For Immediate Release

Media Contacts:

Roger Baumgarten, The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania
(717) 561-5342

Chuck Moran, Pennsylvania Medical Society
(717) 558-7820

Krista Davis, Quality Insights of Pennsylvania
(877) 346-6180, ext. 7617

Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative Elects Board, Forms Standing Committees

HARRISBURG, PA (December 20) — The Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative (PAeHI), an organization working to securely interconnect Pennsylvania’s health care providers, has elected its first full board of directors. At a November meeting, the founding members of PAeHI named the following individuals to serve on the organization’s board:

Martin Ciccocioppo (Chairman) — Vice President, Research, at The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. www.haponline.org.

Mark Jacobs (Vice Chairman) — Director, Information Technology, at Wellspan Health in York. www.wellspan.org.

Dan Jones (Secretary) — Chief Operations Officer at Quality Insights of Pennsylvania in Wayne. www.qipa.org.

Tom Tabor (Treasurer) — Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Highmark Inc. in Pittsburgh. www.highmark.com.

F. Wilson Jackson III, M.D. — Owner, Jackson Gastroenterology in Camp Hill. www.gicare.com.

Roger F. Mecum — Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Medical Society in Harrisburg. www.pamedsoc.org.

Terry Shuchart — Chief Information Officer at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. www.state.pa.us.

Jay Srini — Vice President, Emerging Technologies, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. www.upmc.edu.

James Tomkins — Director, Data and Information Services, at the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council in Harrisburg. www.phc4.org.

James Walker, M.D. — Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Geisinger Health System in Danville. www.geisinger.org.

Interested stakeholders first met in March 2005 to explore the need for a statewide organization to help enable the use of information technology in improving health care quality and efficiency and ensuring safety for all patients. A series of organizational meetings followed, along with a statewide Health Information Technology Summit in Harrisburg in July 2005.

In addition to the election of the board, PAeHI created four standing committees — Business Analysis and Technology, Communication and Education, Membership, and Finance — which are currently recruiting member representatives from interested stakeholder organizations.

The Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative is a collaboration of over 40 health care-related organizations that plan to create an electronic patient data network that will ultimately tie into a national system allowing patients and doctors to securely access medical records throughout the country. The initiative will work with providers, health insurers, businesses, and government to inform health care stakeholders and all Pennsylvanians of the benefits of utilizing electronic health records; interconnect all health care stakeholders to make health information available; address legal and policy issues which could impede the development of regional health information organizations (RHIOs); enable secure, confidential access to health information; and enable patient access and control of their health information.

Additional information for individuals and organizations interested in joining the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative is available online at www.paehi.org.

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