Health IT Buzz Blog Contributors
Below find the bios of the experts who contribute to the ONC Health IT Buzz Blog, an online forum focused on assisting the nation in transitioning to electronic health records.
Aaron McKethan
Dr. Aaron McKethan currently serves as National Program Director for the Beacon Community Program in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Previously, he served as Research Director at the Brookings Institution's Engleberg Center for Health Care Reform, where he managed research and implementation projects focused on health IT, provider payment, quality improvement and delivery system reform at the State and regional level. He also led several projects related to Medicare and Medicaid payment policy, quality improvement demonstrations, and national health reform.
Dr. McKethan was previously a management consultant, where he focused primarily on State health reform, Medicaid financing issues, and delivery system reform initiatives. He is currently a health policy lecturer at the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University Medical Center.
Dr. McKethan was previously a management consultant, where he focused primarily on State health reform, Medicaid financing issues, and delivery system reform initiatives. He is currently a health policy lecturer at the Department of Health Policy at the George Washington University Medical Center.
He received his Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Latest Post: November 29, 2011
Reflections Along the Journey of Health Care Improvement
Latest Post: October 22, 2010
Health IT workforce training connects ONC to Nobel Prize
Latest Post: May 12, 2011
UBT Program: Preparing the Health IT Leaders of Tomorrow, Today
Latest Post: June 25, 2012
New Innovation Opportunity Announced! HHS Innovation Fellows Program
Latest Post: June 18, 2012
Bright Spots of the Direct Project Adoption
Latest Post: May 25, 2012
What to Do if You Have a Question about Your Certified EHR
Latest Post: May 24, 2011
Bangor Beacon Community: Establishing Best Practices in Health Care
Chitra Mohla
Chitra Mohla is currently the Director of the Community College Workforce Program in the Office of Provider Adoption Support (OPAS), in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Ms. Mohla is responsible for administering the Workforce Community College cooperative agreement programs. These programs are designed to create or expand existing health information technology programs at community colleges. Professionals trained through these programs will provide key support to HITECH Act directives such as the Regional Extension Centers, the Health Information Technology Research Center, and the State Health Information Exchange Program.
At ONC, Ms. Mohla was also the lead for the Consumer Empowerment Workgroup, which involved coordinating the development of strategies and recommendations regarding personal health information management tools and their effect on health information technology.
While working at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health she managed a Biomedical Computing contract for the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. She also coordinated the design and development of an intranet and internet website for the division.
Prior to that, Ms. Mohla worked at the Children’s National Medical Center as the Supervisor/Team Leader of the Clinical Virology Laboratory. During her tenure at Children’s she was involved in the implementation of the Sunquest Laboratory Information System, including the implementation and installation of “Dr.Chart” an electronic data transfer system for hospital laboratory outreach programs. She also developed and evaluated new procedures and equipment for use in the clinical laboratory; the findings were published in peer reviewed journals and presented at scientific meetings.
Latest Post: April 26, 2012
Health IT Workforce Development Program Celebrates Two-Year Anniversary
Latest Post: June 4, 2012
Beacon Community Program’s Second Anniversary: A Story from the Field and Successes from Year 2
Latest Post: July 18, 2012
Health Information Exchange: It Should Just Work
Latest Post: May 4, 2012
Beacon Community Program's 2nd Anniversary: America’s Most Wired Communities Light the Way
Latest Post: August 22, 2012
ONC at OSCON 2012: What Could the Future Bring?
Latest Post: July 10, 2012
Using Telemonitoring for Preventative Diabetes Care in the Western New York Beacon Community
Latest Post: September 13, 2012
Health Information Exchange: From Standards to Practice
Dr. Charles Friedman
Charles P. Friedman, Ph.D is currently the Chief Scientific Officer for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As ONC’s chief scientist, he leads a group responsible for tracking and promoting innovation in health IT, for research programs to improve technology, for applications of health IT that support basic and clinical research, for evaluation of all of ONC’s programs, for programs to develop the health IT workforce, and for activities supporting global eHealth. Dr. Friedman served as Deputy National Coordinator for two years prior to assuming his new position. He was lead author of the national Health IT Strategic Plan released in June of 2008.
Prior to joining ONC, Dr. Friedman was Associate Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. In this capacity, he founded the Center for Research Informatics and Information Technology, and functioned as the Institute's Chief Information Officer. Dr.Friedman first joined NIH in 2003, as a Senior Scholar at the National Library of Medicine.
From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Friedman was Professor and Associate Vice Chancellor for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh where he established a health sciences-wide Center for Biomedical Informatics, a well-funded program of informatics research, and masters and doctoral degree programs in biomedical informatics. He also served as Chief Information Officer for the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences.
Dr. Friedman obtained bachelors and masters degrees in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also received a PhD in education from the University of North Carolina (UNC). He wrote his first computer program in 1966. He spent over 19 years on the medical school faculty at UNC and served as Assistant Dean for Medical Education and Informatics. In 1985, he established the Laboratory for Computing and Cognition at UNC and, in 1992, started UNC's medical informatics training program.
Dr. Friedman has written extensively for scientific journals, and authored a well-known textbook. He is a past president of the American College of Medical Informatics, and was the 2005 chair of the Annual Symposium of the American Medical Informatics Association. He currently serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Latest Post: April 7, 2010
Building the Health IT Workforce
Latest Post: September 23, 2011
Beacon Community of the Inland Northwest Uses Past Successes to Improve Care
Latest Post: August 24, 2011
Federal Strategic Plan to Reduce Health IT Disparities: Request for Comment
Latest Post: July 19, 2010
EHR Security is a Top Priority
Dr. Doug Fridsma
Dr. Fridsma is the director of the Office of Standards and Interoperability and the Acting Chief Scientist in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Prior to arriving at ONC, Dr. Fridsma was on the teaching staff in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Arizona State University and had a clinical practice at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. Dr. Fridsma completed his medical training at the University of Michigan in 1990, and his PhD in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University in 2003. In his role at ONC, Dr. Fridsma is responsible for the Nationwide Health Information Network, the Federal Health Architecture, the EHR Certification programs, and the Standards & Interoperability Framework. These programs are all focused on providing a foundation for interoperable health information exchange. He served on the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) Board of Directors from 2005-2008, as well as the Health IT Standards Committee from 2009-2010. Dr. Fridsma currently serves as a board member of HL7 and the National e-Health Collaborative.
Latest Post: August 24, 2012
Model-Driven Health Tools (MDHT): The Release of MDHT 1.1 and the Improvements in Health IT
Dr. Farzad Mostashari
Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM serves as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Farzad joined ONC in July 2009. Previously, he served at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as Assistant Commissioner for the Primary Care Information Project, where he facilitated the adoption of prevention-oriented health information technology by over 1,500 providers in underserved communities.
Dr. Mostashari also led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded NYC Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics and an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded project focused on quality measurement at the point of care. Prior to this he established the Bureau of Epidemiology Services at the NYC Department of Health, charged with providing epidemiologic and statistical expertise and data for decision making to the health department. He did his graduate training at the Harvard School of Public Health and Yale Medical School, internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and completed the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. He was one of the lead investigators in the outbreaks of West Nile Virus and anthrax in New York City, and among the first developers of real-time electronic disease surveillance systems nationwide.
Latest Post: April 20, 2011
Getting to Know Your Community College Consortium: Part 5, Region E
Latest Post: October 12, 2011
Indiana University's Health IT Training Program
Latest Post: August 30, 2011
University-Based Training: A Look at Texas’ PURE-HIT Program
Latest Post: July 31, 2012
Technology Is Keeping Track of More Than Just Scores at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Latest Post: May 18, 2011
The Many Meaningful Uses of Health Information Technology
Latest Post: September 5, 2012
Direct Secure Messaging Makes Big Impact in Chicago Behavioral Health Community
Latest Post: August 7, 2012
New Animated Video Explains How Advancements in Technology are Giving You Tools and Access to Information to Manage Your Health
Latest Post: March 3, 2011
Electronic Health Record Adoption: Is There Optimism for Primary Care?
Latest Post: March 10, 2011
An Innovative, Community-based Approach to Smoking Cessation
Latest Post: June 20, 2011
University-Based Training: A Look at Columbia and Cornell
Jodi G. Daniel
Jodi Daniel has served as Director in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), since October 2005. In her current role as Director of the Office of Policy and Planning, she is responsible for considering and addressing the policy implications of key health information technology (HIT) activities. This includes establishing new policies and working with other Federal agencies and organizations and State governments to coordinate efforts and assure that existing and developing policies are consistent (HIT) and health information exchange activities and nationwide goals. She leads ONC’s regulatory and legislative activities and manages ONC’s federal advisory committees, which provide advice on all HIT policy and standards related matters. She is also responsible for the development of ONC’s HIT strategic plan to shape the direction of Federal HIT activities.
Ms. Daniel developed expertise in legal issues and HHS’s strategies regarding HIT as the first Senior Counsel for Health Information Technology in the Office of the General Counsel of HHS. In this role, she was responsible for coordinating all legal advice regarding health information technology for HHS, and was the lead attorney for ONC. Ms. Daniel founded and chaired the health information technology practice group within OGC and worked closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the development of the e-prescribing standards regulations and the proposed Stark and anti-kickback rules regarding e-prescribing and electronic health records.
Ms. Daniel also brings with her a strong background in health information privacy. As an Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Office of General Counsel, she was a senior member of the core team responsible for developing policies and drafting the final HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Privacy Rule modifications, and the HIPAA Enforcement Rule.
Before joining HHS, Ms. Daniel was a health care associate at Ropes & Gray, where she advised health care providers and payers on transactional, regulatory, and legislative issues. She also worked at MetLife as an internal management consultant and a health benefits consultant.
Ms. Daniel earned a law degree from Georgetown University and a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
Latest Post: July 25, 2012
Changing Policies Changes Practices: Patient Access and Input to Their Health Record
Latest Post: June 27, 2012
White House Rural Council’s Health IT Initiative Helps Community Colleges Tailor Programs to Workforce Needs
Joshua Seidman PhD
Dr. Seidman leads the Meaningful Use Division in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, Seidman works to evolve meaningful use practice and policy; help providers become meaningful users of health IT through ONC’s Regional Extension Center Program; and oversee ONC’s e-Quality Measurement agenda.
During two decades in health care, Dr. Seidman has focused on quality measurement and improvement; the intersection of e-health and health services research; and structuring consumer e-health interventions to support improved health behaviors and informed decision making. Previously, Dr. Seidman was the founding President of the Center for Information Therapy, which advanced the practice and science of using health IT to deliver tailored information to consumers to help them make better health decisions. At the IxCenter, Seidman focused on stimulating innovation, diffusing best practices, and evangelizing for a patient-centered orientation to implementation of health IT applications.
Dr. Seidman has also served as Director of Measure Development at the National Committee for Quality Assurance and has done research and analysis related to providers at the American College of Cardiology and the Advisory Board Company.
Seidman earned a Ph.D. in Health Services Research and an M.H.S. in Health Policy & Management from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He has a B.A. in Political Science from Brown University.
Latest Post: March 27, 2012
Public Input Shaped the Guiding Principles for Stage 2 Meaningful Use NPRM
Joy Pritts
Joy Pritts joined the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in February 2010 as Chief Privacy Officer. Ms. Pritts provides critical advice to the Secretary and the National Coordinator in developing and implementing ONC’s HITECH privacy and security programs.
Prior to joining ONC, Ms. Pritts was on the faculty at Georgetown University where she held a joint appointment as a Senior Scholar with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and as a Research Associate Professor with the Health Policy Institute. Her work has focused on the critical issues surrounding the privacy of health information and patient access to medical records at both the federal and state levels. She has written extensively on such topics as the HIPAA Privacy Rule, federal alcohol and substance abuse confidentiality laws, and the confidentiality of health information in research. She has worked closely with national consumer organizations and federal policymakers on ensuring the protection of health information. Ms. Pritts has most recently participated in a number of federal HIT initiatives including serving on the Technical Advisory Panel for the multi-state Health Information Security and Privacy Collaborative (HISPC) and as a board member of the National Governors Association’s State Alliance for e-Health.
Ms. Pritts holds a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College.
Latest Post: April 4, 2012
HHS Mobile Devices Roundtable: Health Care Delivery Experts Discuss Clinicians’ Use of and Privacy & Security Good Practices for mHealth
Latest Post: September 10, 2012
Nurses, “Ask for YOUR e-Health Record!”
Latest Post: January 12, 2011
Resources from ONC on Becoming a Meaningful User of EHRs
Latest Post: July 26, 2012
Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care
Latest Post: April 13, 2011
Getting to Know Your Community College Consortium: Part 4, Region D
Latest Post: January 27, 2012
Southeast Minnesota Beacon Develops Asthma Management Toolkit for Schools
Latest Post: December 12, 2011
Privacy, Security, and Electronic Health Records
Latest Post: August 20, 2012
Identifying and Addressing Long-Term and Post-Acute Care Priorities
Latest Post: August 9, 2012
Call for Participation in the Automate Blue Button Initiative: Enhancing Consumer Access to Health Information
Latest Post: May 31, 2012
ONC Seeking Nominations to the Health Information Technology Standards and Policy Committees
Mat Kendall
Mat is currently the Director of the Office of Provider Adoption Support (OPAS), in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). OPAS is responsible for administering the Regional Extension Center (REC) cooperative grant program, which is working with organization across the Country to assist primary care providers in priority settings to achieve meaningful use of an electronic health records system. OPAS is also responsible for running the Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC), which will assist RECs across the country to communicate and share best practices, tools and other resources. Finally, OPAS is responsible for administering the Workforce Community College cooperative agreement programs, which will partner with community colleges to train students for specific fields related to health information technology. Prior to working at ONC, Mat was the Director of Operations for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Primary Care Information Project (PCIP). The PCIP helped primary care providers in medically underserved communities adopt electronic health record systems. In addition to being responsible for managing the program’s budgets, contracts and staffing, Mat managed teams responsible for outreach, EHR implementation, hardware support, and other aspects of the implementation process. During Mat’s time at the PCIP, nearly 1,500 providers were recruited to the program and implemented electronic health record systems. Prior to working for the PCIP, Mat served as Executive Director of the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, a federally-qualified health center in San Jose California. He was responsible for writing a successful “330 New Start” grant for the Center and conducted a capital campaign that enabled the IHC to purchase a new building and to overhaul its information technology infrastructure. Mat has a Masters in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. from Haverford College.
Latest Post: May 8, 2012
Accelerating Progress on EHR Adoption Rates and Achieving Meaningful Use
Latest Post: November 30, 2011
We Can’t Wait: New Steps Encourage Doctors and Hospitals to Use Health IT to Lower Costs, Improve Quality, Create Jobs
Latest Post: June 22, 2011
Electronic Health Records Prove to be Invaluable After Crisis
Latest Post: March 14, 2012
Leading, Listening, and Learning at HIMSS 2012
Latest Post: April 6, 2011
Getting to Know Your Community College Consortium, Part 3: Region C
Latest Post: March 1, 2010
Schedule of ONC Activities at HIMSS Annual Conference
Latest Post: April 15, 2011
Early Lessons from Beacon Communities: Factors Needed for Regional Health Improvement
Latest Post: February 10, 2011
Health IT Innovation and EHRs in Texas – Part 2
Latest Post: May 9, 2012
Improving Health Care in Schools: School Nurse Leader Gives District’s EHR System an A+
Latest Post: December 27, 2011
Usability and Success – Are We There Yet?
Latest Post: June 7, 2012
How the Region A Community College Consortia Is Training Health IT Professionals
Latest Post: September 7, 2011
ONC Partners with the Vice President’s Office for Apps Against Abuse Challenge
Latest Post: August 10, 2012
Liberating Immunization Data: How Indiana Is Empowering Individuals to Actively Engage in Their Own Health Care
Latest Post: August 21, 2012
Health IT Buzz Blog Goes Mobile – Accessible Anytime, Anywhere, From Any Digital Device
Latest Post: February 3, 2012
How Can Health IT Lead to a More Sustainable Health Care System?
Latest Post: September 1, 2011
New Research Finds EHRs Improve the Quality of Diabetes Care
Latest Post: June 10, 2011
Fact or Fiction with EHR Certification Regulatory Interpretations
Latest Post: May 25, 2012
How One Community College Is Providing Health IT Training to the Nation’s Workers
Latest Post: March 9, 2012
Southeast Michigan Beacon Community: Helping Patients with Diabetes Management
Latest Post: March 16, 2011
Finding a Personal Meaning in Meaningful Use
Latest Post: August 8, 2011
University-Based Training: A Look at Duke
Latest Post: March 30, 2011
Getting to Know Your Community College Consortium: Part 2, Region B
Latest Post: July 16, 2012
ONC Launches New Health Data Platform i2 Challenges
Latest Post: December 15, 2011
Helping Students Launch Health Information Technology Careers: A Look at the Oregon Health & Science University-Based Training Program