The Certification Commission has selected two new, all-volunteer panels to develop criteria for electronic health records (EHRs) in women's health and in oncology, the latest domains to be added to CCHIT's independently-developed certification programs.
The commission also announced the slated launch of new certification programs for Behavioral Health, Dermatology and Long-Term and Post-Acute Care on July 26, 2010.
"We rely on the broad expertise of our work group volunteers for development of the criteria and inspection processes for our CCHIT Certified programs for special practice areas," said Karen Bell, MD, chairwoman of the commission. "This development process includes evaluating provider needs, understanding currently available standards, analyzing public response to drafted criteria and test scripts, and publishing a future roadmap of certification requirements."
More than 75 people volunteered to participate in the new work groups, Bell said. The response "underscores the continued high level of interest and dedication of the healthcare community to work with the commission in achieving its mission of accelerating the adoption of health IT," she said.
The volunteers – 13 for Women's Health and 15 for Oncology – were appointed by the Certification Commission following an open application process.
The members represent a diverse range of healthcare stakeholders chosen for their individual experience and fair balance, including physicians, hospitals and other providers, health IT developers, and other representative organizations, according to CCHIT. To achieve an even higher level of accountability and transparency, CCHIT limits health IT vendor participation on the commission's work groups to no more than 33 percent, including any provider applicants who may receive compensation from a vendor.
Lists of the new work group chairs and members are on the next page.
The Women's Health work group members are:
Co-chairs:
- Jan Kriebs, Director of Midwifery and Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
- Michael McCoy, M.D., CMIO, Catholic Health East
Members:
- William Bates, M.D., CEO, digiChart, Inc.
- Bryan Cowan, M.D., Professor, University of Mississippi Medical Center
- Mary Veronica Daly, M.D., Compliance Officer, Lifeline Medical Associates, LLC
- Robert Fagnant, M.D., Physician, Intermountain Healthcare
- Karisha Fenton, Michigan Delivery Systems and Support Project Leader, BlueCross Blue Shield of Michigan
- Carol George, R.N., Strategist, Cerner
- Dorothy Hodges, R.N., EMR Clinical Manager, North Florida OB/GYN and Associates
- Joshua Kopelman, M.D., District VIII Chair, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- Sherry Reynolds, Executive Director, Alliance4Health
- Stelle Smith, Director of Women's Health, NextGen Healthcare
- Anthony Werner, COO, Western OB/GYN, Ltd.
The Oncology work group members are:
Co-chairs:
- Pawan Goyal, M.D., CMO, Hewlett Packard Federal Healthcare
- Peter Yu, M.D., Director of Cancer Research, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Members:
- Bruce Curran, Associate Chief Medical Physicist, Rhode Island Hospital
- Sonya Curtis, Clinical Informatics Senior Manager, Sage Software
- Gina Franco, Survivorship Project Manager, Clinical Oncology NP, Gibbs Cancer Center
- Joel Goldwein, M.D., Senior VP and Director, Medical Affairs, Elekta
- Peter Harrison, M.D., Manager, Physician Products, US Oncology
- Robert Hauser, Pharm.D., Ph.D., VP of Informatics, International Oncology Network, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group
- Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., Deputy Chief Medical Officer, American Cancer Society
- Rick Mansour, M.D., CMIO, Eclipsys
- Robert Miller, M.D., Clinical Associate; Physician Advisor, Dept. of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University
- Larry Shulman, M.D., CMO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Nancy Sklarin, M.D., Director of Clinical Operations of the Breast Center and Institutional Director of Chemotherapy Practice, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
- Jennette Tran, Pharm.D., Director, Cardinal Health, and Clinical Oncology Pathways Pharmacist, Via Oncology
- Carol Yarrington, Pharm.D., Oncology Pharmacy Coordinator, St. Joseph Mercy Health System
The Women's Health and Oncology Work Groups will meet for the first time July 14 in Chicago where they will receive the Commission's guidance for their upcoming work. The new certification programs are expected to be available by spring of 2011.
