WASHINGTON – Janet Marchibroda, who has served as chief executive of the eHealth Initiative since its founding in 2001, is moving to IBM to take a position as chief healthcare officer.

Marchibroda has announced she will step down from her post at eHI effective April 1.

eHealth Initiative's board of directors will begin a search for Marchibroda's replacement. Jennifer Covich Bordenick, eHI's current chief operating officer, will serve as interim CEO.

The eHealth Initiative is an independent, nonprofit, multi-stakeholder organization whose mission is to reach agreement on and drive the adoption of common principles, policies, strategies and actions that improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare through information technology.

eHI membership represents a diverse and broad set of stakeholders, including clinicians, consumer and patient groups, employers and healthcare purchasers, healthcare IT suppliers, health plans, hospitals and other providers, laboratories, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, pharmacies, public health agencies, quality and standards organizations, and state and community-based organizations.

Members of eHI include the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, AT&T, Axolotl, Ford Motor Company, the Medical Group Management Association and dozens of others.

Marchibroda previously served as the executive director of Connecting for Health, a public-private sector initiative funded and led by the Markle Foundation that focuses on the development of policies to help consumers and clinicians improve the health of all citizens and the healthcare system that supports them, through the use of information technology.