Newsroom

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

AHIC Successor Called on Public for Board of Director Nominations

Nominations were accepted through Monday, August 4

Washington, D.C. – From mid July to early August 2008 we solicited nominations for highly-qualified, executive-level individuals from the health care community to serve on the Board of the Directors of the American Health Information Community’s (AHIC) Successor organization. This is another step in the process of establishing an independent and sustainable public-private partnership to continue the work of the original, federally-chartered AHIC in the private sector.

“Critical to the AHIC successor organization is openness, transparency, and very broad private sector participation. In turn, this depends on the selection of individuals who can shape a Board of Directors committed to a high level of credibility and collaborative action among both public and private sectors stakeholders,” said Dr. Mark McClellan, Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings, which is convening stakeholders who will collaboratively establish the AHIC Successor.

The AHIC Successor will be instrumental in drawing a roadmap for successful health IT adoption that promotes interoperability through strong standards, while ensuring confidentiality, privacy, and security for patients. Selection of its 21-member Board of Directors is key to creating the new organization. The Board will serve as a unified voice representing many member segments of the health care community, and will be comprised of a majority of at-large members as well as representational members, including consumers and the federal government.

Immediately following the Board’s selection this fall, the group will help define the strategies by which the organization fulfills its mission and monitor the implementation of those strategies. Board members will be expected to:

Fulfill fiduciary responsibilities, while balancing them with stakeholder interests;

· Help ensure that the organization has the resources necessary to fulfill its mission;

· Attend four to six annual Board meetings and implement Board actions;

· Provide thought leadership on industry trends and developments; and

· Participate in and/or chair periodic advisory committee meetings.

How Individuals were Nominated
The deadline for nominations to the AHIC Successor’s Board of Directors was Monday, August 4 at 5:00 p.m. EST.

About the AHIC Successor’s Efforts to Advance Use of Health Information Technology
The AHIC Successor will bring together the best of the public, non-profit and private sectors into a trusted, purpose-driven organization. The Successor’s focus will be to develop a unified approach in creating an effective, interoperable nationwide health information system in the U.S. Four areas within the Successor’s broader charge include:

·	Accelerating the adoption of interoperable health IT by ensuring the availability of harmonized, coordinated, up-to-date standards and rigorous conformance testing through certification;
·	Prioritizing stakeholder requirements for health IT interoperability;
·	Advancing health information policies and technical approaches that promote the Successor’s vision and purpose and protect confidentiality, privacy, and security, consistent with the policies established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and applicable federal and state laws; and
·	Overseeing and facilitating the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), a network-of-networks.

Widespread adoption of health information technology (IT) will improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care and make it easier for every patient to manage their own health information and care. When used with appropriate safeguards that protect confidentiality and privacy, health IT can enable comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange between health-care consumers, providers, and other relevant parties. It not only better enables us to make improvements at the point of care, but also enables us to make broader public health improvements – by allowing researchers to more efficiently and effectively collect and analyze data that can be used to improve quality and affordability of care.

The team of LMI Government Consulting and The Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings is convening stakeholders to transition the nationwide focal point for health information interoperability from a government advisory group to a public-private organization. For more information, please visit www.ahicsuccessor.org.

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