The American Health Information Community, more recently known as AHIC Successor Inc. and colloquially as AHIC 2.0, will now be called the National eHealth Collaborative, or NeHC.
Members of the organization's board of directors are slated to meet with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team on Friday. The group will offer to help the team with Obama's stated commitment to promote the use of electronic health records and health information technology as part of a national economic stimulus package and comprehensive healthcare reform.
NeHC, a public-private partnership dedicated to the creation of a secure and interoperable nationwide health information network, announced its new name Thursday in the nation's capital. The group named new board officers in December.
The organization succeeds AHIC, a federal advisory committee established in 2005, and AHIC Successor, Inc., founded in 2008 to transition the original organization into a nonprofit membership group.
NeHC's membership and board represent virtually all stakeholders whose participation is needed to drive the rapid development and adoption of an interoperable health system.
Participants include federal and state agencies, health systems, payers, health professionals, medical centers, community hospitals, patient advocates, major employers, nonprofit health organizations, commercial technology providers and others.
The collaborative works in partnership with the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP), the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), as well as other health and IT member organizations.
In December, the group elected John Tooker, MD, executive vice president and CEO of the American College of Physicians, to serve as chairman of the NeHC's 2009 board of directors.
Kevin Hutchinson, president and CEO of Prematics, Inc., was elected vice chairman, and Thomas Fritz, CEO of Inland Northwest Health Services, will serve as treasurer. Laura Miller, NeHC's interim executive director, will serve as secretary.
"As the National eHealth Collaborative continues to guide and drive the most important transformation of healthcare in our nation's history, we are committed to working with all stakeholders to encourage the use of interoperable health IT," Tooker said.
"The collaborative represents a shared commitment among virtually all necessary stakeholders in both private and public sectors needed to guide our country to achieving nationwide health IT interoperability," said Hutchinson.
