Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Divsion of Public and Behavior Health
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Erin Williams, IT Manager
GMIS member since 2010
Number of IT staff: 32 in DPBH
Population: 2,758,931
IT budget: $3 million
What has been a significant technology achievement for you or your organization?
The Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) is one of six divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the State of Nevada. The Division has more than 40 office/clinic locations throughout Nevada with more than 1,500 full-time employees. There are 32 IT staff for the Division.
DPBH successfully migrated two enterprise applications to the cloud environment. This cloud migration included the behavioral health statewide electronic health record (EHR) and vital records system (VRS). The EHR cloud migration included expansion incorporating outside substance abuse service providers now accessing and using the application.
DPBH also developed and implemented the State's Medical Marijuana reporting system, and we began deployment of Microsoft Office 365 services for all division employees.
What future initiatives are you hoping to accomplish in the next year?
The Office 365 implementation includes migrating DPBH's hosted SharePoint to the cloud. Further development of the intranet is planned to include document routing for administrative tasks. With the implementation of Office 365, it is key that we provide the necessary training for DPBH staff to utilize the new functionality and look for new ways to improve efficiency with greater collaboration.
New legislation will expand the definition of protected information and challenge us to review, audit and improve the security infrastructure including further implementation of encryption.
Teleheath is critical to the service delivery for our rural communities. Most rural communities in Nevada have limited bandwidth and this presents an ongoing challenge. Continued work to improve this infrastructure is a priority. And, of course, more applications will be moved to the cloud.
Best advice you could offer your fellow members is ...
Serve in a capacity that extends your comfort zone. I never saw myself as the President of the Nevada GMIS Chapter. Here I am today, enjoying working with some of the finest IT professionals in our great State, learning through the process and working to stabilize, generate new energy through innovative ideas and grow our Chapter. Have a plan and never quit! Great days are ahead.
We all know GMIS membership is worth its weight in gold, but what do you feel is the best benefit you get out of GMIS?
Collaboration among IT professionals from the state, counties, cities and education organizations is why I am involved in Nevada GMIS. DPBH has benefited from this collaboration as we implement projects that link multiple organizations to provide improved services for Nevadans. This collaboration extends to procurement of vendor services and DPBH has significantly benefited through reduced contract costs.
