HIMSS honors six health IT leaders
Recognizing contributions to advance health IT in the U.S., the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has honored six individuals at the state and federal levels for fostering the use of health IT in government and private industry.
HIMSS announced the honorees during its Ninth Annual Policy Summit earlier this month in Washington, DC. 2010 award recipients were:
HIMSS announced the honorees during its Ninth Annual Policy Summit earlier this month in Washington, DC. 2010 award recipients were:
- HIMSS Lifetime Health IT Leadership Award: Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., in recognition of his service to the healthcare community and promotion of health IT;
- HIMSS Federal Policy Leadership Award: Deputy Assistant Secretary of HHS for Minority Health, Garth Graham, MD, in recognition of supporting HIMSS and the National Health IT Collaboration of Underserved Populations, co-founded by the HIMSS Foundation;
- HIMSS Federal Policy Leadership Award: Tony Trenkle, director for e-health standards and services at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), whose efforts have shepherded health IT activities through CMS, including meaningful use, 5010, ICD-10 and e-prescribing;
- HIMSS State Legislator of the Year Award: Julie Hamos, director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, where her focus is on expanding access to healthcare while improving patient safety;
- HIMSS State Official of the Year Award: William J. O’Byrne, JD, executive director, New Jersey Health IT Extension Center, who has brought divergent groups of stakeholders together to bring benefits of health IT and EMRs to New Jersey; and
- HIMSS State of the Year Award: State of Oregon. In less than one year, Oregon has leveraged public-industry-academic partnerships to promote the use of health IT and health information exchange (HIE), receiving a number of awards for its efforts: $17.4 million from the Social Security Administration for HIE; more than $21 million for an Oregon Regional Extension Center and HIE activities and over $5 million in grants for workforce development.