Chicago -- At its recent membership meeting, the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) announced new leadership and a new strategic and operating framework for promoting and influencing the efficient and effective use of health information technology (IT) to achieve safer, higher-quality and more affordable health care. The changes support a sharpened focus by the organization on the intersection of health IT and health care delivery.

The board of directors announced that it has recruited George Lynn, former chief executive and president of AtlantiCare and past chairman of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and John Glaser, vice president and chief information officer of Partners HealthCare System Inc. and CHIME Fellow, to serve as its co-chairs. The board of directors also named Jane Horowitz, formerly NAHIT's vice president and chief marketing officer, as its new chief operating officer.

"With George, John and Jane, we have put in place the right leadership to take NAHIT forward," says Curt Selquist, who is stepping down as interim chief executive and board chairman but will continue to serve as a board member. "Having launched and led many of NAHIT's major initiatives, Jane is a critical link to our organization's accomplishments and its uniquely successful approach to consensus-building among all health care sectors."
To strengthen its efforts in addressing health IT as a strategic, rather than a purely technology issue for senior executives, NAHIT has established formal alliances with the AHA and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), both founding members of NAHIT in 2002. AHA is providing core staff, back-office support and other services that provide connections to critical distribution and education channels and linkages with leaders across the field. CHIME, too, will contribute full-time staff and functional support for key NAHIT member services such as education, communication, web site and content development and connections with over 1,200 information and technology leaders and providers of IT products and services. UCLA Medical Sciences chief information officer and CHIME chairman Rodney Dykehouse also has joined NAHIT's board.

"Health IT is fundamental to the advancement of the U.S. health care delivery system," says Neil Jesuele, AHA executive vice-president and NAHIT board member who led NAHIT's transition team. "Providers and other stakeholders across health care focused on IT-enabled patient care know it is central to any significant progress in quality, safety and efficiency. There's much at stake, and NAHIT has a pivotal role to play in ensuring we get it right."

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