National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) today announced the results of its annual leadership transition.  Pursuant to recommendations made by the NeHC Nominations Committee to the NeHC Board of Directors and membership, NeHC Board officers are elected by the Board to serve a one-year term in office and new Board members are elected by the NeHC membership to serve three-year terms.  The NeHC Nominations Committee solicited broad input from stakeholders prior to determining their recommendations.

Elected unanimously by the Board in November 2011, the new officers are:

• Chair Kevin Hutchinson - Founder and CEO, My-Villages, Inc.
• Vice Chair Holt Anderson - Executive Director, North Carolina Healthcare Information
  & Communications Alliance (NCHICA)
• Treasurer Tom Fritz - CEO, Inland Northwest Health Services
• Membership & Communications Committee Chair Paul Uhrig, JD - General Counsel, Executive Vice President of Legal & Finance, and Chief Privacy Officer, Surescripts
• Nominations Committee Chair Janet Corrigan, PhD - President and CEO, National Quality Forum

The NeHC membership elected nine leaders in the health and healthcare fields to the NeHC Board of Directors at NeHC’s annual membership meeting earlier this week.  The newly elected directors are:

•  Steve Cone - Executive Vice President of Integrated Value and Strategy, AARP [Designated Consumer Representative]
• Leslie Kelly Hall - Senior Vice President for Policy, Healthwise [Designated Consumer Representative]
• Michael Barr, MD - Senior Vice President, Medical Practice, Professionalism & Quality, American College of Physicians
• Robin Thomashauer - Executive Director, CAQH
• Bill Spooner - Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Sharp HealthCare
• Pam Cipriano, PhD, RN - Distinguished Nurse Scholar-in-Residence, Institute of Medicine
• Art Davidson, MD - Director, Health Informatics and Preparedness, Denver Health
• Kevin Hutchinson - Founder and CEO, My-Villages, Inc.
• Michael Lardiere, LCSW - Vice President, Health Information Technology and Strategic Development, National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare

“I am excited to welcome such prestigious new members to the already strong NeHC Board,” said NeHC CEO Kate Berry.  “In particular, I am delighted that Kevin Hutchinson is our Board Chair for 2012.  Kevin has a long track record as an entrepreneur and health IT leader, having served as COO of MedicaLogic/Medscape, founding CEO of Surescripts, CEO of Prematics, and on several federal health IT advisory committees.  His vision, business acumen and leadership will be instrumental in bringing NeHC to the next level.”

“NeHC’s membership has elected an extraordinarily experienced group of executives to join our Board of Directors.  These individuals reflect and augment the diversity of NeHC’s many stakeholders – including consumers, health systems, physicians and other clinicians, payers, public health, quality of care organizations, and others.  I look forward to working alongside my fellow Board members to further NeHC’s mission and goals in the coming year,” said incoming NeHC Board Chair Kevin Hutchinson, Founder and CEO, My-Villages, Inc.

“We had an overwhelming number of outstanding Board nominations to consider this year and a limited number of seats to fill,” said NeHC Nominations Committee Chair Janet Corrigan, PhD, President and CEO of the National Quality Forum.  “The Nominations Committee deliberated for many hours to determine its final recommendations.  We are confident that the skills and vision that these candidates bring to NeHC will be very valuable as we continue to expand our programs in 2012 and beyond.”

New and continuing Board members will come together for their first meeting of the NeHC Board of Directors in January 2012.