Budget Officers Tackling Health IT at Annual Conference

Oklahoma’s largest city is home to unique attractions including the American Banjo Museum and the historic Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel. This year, Oklahoma City is also hosting the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO)’s 2018 Annual Meeting, which kicked off yesterday morning. NASBO is a professional membership organization, specifically for finance officers, working to improve state budget practices.

Sharif Hussein attending NASBO 2018 Conference

CNSI’s Chief Strategy Officer and President of Health and Human Services, Sharif Hussein, is in attendance to hear what SBO’s are saying about health IT. To no surprise, key topics include the status of the federal budget, Medicaid expansion, and the growing opioid epidemic. To the latter, the state of Kentucky ranks number five in the nation in opioid overdose death (a startling 33.5%). This may be why Van Ingram, Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, is leading the panel today on how state budgets need to be adjusted to mitigate against the crisis. Following up this session will be a presentation from the Kaiser Family Foundation on the current landscape of Medicaid waivers—an increasingly high-profile topic.

It will be great to hear firsthand how states are addressing these important issues from a financial perspective. Our representatives look forward to gaining further insights on how to best collaborate, support, and reduce financial burden through innovative solutions.