GAO picks first 13 members of HIT Policy Committee

The Government Accountability Office today named the first 13 members of the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, one of the new advisory boards called for in the stimulus legislation. The appointments fall under 10 categories:

Advocates for Patients or Consumers

1. Christine Bechtel, Washington, D.C. (3-year term)
Vice President, National Partnership for Women & Families

2. Arthur Davidson, M.D., Denver (2-year term)
Denver Public Health Department; Director, Public Health Informatics; Director, Denver Center for Public Health Preparedness; Medical epidemiologist; Director, HIV/AIDS Surveillance, City and County of Denver

3. Adam Clark, Ph.D., Austin, Texas (1-year term)
Director of Research and Policy, Lance Armstrong Foundation

Representatives of Health Care Providers, including 1 physician

4. Marc Probst, Salt Lake City (3-year term)
Chief Information Officer, Intermountain Health Care

5. Paul Tang, M.D., Mountain View, Calif. (2-year term)
Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation

Labor Organization Representing Health Care Workers

6. Scott White, New York City (1-year term)
Assistant Director, Technology Project Director, 1199 SEIU Training and Employment Fund

Expert in Health Information Privacy & Security

7. LaTanya Sweeney, Ph.D., Pittsburgh (3-year term)
Director, Data Privacy Lab, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

Expert in Improving the Health of Vulnerable Populations

8. Neil Calman, M.D., New York City (2-year term)
President and CEO, The Institute for Family Health

Research Community

9. Connie Delaney, R.N., Ph.D., Minneapolis (1-year term)
Dean, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

Representative of Health Plans or Other Third-Party Payers

10. Charles Kennedy, M.D., Camarillo, Calif. (3-year term)
Vice President, Health Information Technology, WellPoint

Representative of Information Technology Vendors

11. Judith Faulkner, Verona, Wis. (2-year term)
Founder, CEO, President, Chairman of the Board, Epic Systems Corp.

Representative of Purchasers or Employers

12. David Lansky, Ph.D., San Francisco (1-year term)
President and CEO, Pacific Business Group on Health

Expert in Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting

13. David Bates, M.D., Boston (3-year term)
Medical Director for Clinical and Quality Analysis, Chief of General Internal Medicine, Partners HealthCare System and Brigham & Women’s Hospital

The committee will get at least seven more members, to be appointed by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (assuming we ever get one), the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the speaker and minority leader of the House. The White House also may appoint other members from certain relevant federal agencies.