New HIT Fellow shares path to Washington

After being nominated by his local quality improvement organization, Colin Banas, MD, MSHA, CMIO of VCU Health System in Richmond, Va., was selected to be one of the new Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT (ONC) Health IT Fellows earlier this year.

“They recognized my passion for health IT and Meaningful Use,” he said. Banas told Clinical Innovation + Technology he was honored that his local quality improvement organization, Virginia Health Quality Center, put in the effort to submit the nomination. “They did most of the heavy lifting for the nomination.”

Being an ONC Health IT Fellow is a “collaborative, champion and spokesperson role” that goes beyond the organizational or regional level. “I’m hoping it will be influential on a broader scale.”

Banas has attended his first fellow meeting where he networked with other health IT clinicians and industry leaders, sharing success stories and commiserating on problem areas. He also learned that participants from the ONC are “genuinely engaged and interested in making health IT a successful change agent for improving patient outcomes.”

He enjoyed face-to-face time with key ONC members to discuss pain points and potential policy changes but also appreciated the weight of his role. “It is a heavy responsibility when you consider that you are really trying to influence and educate on behalf of all your fellow practicing clinicians.”

Banas’ fellowship will participate in the “Million Hearts” initiative as part of his fellowship, an effort that seeks to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes before 2017 through the use of evidence-based protocols and patient engagement. “There is a lot of energy in the Million Hearts group. It’s another example of really committed folks brainstorming ways to get the message out and to get our patients and our EMR vendors engaged.”

The one-year appointment has an opportunity to stay on so this year’s “class” will mingle with past fellows who decided to continue with the program. “That’s a testament to the value people see in [the program],” he said. “These are really busy clinicians and executives devoting a significant amount of time to phone calls and bouncing ideas off of each other. The program is to be applauded to get that kind of brain power in one room, real and virtual.”