Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Board of Directors Appointed

The Department of Veterans Affairs established the “Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent” (OSEHRA) a nonprofit organization to accelerate EHR innovations, to develop open and accessible standards, and to establish a new model for federal software development and procurement.

On March 5th, OSEHRA named three industry leaders to its inaugural Board of Directors:

• The Honorable James Peake, MD., Senior Vice President with CGI Group, Inc. Before joining CGI, Dr. Peake served as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2007-2009. He retired from the Army as a Lieutenant General culminating in serving as Surgeon General of the Army and served as Commander of the Army Medical Command

• Dr. John Halamka, MD, MS, is the CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Professor at Harvard Medical School, Chairman of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), and Co-Chair of the National HIT Standards Committee

• Michael O’Neill, Senior Advisor with the Department of Veterans Affairs Innovation Initiative (VAi2). He served as Senior Vice President of Digital ASIC and Communications Products at both AMI Semiconductor and ON Semiconductor and was Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Philsar Semiconductor

In addition, Lieutenant General (Dr.) Charles Green, Surgeon General of the Air force, will service as the DOD liaison to the OSEHRA Board and Dr. Peake will serve as OSEHRA’s Chairman.

The OSEHRA community has grown to include more than 700 users, developers, service providers, and researchers. Seeded by an initial contribution of VA’s VistA EHR software, the community is actively engaged in advancing VistA-based EHRs, supporting joint EHR development between VA and DOD, plus promoting and supporting EHR software and related technology throughout the healthcare industry.

“As we build a strong community focused on healthcare IT innovation, we look to our Board of Directors to reflect the needs of the community and to set priorities that drive our growth,” said OSEHRA CEO Dr. Seong Ki Mun. “The expertise and leadership provided by this inaugural board will be invaluable in both regards.”

For more information, email Seong K. Mun, PhD, President and CEO, at munsk@osehra.org or call (571) 858-3205.