Electronic Health Record Association Announces FY22 Leadership and Priorities

Electronic Health Record Association Announces FY22 Leadership and Priorities

CHICAGO – September 2, 2021 – The Electronic Health Record (EHR) Association announced the results of its annual Executive Committee elections for terms beginning July 1, 2021. The EHR Association is a trade association of nearly 30 companies that serve most of the nation’s hospitals and ambulatory care organizations using electronic health records (EHRs) and other health information and technology to deliver high quality, efficient care to their patients.

Hans Buitendijk, Director of Interoperability Strategy with the Cerner Corporation, continues as Chair of the Executive Committee, which establishes the Association’s guiding principles and develops and implements strategic plans. David Bucciferro, Senior Advisor at Foothold Technology, returns as Vice Chair.

Newly elected to the EHRA Executive Committee for Fiscal Year 2022 are:

●      Pamela Chapman, Director of Solutions Management at Experity

●      William Hayes, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer at CPSI

Continuing members of the EHRA Executive Committee are:

●      Stephanie Jamison, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Greenway Health

●      Alya Sulaiman, JD, Director of Health Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Epic

●      Barbara Hobbs, Senior Government Affairs Manager at MEDITECH

●      Cherie Holmes-Henry, Vice President, Government and Industry Affairs at Nextgen Healthcare

Serving as ex-officio members of the Executive Committee are Past Chairs Leigh Burchell, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy at Allscripts, and Sasha TerMaat, Director at Epic.

As the health IT landscape evolves, so too does the focus of the EHR Association, as evidenced by the work underway within its eight standing workgroups and four task forces. For example, the Association will continue its focus on the 21^st Century Cures Act, with an emphasis on clarifying and implementing the interoperability, certification and information blocking sections based on the final rule issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). That focus extends to ONC’s United States Core Data for Interoperability (USCDI) standards for interoperability of electronic health information (EHI) and other non-EHI priority data classes, work that is currently underway in the EHRA EHI Task Force.

“In addition to proactively engaging with ONC on expanding USCDI standards to encompass EHI and non-EHI data classes, both of which are essential for interoperability, the EHRA EHI Task Force has embarked on a collaboration with AHIMA and AMIA to develop a consensus on recommendations on how best to translate policy concepts related to the designated record set and EHR definitions into technical guidance for operationalization in an electronic environment,” said Buitendijk. “The success of their work will ultimately be measured by the ability and willingness of providers and HIM and health IT professionals alike to incorporate its outcomes into their own definitions driving consistent and transparent data sharing and exchange.”

The shifting landscape is also evident in the Association’s plans for the COVID-19 Task Force, which was originally formed last year to focus on vaccine and other reporting requirements, as well as gathering and sharing guidance from industry experts and government officials on the global pandemic. In the coming year, it will be repositioned to address broader public health needs.

“As the world inches closer to post-pandemic normalcy, healthcare is looking inward to determine how best to prepare for future public health crises. An important part of this is understanding where the industry succeeded and fell short in our pandemic response and identifying the broader role health IT can play in public health,” said Bucciferro. “COVID-19 Task Force members dedicated significant time and resources to identifying the role EHRs and other technology should play in supporting providers and public health professionals in their pandemic response. Now, it’s time to take those lessons and integrate them into a broader focus as the Public Health Task Force.”

Adds Buitendijk: “COVID-19 was front and center on the global stage for most of 2021, and the healthcare industry as a whole stepped up to the challenge. To be moving to the next phase of pandemic preparation and response is testament to the dedication of the hospitals and clinicians on the front lines and our member organizations that supported them.”

About the EHR Association

The EHR Association’s nearly 30 member companies serve the vast majority of hospitals, post-acute, specialty-specific, and ambulatory healthcare providers using EHRs across the United States. Our focus is on collaborative efforts to accelerate health information and technology adoption, assist member companies with regulatory compliance, advance information exchange between interoperable systems, and improve the quality and efficiency of patient care through the use of technology.

The EHR Association is a partner of HIMSS. For more information, visit www.ehra.org.