Oncology, Women’s Health EHR Certification Groups Named

June 22, 2010 – The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology’s (CCHIT) announced last week it selected two new, all-volunteer work group panels to develop criteria for electronic health records (EHRs) in women’s health and oncology. These are the latest domains to be added to the CCHIT's independently developed certification programs. It also announced the launch of new certification programs for behavioral health, dermatology and long-term and post-acute care starting July 26.

“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. This development process includes evaluating provider needs, understanding currently available standards, analyzing public response to drafted criteria and test scripts, and publishing a future road map of certification requirements,” said Karen Bell, M.D., commission chair. “More than 75 people volunteered to participate in these new work groups, which underscores the continued high level of interest and dedication of the health care community to work with the commission in achieving its mission of accelerating the adoption of health IT.”

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 health care stakeholders chosen for their individual experience and fair balance, including physicians, hospitals and other providers, health information technology (IT) developers, and other representative organizations. 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.

The new 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, RN, strategist, Cerner

• Dorothy Hodges, RN, 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 new 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, Department 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, 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. These new certification programs are expected to be available by spring of 2011.

For more information: www.cchit.org