The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Eric D. Hargan named three members to the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC), established by the 21st Century Cures Act.
The Cures Act established the HIT Advisory Committee and gave the Comptroller General responsibility for appointing at least 14 of the members. In addition to the Comptroller General’s appointments, the Act specifies that 11 members are appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Majority and Minority leaders of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has yet to name his two committee members.
The new HITAC replaces the Health IT Policy and Standards committees of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and will provide guidance on policies, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria relating to the implementation of a health information technology infrastructure that advances the electronic access, exchange, and use of health information.
Acting Secretary Hargan has appointed the following individuals to the HITAC:
- Leslie Lenert, M.D., chief research information officer, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C. (Public Health Appointment)
- Clem J. McDonald, M.D., director, Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, Bethesda, Md. (HHS Representative Appointment)
- Robert Wah, M.D., global chief medical officer, DXC Technology, McLean, Va. (At-large Appointment)
The HHS-appointed members join 15 Government Accountability Office-appointed members who will serve for one-, two-, or three-year terms:
Michael Adcock, executive director of the Center for Telehealth at the University of Mississippi Medical Center
Christina Caraballo, director of healthcare transformation at Get Real Health
Tina Esposito, vice president, information and technology innovation at Advocate Health Care
Brad Gescheider, senior director, provider and payer solutions at PatientsLikeMe
John Kansky, president and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange
Kensaku Kawamoto, associate chief medical information officer, University of Utah Health, and assistant professor, University of Utah Department of Biomedical Informatics
Denni McColm, chief information officer at Citizens Memorial Healthcare
Brett Oliver, chief medical information officer for Baptist Health
Terrence O’Malley, Massachusetts General Hospital and Spaulding Nursing and Therapy Center North End
Carolyn Petersen, patient advocate and senior editor for Mayo Clinic’s health information website
Raj Ratwani, acting center director and scientific director of the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare within MedStar Health, and assistant professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine
Sasha TerMaat, director at Epic
Sheryl Turney, senior director, all-payer claims database analytics and data policy and administration at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
Andrew Truscott, managing director, health and public service at Accenture
Denise Webb, chief information officer of Marshfield Clinic Health System and CEO of Marshfield Clinic Information Services, Inc
In addition, six of eight appointments have been made by Congressional leaders:
Cynthia Fisher, founder and managing director, WaterRev, LLC
Dr. Anil Jin, vice president and chief health informatics officer, IBM Watson Health
Dr. Steven Lane, clinical informatics director for privacy, health information security and interoperability, Sutter Health
Arien Malec, vice president, data platform solution Line, RelayHealth
Steven Ready, system vice president and chief information officer, Norton Healthcare
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, chairman and CEO, NantWorks
