Indra Neil Sarkar, Ph.D., has been named interim president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute (RIQI) succeeding the organization’s founding CEO, Laura Adams.
Sarkar serves as the Associate Professor of Medical Science, the Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice and the Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics. He also serves as a member of the board of directors for the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of JAMIA Open.
The RIQI board of directors will conduct a national search for Adams’ permanent replacement in the coming months.
Founded in 2001, RIQI’s mission is to significantly improve the quality, safety and value of healthcare in Rhode Island. Under Laura Adams’ leadership, RIQI received three major health information technology grants under the Affordable Care Act to build critical statewide health information technology infrastructure, including a statewide health information exchange. RIQI then went on to win other grant awards, bringing the total to more than $50 million. “Laura’s leadership and impact on healthcare is profound. RIQI has a rich history and critical role across our communities in Rhode Island,” said Sarkar in a statement.
Adams also served on the ONC’s Health Information Technology Policy Committee’s Governance Panel for the Nationwide Health Information Network. She chaired the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Planning Committee for the “Digital Infrastructure for Population Health and a Learning Healthcare System” workshop series.
On her LinkedIn page, Adams noted that among other things, she was proud that RIQI was the nation’s first statewide HIE to integrate clinical records containing protected substance abuse and alcohol treatment information, which enables us to make strong contributions to combating the opioid crisis.
Besides affiliating with consulting firm X4 Health, she is continuing her work as co-chair of the Health Data Trust Initiative with National Academy of Medicine, as a guest lecturer at Brown University, and on the Oversight Council of the Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis.
RIQI won a Healthcare Informatics Innovator Award in 2018 for creating a dashboard tool for nurse care managers that connects opioid treatment teams in the Ocean State.
“Neil comes with a wealth of knowledge on Rhode Island’s healthcare environment and we look forward to leveraging his expertise in steering RIQI forward. We are grateful to Laura for the significant contribution to the State of Rhode Island over the past 17 years and wish her the very best,” said Diana Franchitto, chair of the board of directors, in a statement. “The RIQI board of directors is fully committed to sustaining the important work of RIQI as it serves a critical role for providers and facilities in collecting and sharing important patient information to enhance the quality and safety of patient care across the state.”
