Commissioners Selected for American Health Information Community

The Community Will Help Shape the Future of Health Care for Generations

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today selected 16 commissioners to serve on the American Health Information Community (the Community), a federally-chartered commission charged with advising the Secretary on how to make health information digital and interoperable. The work of the Community will help the country achieve the President’s goal of having most Americans using interoperable electronic health records within 10 years. Patients, doctors, hospitals and insurance companies will have access to vital and confidentiality-protected medical information immediately and efficiently, helping to reduce medical errors, improve quality, lower costs and eliminate paperwork hassle.

"The President has set a national goal to move health care from the paper age to the information age, and the American Health Information Community will help guide this transformation." Secretary Leavitt said. "My aspiration is for the Community to provide stakeholders with a meaningful voice in a federal process that will ultimately shape health care for generations."

Interoperability of health information is a shared goal among health care payers, providers, vendors and consumers. Myriad competitive interests have prevented a unified effort to achieve common standards and interoperability. As a result, health care has lagged behind other industries -- like the banking, transportation, and retail trade -- in realizing the benefits of modern information technology (IT). ...

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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

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