Q: Talk a bit, then, about what happens next for you.

A: The trustees are making a bold move to pivot into a new area, and we think the affiliation with HIMSS will really open up more opportunities. CCHIT has always been an organization that works with stakeholders, and having more access to HIMSS membership, more stakeholders that way, will just help.

The first things we have on our docket are summits and events. We'll be hosting the CCHIT Summit at HIMSS14 in Orlando. It's a half-day conference, and we're convening three of the four past national coordinators to talk about the decade of health IT. They'll talk about their tenures, what they got accomplished, their challenges — a little retrospective.

But I think the really unique and exciting is the second part, where we go to the audience, the stakeholders, and ask them, "OK, what about the decade ahead? What didn't these past leaders get done? Let's talk about that and start to craft a framework."

So, summits and events, and the thought leadership that comes out of that, that's the immediate next direction for us. And then you mentioned the deeper focus on more educational advisory services. We'll use our expertise on testing and certification — which is still very deep — to help vendors that are preparing. We'll help educate them on topics or areas that have been challenging for them.

And we know this because we've just spend this whole year trying to bring them along. When you're doing testing and certification, there's only so far you can go in helping them without it being a conflict. But we think we can really help them serve the industry more by taking our knowledge and providing more tailored or more in-depth one-on-one help for these folks, in navigating and understanding these certification requirements.

So those are the two immediate next steps. And then again, our board is newly-reconstituted, it's a very dynamic and thoughtful board. And I think they're going to be looking at extensions on all these things, including trying to look at, perhaps, international opportunities around these areas too.

Q: And the partnership with HIMSS? What will they be bringing to the table?

A: They'll be bringing us scale and access to their membership, and, I think, some cross fertilization between our two boards that will be very valuable. It's very logical for us to work with them. We have the common mission of using health IT to transform and improve care. We have a long history of working with stakeholders, including the provider community, and again, just their scale and scope, both domestically and internationally, it's a really good fit for the type of mission work we want to do.

I think for our organization, our board is making a bold — and risky, perhaps some might say — move, but I think it's with the recognition that, or with an eye on the fact that, the environment needs clarity and thought leadership, and that's something I think we're uniquely positioned to step in and help with.