U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has announced that Norton Healthcare’s CIO, Steve Ready, will serve on the government’s Health Information Technology (HIT) Advisory Committee.
As part of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act that was passed last December, the legislation calls for the combination of two federal advisory committees into a single Health Information Technology Advisory Committee, which is within the executive branch of the government. Ready is the CIO of the Louisville, Ky.-based Norton Healthcare, a health system with more than 40 locations in and around the Louisville area.
According to his leadership bio on Norton Healthcare’s website, Ready is a certified Microsoft systems engineer, and during his time at Norton, he contributed in many system implementations, including the Epic electronic medical records (EMR) system and the IS service and support model that’s in place today.
As the Senate Majority Leader, Sen. McConnell appointed Ready to serve for a three-year term. The Committee is comprised of 25 members: eight citizen members are appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, and the Senate Minority Leader, with the remaining 17 members from two federal agencies: the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). It’s expected that the committee will be filled by July 2017.
“Norton Healthcare provides critical patient services to the people of Kentucky, and I am proud to recommend their system vice president and Chief Information Officer, Steve Ready, in this new, national role,” Majority Leader McConnell said in a statement. “The Cures Act was one of the most meaningful bills we passed last year, and I am proud to have shepherded it through the Senate and into enactment. This important bipartisan medical research and innovation legislation provided the opportunity to establish the HIT Advisory Committee to make recommendations to ensure our country’s health information technology infrastructure is accurate for patients and protected from cyberattacks, especially in in light of recent events.”
Russell F. Cox, president and CEO Norton Healthcare, added, “We want to thank Senator McConnell for elevating health information technology safety with this national focus. This has been a priority for Norton Healthcare, and we are honored that Steve Ready was selected to serve on this prestigious committee. Steve leads a team that works diligently on healthcare IT issues every day. We believe his knowledge, expertise, and work ethic make him an excellent choice, and we sincerely appreciate Senator McConnell for giving him the opportunity to participate in this discussion on a national level.”
