Following the news that Dion Trahan had joined J29 as its Vice President of Growth, to guide the company’s ability to support health and human service missions at the commercial, State, and Federal levels, and to work closely with clients and partners across all private and public sectors we caught up with Dion to learn more.
Knowing What “Right” Looks Like
I am passionate about healthcare and helping to figure out how to improve our nation’s healthcare system from a cost savings, accessibility and innovation perspective. I have been in this space for 20 years and during that time I’ve been blessed to work in healthcare policy and provided oversight of government programs as a staffer in a House of Representatives’ leadership office, as well as serving on a House Committee. That experience was a catapult into management consulting where I had some great leaders and mentors show me what “right” looked like.
Then I had a run where a series of former bosses and colleagues recruited me to help them to either enter or expand into specific segments of the healthcare market to sell a variety of case management/ CRM software or professional services. I had a wonderful opportunity to work for another former colleague of mine from the Hill at a leading philanthropy. That experience was unique and memorable. Through it all, my focus remained on helping vulnerable populations access healthcare at different points of entry.
A Season of Fundamental Evolution
Being at a place where giving back and putting others before oneself is fundamental to J29’s identity. Our founder and CEO, Tracy Mills, has built an organization that empowers employees to do great things for those that need it most, grounded in values that are core to who I am as a person. Being people oriented has always been important to me. There are so many things that excite me about being part of J29.
There is a season for everything under the sun and currently our industry is in a season of fundamental evolution. I am most excited about being part of a leadership team that has a vision and belief of where it wants to go, the grit and tenacity to get there, and understands how it gets there is just as important as arriving.
Unique Perspective to Inform the Teaming Puzzle
You’ll just have to wait and see! I grew up professionally on Capitol Hill and feel I have a unique perspective in the GovCon space. For any initiative or opportunity I am involved in, my analysis always begins with:
- Why was this office/ program created;
- What legislation and regulations drove this;
- How does the appropriation process impact this; and
- What are the committees of jurisdiction doing to affect/ influence this?
Once I have the answers to these questions, the pathway becomes clear and allows me to position us in the best place to have the most impact. Sometimes that means being in a prime position, other times as a strategic partner who has that missing part to the teaming puzzle. All the while, being fanatically driven by putting the client first and its mission central to everything we do. In my experience, our government clients want to be truly understood and supported, not just served.
J29 is fortunate to have continued to be an award-winning healthcare management consulting company that has been focusing on program integrity services, specifically around processing, reviewing, and analyzing medical claims, records, and audits since company inception. Every program that J29 supports has a strong return on investment and cost savings to our clients and our growth strategies will stay aligned to ensuring that we are providing continual cost savings.
Maintain Focus: Enhancing and Protecting Health
Enhancing and protecting the health and well-being of the American people is currently center stage. Those are the only trends anyone in this space should be focused on, in my opinion.
It’s no secret that President Trump and all of HHS is focusing on change and reform. Programs that are not as effective or costs more than it should or fails to deliver on its promise are squarely in the administration’s crosshairs. At the moment, our industry is captivated by DOGE because it is new and disruptive because it demands accountability in a way that most in our industry have never been exposed to before. Offices and programs in extensive reform reviews have only two real choices: develop a “get-well” plan to restore confidence that targeted programs can realign timely to the Administration’s focus and priorities with milestones or be eliminated because doing so is for the public good.
Again, for me, my analysis always goes back to ‘How is the Hill thinking about this and how is it controlling the purse strings?” Most people truly do not understand what Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution (aka the power of the purse) means or how it affects all of us in our industry.
The Right Partner
Integrity matters to us and is a basic building block to a long-term relationship. We believe in putting the needs of others before our own. Empowering our employees to do great things is a testament and reflection of the amazing culture and organization that our founder and CEO Tracy has created. It is fundamental to everything we do.
Regarding partners, we pay attention to how they treat their own people as well as others. For a partnership with J29 to exist, values and cultures must align. Because if they do not, the client will see, sense, and ultimately resent it. That philosophy is engrained in J29. It begins and ends with us putting our employees first.
Then we apply that same standard to our clients. If we are in a partnership, then the needs of our partners come before ours. That is a delicate trust and special relationship required of our partners because the truth is a lot of companies out there would misunderstand our approach as a sign of weakness and could not handle a partnership with us. And that’s ok because that just means we are not the partner for them. But those that truly understand our perspective are the ones we seek a relationship with because they are in it for the right reasons and for the long run.
Adding Value Ongoing
Our education has only truly begun because there are many novel actions taking place that are first of its kind in the course of our nation’s young history. The biggest challenge our industry needs to focus on addressing is, previously, being responsive to a RFP was where our collective jobs began and delivering on it was where it ended. Now, the rules are beginning to change.
Being acutely aware of how to add value on an ongoing basis, understanding that time will now be a tangible component of the government’s cost benefit analysis (vis-à-vis FAR 2.0) and constantly demonstrating efficiencies will be the norm. Having our collective heads on the proverbial swing looking for ways to increase effectiveness and maximize output on behalf of the American taxpayers will be the new way forward. I fully anticipate these types of conditional clauses becoming part of all federal contracts very soon.