Gary V. Nicolas
Professional Profile:
Mr. Nicolas is an executive level leader with over 24 years experience in Digital Healthcare with a focus on results-oriented technology driven solutions. His experience in Healthcare Imaging and Information systems integration spans all areas of digital imaging, information, product and service development and delivery as well as standards development. His Healthcare knowledge includes extensive PACS, HIS/RIS, EMR, EHR, RHIO, Cardiology, data migration, workflow, IT systems integration and product development.
Mr. Nicolas architects and optimizes technology by blending digital technologies with practical solutions based on industry standards, such as HL7, DICOM, ITIL, HITSP and blueprints from the Integrated Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles. He is focusing on the adoption and implementation of visual electronic health records, affinity domains, unification of storage and information grids as well as virtual medicine which includes virtual radiology operations and reading. His approach is driven by Lean Six Sigma, Agile development practices and real-world application of standards. Mr. Nicolas is playing an active role in IHE by working with vendors to define, refine and accelerate adoption of standards.
Prior to joining Exogen Solutions, Inc., Mr. Nicolas spent five years leading the Integration Services team for GE Healthcare. The team he grew and managed at GE focused on the implementation, integration and custom solutions development for Radiology and Cardiology PACS as well as RIS and Cardiology Information Systems. Mr. Nicolas’ team delivered DICOM and HL-7 connectivity, data migration services as well as storage and web solutions.
During his tenure with GE Healthcare, Mr. Nicolas built a team that successfully served over 350 PACS installations, integrated to over forty different RIS types and migrated over 250 TB of legacy PACS data. He lead the development and launch of the Storage Solutions business offering with in GE Healthcare, providing clients with access and utilization of leading storage solutions. Mr. Nicolas worked closely with such institutions as UCLA, NYP, Duke University, Northwestern Memorial and other respected healthcare providers.
Mr. Nicolas’ career also includes time with Acuson (A Siemens Company) and as a principle of Touchstone Medical. During his tenure with Acuson, Mr. Nicolas was involved with early stage-one PACS (Aegis) that grew from pre-industry standards, proprietary image and information formats into standards such as DICOM and the adoption of HL7 to fully deployed industry compliant solutions (KinetDx). While at Touchstone Medical, Mr. Nicolas was engaged with early DICOM adoption and deployment, primarily involving ultrasound, cardiology, 3-D (Three Dimensional) rendering and archive solutions.
Special Interests:
PACS, Healthcare Information Systems, Enterprise Solutions including Imaging and Information, Visual Electronic Health Records, Affinity Domains (Next Generation Regional/National Health Information Networks), Visual Performance Monitoring and Analysis, Value Creation and Realization, Evangelizing and Real-World Implementations of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
Experience:
Vice President, Healthcare Portfolio at Exogen Solutions, LLC
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Wholly owned subsidiary of Technology Solutions Company, TSCC; Hospital & Health Care industry)
October 2004 – Present
Previously known as Technology Solutions Company
For Exogen Solutions, LLC (Exogen) Digital Healthcare practice Gary leads the development effort and delivery of Exogen’s product offerings. These include Blue Ocean, the Virtual Operations Visualization software as well as Matrix, the Data Certainty and migration appliance. Currently he supports the sales efforts and implementation of Blue Ocean, matrix, Virtual Radiology, Blueprinting and other client results oriented activities. Gary was also the practice leader and Vice President for integration services. Responsibilities included business development, account management, engagement delivery, staffing, practice management, and integration development. Consulting experience includes the sales and delivery of Digital Imaging and Informatics consulting engagements for major health systems, academic medical centers, national health organizations, and children’s health systems. The scope of these projects has included strategies, blueprinting, technology roadmaps, business plans, vendor selections, contract Term Sheet negotiations, process transformation and redesigns, implementation services, system stabilization and service strategy development. Gary has been engaged with IHE and for the IHE Mammography sub-group helped drive the creation, validation and ratification of the Mammography standards for IHE in 2005 and 2006.
Manager, Integration Services at GE Healthcare IT
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; GEC; Medical Devices industry)
January 2000 – October 2004 (4 years 10 months)
Responsible for the Integration Services for PACS and RIS systems. Built teams that offer RIS to PACS, Modality, Cardiology Information and Imaging, Storage Solutions and Biosciences integrations. Grew a Data Migration team, building the offerings and services from HL7 RIS orders and reports to a highly profitable Legacy to new PACS migration service, moved over 250 Terabytes of data in 3 years. Built an Enterprise Storage Solutions group to provide consultative and integration services for high-end storage, Highly Available solutions and disaster recover of PACS and RIS systems. Improved Integration Services efficiencies by implementing process driven discipline based on Six Sigma rigor, resulting in reductions of over 50% in cycle times and base costs and increased revenue from $3 Million to over $25 Million in 3 years. An integral part of the Six Sigma DMAIC project that resulted in the Professional Services Tool Kit utilized by GE Healthcare in all RIS, PACS and CVIS deployments.
Principle, Partner at Touchstone Medical LLC
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Medical Devices industry)
August 1998 – January 2000 (1 year 6 months)
Account Manager at Acuson (Siemens)
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; Medical Devices industry)
June 1990 – August 1998 (8 years 3 months)
Services at GE Medical Systems
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; GEC; Medical Devices industry)
June 1983 – June 1990 (7 years 1 month)
Education:
Purdue University Calumet
AAS EET, Electrical Engineering
Indiana Wesleyan University
BSBA, Business Administration
Groups and Associations:
- IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise)
- AHRA (American Healthcare Radiology Administrators)
- HITSP (Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel)
- The Scottsdale Institute
- American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE)
Training:
Six Sigma Greenbelt Certified, Phase Release Discipline, Leadership Training Courses I, II, III (General Electric Company), New Product Release (General Electric Company), Change Acceleration Process General Electric Company), Project Management General Electric Company), DICOM, HL7, Data General, Microsoft MCSE Training , Sales and Negotiation Training (Acuson/Siemens), Field Process Improvement (Acuson/Siemens), eNPI (New Product Introduction), Continuous Process Improvement, ISO 9000 Certification Process