Certification Commission Names New Commissioners

Health information exchange certification program launches Oct. 1; Public comment period announced for 09 criteria

CHICAGO – Sept. 16, 2008 – The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology has named eight new commissioners and re-appointed five existing commissioners to serve two-year terms on its 21-member board beginning in October.

The Commission solicited applications from senior executives representing a wide range of stakeholders across the public and private sectors of healthcare and health IT. The Commission is made up of at least two representatives each from the provider, payer and vendor stakeholder groups, as well as representatives from other stakeholder groups.

The Board of Trustees received and reviewed a total of 85 applications in making their appointments. The new commissioners are:

  • Steve Arnold, MD, MS, MBA, CPE, President and Chief Medical Officer, CareData; CEO, Healthcare Global Advisors
  • Richard Benoit, Senior Program Manager, Intel; Director of Ecosystem Development, Dossia
  • Sarah T. Corley, MD, FACP, Chief Medical Officer, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc
  • John F. Derr, RPh, Senior VP and CIO, Golden Living
  • Michael L. Kappel, Senior Vice-President, Government and Industry Relations, McKesson Technology Solutions
  • Joy G. Keeler, MBA, FHIMSS, Principal, Health Information Technology, The MITRE Corporation
  • Jennifer Laughlin, MBA, RHIA, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, UW Health Partners-Watertown Regional Medical Center
  • David Merritt, Project Director, Center for Health Transformation, The Gingrich Group

The commissioners re-appointed to a second two-year term are:

  • Christopher MacManus, Healthcare Information Technology Practice Leader, Tatum, LLC
  • James Morrow, MD, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, North Fulton Family Medicine
  • Don Rucker, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Siemens Medical Solutions
  • Michael Ubl, Director, IT Strategy and eHealth, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
  • Andrew Wiesenthal, MD, Associate Executive Director, Clinical Information Support, The Permanente Federation

The commissioners continuing their current term are:

  • Abha Agrawal, MD, FACP, Director, Medical Informatics; Associate Medical Director, Kings County Hospital Center
  • Linda Hogan, Professor and Assistant Dean, Department of Medicine, and Director, Medical Informatics Program, The Commonwealth Medical College
  • Susan R. Miller, RN, FACMPE, Administrator, Family Practice Associates of Lexington Kentucky
  • Rick Ratliff, Co-CEO, SureScripts-RxHub
  • David A. Ross, ScD, Director, Public Health Informatics Institute

Representatives to the Commission from the Federal government, who serve in a non-voting role, are:

  • Karen Bell, MD, Director, Office of HIT Adoption, Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, US Department of Health and Human Services
  • Jon White, MD, Health IT Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I congratulate the new Commissioners and thank them and all the excellent nominees for their willingness to serve,” said Linda Kloss, CCHIT Trustee and CEO, American Health Information Management Association. “We recognize and thank the Commissioners who will serve another term, as well as those whose terms are concluding.  Richard Atkin, Andrea Gelzer, Jeffrey Hillebrand, Denni McColm, and Jonathan Perlin are completing one term, while Jane Metzger, Wes Rishel and Andrew Ury are completing two terms and were founding Commissioners. CCHIT literally could not accomplish what it has without the superb contributions of the Commissioners.”

Launch of Health Information Exchange Certification Program

The certification program for health information exchanges (HIEs) will open on Oct. 1. Following 14 months of development and a successful pilot that included the Delaware Health Information Network, HealthBridge, Inland Health and Vermont Information Technology Leaders, the Commission will begin accepting applications on that date for the first phase of inspection for 09 HIE certification. Information about this new HIE program, including the criteria and test scripts, the HIE Certification Handbook and the applicant agreement, will be available on September 29 at www.cchit.org/hie.

“With health information exchange still being in an early developmental stage, we are offering a modular approach to certification that will accommodate the wide variety of organizations involved,” said Mark Leavitt, M.D., Ph.D., Commission chair.  “First, all organizations will be required to satisfy uniform security criteria.  Then, in the months to come, we will be rolling out inspections for various interoperability transactions, allowing HIEs to select which ones they choose to be certified for.”

Applications will also reopen for 08 certification of ambulatory electronic health records (EHRs) on Oct. 1 and will be accepted on a continuous basis through March 31, 2009.

Public Comment Period
            A 30-day public comment period on the first draft of CCHIT Certified 09 criteria for ambulatory, child health, cardiovascular medicine, behavioral health, inpatient and emergency department EHRs, and personal health records (PHRs), will be open Sept. 29-Oct. 28. The draft criteria will be published at http://cchit.org/participate/public-comment/.

About CCHIT

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT®) is an independent, nonprofit organization that has been recognized by the federal government as an official certification body for electronic health record products. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating a credible, sustainable product certification program. The certification requirements are based on widely accepted industry standards and involve the work of hundreds of expert volunteers and input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the health care industry. More information on CCHIT and CCHIT Certified® products is available at www.cchit.org.