According to Wes Rishel, research vice president of Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner and chair of the search committee, the group was looking for a business level connection with the stakeholder community. It wanted someone with a keen understanding of the business and the ability to communicate a value proposition. HL7 found the candidate it wanted in Charles Jaffe, M.D., but lacked financing to support its ambition.
"There is almost no other vendor that has a dog in our fight that we'd make such an arrangement with," Rishel says. "To us, Intel is Switzerland. The company has done so much on a pro bono basis."
Stepping in to support the transition and pay Jaffe's salary for the first year was his former employer, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel. "There is almost no other vendor that has a dog in our fight that we'd make such an arrangement with," Rishel says. "To us, Intel is Switzerland. The company has done so much on a pro bono basis."
"It is humbling to lead an organization that has accomplished so much in the last 20 years," says Jaffe. "HL7 has contributed to the vision of the EHR. It has developed relationships with government, with caregivers and defined a model for data sharing. HL7 has been the proving ground for developing standards." But there is so much yet to accomplish.
In addition to helping define, lead and refine the business operations for the evolving organization and its structure, Jaffe will be a global ambassador, speaking not only to U.S. interests, but to the international community, helping to drive global healthcare IT interoperability.
