chief Strategy Officer Peter McLain explained during an NJBIZ virtual panel discussion on Health Care Technology held Sept. 28. For one thing, it was what was available for patients because offices were closed. Second, hospitals had more patients coming into them, thereby causing shortages in personal protective equipment shortages and staffing, which “prompted the idea,” he said.
“‘If we have a camera in the room, maybe we don’t need to go into the room as much, so we can communicate from outside the room through video. That spurred a lot of innovative problem solving of ‘how do we get the camera in the room?’” Some used baby monitors. Some used security cameras.
In one instance, McLain said, a phone with a camera was taped to the wall to have a live call.
The clever ways doctors communicated with others from inside hospital rooms grew and changed over the pandemic, moving from a “whatever works” mindset initially to “what is better and more secure.”
McLain was joined by Hackensack Meridian Health Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark Eimer, Online Computers founder and CEO Carl Scalzo and Holy Name Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Sai Kandamangalam; the panel was moderated by NJBIZ Editor Jeffrey Kanige.
If a technology company wants its health care products to be broadly adopted, the tech should be ubiquitous and accessible through whatever device someone is using. “For those of us that have an iPhone that has great videoconferencing, FaceTime — that didn’t become the standard during the pandemic. What did? Zoom, the technology that worked across all the platforms,” Scalzo said. “The ones that are going to be siloed and niche and proprietary, the bigger players … are not going to want to have a hallway filled with 25 different technologies.”
One obstacle to telehealth remaining so prominent would arise health care companies stop getting the reimbursements for providing telehealth. Eimer said his organization is lobbying for such reimbursements to remain and that Congress just needs to understand how the health care system has shifted.
If technology can reduce the average stay by a day … that means better patient outcomes. If a patient can be discharged because they recovered faster, that’s great for the patient. For me, that’s part of the calculation.
– Peter McLain, Caregility chief strategy officer
In addition, Eimer predicts that 5G broadband will be a game-changer for telehealth, but for now, bandwidth remains a challenge today in rural areas.
“Internet bandwidth alone in rural communities is a travesty. I think there’s like 25% of homes within the U.S. that are running [insufficient bandwidth] to deliver real-time health care at home,” he said. “Which is why the telehealth providers have to be really smart about compression and bandwidth consumption just because trying to get to rural communities [is a challenge.]”
Teamwork
Eimer said he believes the companies that created telehealth and video conferencing technology are, at this point, all compliant in terms of their own back-end cybersecurity programs. The bigger issue now, he said, is on the privacy side, “in making sure you have dedicated closed rooms as you’re talking to patients so you’re not exposing [personal health information] verbally into public spaces.”
The same goes for remote work situations, Scalzo noted. “When you sent employees home [in March 2020], did they have a headset?” he asked. “Or … was that whole conversation on the computer speaker and microphone and if they weren’t in a private room everybody in the family knew about someone’s condition? What was acceptable during the height is no longer going to be acceptable, and changing to newer standards and more compliance.”
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
“The security threat is real,” Kandamangalam said. “First you’ve got to accept that a security threat is real, so we’ve got to continue to educate our end users [on] phishing emails like, how do you know when you need to click [a link and] when you should not click one? When you need to open your PDF, when you should not open your PDF?”
HMH conducts email phishing tests monthly, according to Eimer, to keep employees on their toes and they don’t let their guard down. If an employee fails the phishing test, he or she must then go through training. Most malware and ransomware comes through phishing, he said.
In closing, Kandamangalam noted that technology is evolving, and that “the good lesson for us is technology is really facilitating and helping our patient care.”
“If technology can reduce the average stay by a day … that means better patient outcomes. If a patient can be discharged because they recovered faster, that’s great for the patient. For me, that’s part of the calculation,” McLain said.
“I think what people are learning is it’s actually taking care to a higher level,” he said. “There’s now this combination in the hospital setting, you got bedside staff, but also a whole virtual care team helping with the patients. So it’s an elevation of the quality of care … I’m a patient, I have a stroke, and I’m in a rural ED; by bringing in a neurologist over video, that was elevating care.”
“There’s a positive outcome in health care related to the pandemic as far as technology. The pandemic is unfortunate and horrible, but I think the positive is it will change the future of health care dramatically and accelerate it forward and make it more available to many, many people,” Scalzo said.
Clockwise from top left, NJBIZ Editor-in-Chief Jeff Kanige, Hackensack Meridian Health Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark Eimer, Holy Name Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Sai Kandamangalam, Caregility Chief Strategy Officer Peter McLain McLain and Online Computers CEO and founder Carl Scalzo take part in the NJBIZ Health Care Technology Virtual Panel Discussion on Sept. 28, 2021. – NJBIZ
Telehealth was bolstered by the pandemic for two reasons, Caregility Chief Strategy Officer Peter McLain explained during a virtual NJBIZ panel discussion on Health Care Technology on Sept. 28.
For one thing, it was what was available for patients, because offices were closed. Secondly, hospitals had more patients coming into them, thereby causing issues such as personal protective equipment shortages and staff shortages, which “prompted the idea,” he said, “‘if we have a camera in the room, maybe we don’t need to go into the room as much, so we can communicate from outside the room through video. That spurred a lot of innovative problem solving of ‘how do we get the camera in the room?’”
Some used baby monitors. Some used security cameras. In one instance, McLain said, a phone with a camera was taped to the wall to have a live call.
The clever ways doctors communicated with others from inside hospital rooms grew and changed over the pandemic, moving from a “whatever works” mindset initially to “what is better and more secure.”
McLain was joined by Hackensack Meridian Health Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mark Eimer, Online Computers CEO and founder Carl Scalzo, and Holy Name Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Sai Kandamangalam; the panel was moderated by NJBIZ Editor-in-Chief Jeff Kanige.
If a technology company wants their health care tech to be broadly adopted, the tech should be ubiquitous and accessible throughout whatever device someone is using.
“For those of us that have an iPhone that has great videoconferencing, Facetime—that didn’t become the standard during the pandemic. What did? Zoom, the technology that worked across all the platforms,” Scalzo said. “The ones that are going to be siloed and niched and proprietary, the bigger players … are not going to want to have a hallway filled with 25 different technologies.”
Teamwork
Eimer shared that he believes the companies that created telehealth and video conferencing technology are, at this point, all compliant in terms of their own back-end cybersecurity programs. The bigger issue now, he said, is more on the privacy side, “in making sure you have dedicated closed rooms as you’re talking to patients so you’re not exposing [personal health information] verbally into public spaces.”
Click through to register to watch the full panel discussion!
Same goes in work-from-home situations, Scalzo noted, asking, “When you sent employees home [in March 2020], did they have a headset? Or … was that whole conversation on the computer speaker and microphone and if they weren’t in a private room everybody in the family knew about someone’s condition? What was acceptable during the height is no longer going to be acceptable, and changing to newer standards and more compliance.”
“The security threat is real. Let’s accept it, first you’ve got to accept that a security threat is real, so we’ve got to continue to educate our end users [on] phishing emails like, how do you know when you need to click [a link and] when you should not click one? When you need to open your PDF, when you should not open your PDF?” Kandamangalam said.
HMH conducts email phishing tests monthly, according to Eimer, to keep employees on their toes and aware of them, so they don’t let their guard down. If an employee fails the phishing test, he or she must then go through training. Most malware and ransomware comes through phishing, he said.
In closing, Kandamangalam noted that technology is evolving, and that “the good lesson for us is technology is really facilitating and helping our patient care.”
“If technology can reduce the average stay by a day … that means better patient outcomes. If a patient can be discharged because they recovered faster, that’s great for the patient. For me, that’s part of the calculation,” McLain said.
“There’s a positive outcome in health care related to the pandemic as far as technology. The pandemic is unfortunate and horrible, but I think the positive is it will change the future of health care dramatically and accelerate it forward and make it more available to many, many people,” Scalzo said.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Sign In
Free Newsletter
