CHICAGO – The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has named three appointees and five new commissioners to its board of trustees.

The new appointees are:

• Lori Evans, chief executive officer, ActiveHealth Provider
• William Jessee, MD, president and chief executive officer, Medical Group Management Association
• Stephen Klasko, MD, chief executive officer, University of South Florida Health and dean, College of Medicine

The nine-member board of trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the not-for-profit organization and provides leadership in the areas of fiscal oversight and stewardship of assets, organizational strategy, evaluation of senior management, and resolution of any conflicts of interest involving the commission's management and its board of commissioners. Trustees serve three-year staggered terms.

The new commissioners are:

• Patricia Becker, vice president and chief information officer, University HealthSystem Consortium
• Barbara Byrne, MD, vice president, information systems, Edward Hospital
• Timothy Elwell, vice president, Misys Open Source Solutions
• Jay Srini, chief innovation officer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• Grace Terrell, MD, president and chief executive officer, Cornerstone Health Care P.A.

The board of commissioners guides and approves the work of the voluntary work groups and staff as they develop certification criteria, inspection processes and policy. The commission solicited applications from senior executives representing a wide range of stakeholders across the public and private sectors of healthcare and health IT. Commissioners serve two-year terms on the 21-member board.

"In a continuation of the strong interest in voluntary participation in the commission's work, we received nearly 70 applications for the trustee positions and 100 for the commission openings," said Frank Trembulak, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Geisinger Health System, and incoming chair of the commission's board of trustees. "Given the high caliber of the applying candidates, this was a challenging selection process. We thank all those who expressed interest and hope they will take advantage of future opportunities as they arise. As the commission continues to expand its programs, we expect to have new opportunities for participation in advisory groups, work groups and public comment periods."

The board of trustees continues their search for a new chair following Mark Leavitt, MD's, Nov. 13 announcement of retirement. Trembulak chairs the search committee, which includes trustees Tom Fritz, of Inland Northwest Health Services, Spokane, Wash., and John Tooker, MD, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American College of Physicians, and commissioners Abha Agrawal, MD, director of medical informatics and associate medical director, Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Andrew Wiesenthal, MD, associate executive director, clinical information support, The Permanente Federation. The search for this position is being led by Egon Zehnder International, Chicago.