Health IT Outcomes Reveals Inaugural Class Of Health IT Change Agents

By John Oncea, Editor

Health IT Outcomes has revealed the individuals and organizations to be recognized as its 2014 Health IT Change Agents. The Change Agent concept was introduced by the publication this year as a way to recognize key personalities and providers that are leading the charge for positive change when it comes to leveraging health IT. Health IT Outcomes solicited nominations from its audience of more than 53,000 healthcare professionals over a two week period and then selected its inaugural class of Change Agents based on the following criteria:

• A Change Agent must push conventional health IT boundaries, challenge the status quo, lead the charge for positive change through health IT, and be highly influential;
• They must have a clear vision and effectively communicate this vision with others;
• They must be knowledgeable about health IT and lead by example.

A total of 15 Change Agents (12 individuals, 2 provider organizations, and 1 healthcare association) were chosen to be recognized by the publication out of the numerous nominations submitted. The 2014 Health IT Change Agent class includes:

• Mark Jacobs, CIO, Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN)
• Jonathan Bush, President and CEO, athenahealth
• Dr. John Halamka, CIO, CareGroup Health System and Harvard Medical School
• Dr. Eric Topol, Cardiologist, Researcher, and Author
• Regina Holliday, Artist, Speaker, and Founder of The Walking Gallery
• Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Founder and CEO, Aledade and former National Coordinator For Health IT
• Dr. Bridget Duffy, Chief Medical Officer, Vocera Communications
• Dave deBronkart, Cancer Survivor, Blogger, Speaker, and Author
• Dr. Atul Gawande, General and Endocrine Surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Professor, and Author
• Tess Coody-Anders, CEO, Resolute Health
• Dr. Stephen Beck, CMIO, Mercy Health
• Sumit Nagpal, President and CEO, Alere Accountable Care Solutions
• Intermountain Healthcare
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland
• HIMSS (Health Information Management Systems Society)

Profiles on each of these Change Agents will be prominently featured in the November 2014 issue of Health IT Outcomes magazine and will clearly illustrate why each recipient is worthy of this distinction. Health IT Outcomes plans to make the Change Agent program a recurring annual recognition event.

“In these times of unprecedented change in healthcare, strong leadership in the area of health IT is essential,” says Ken Congdon, Editor In Chief of Health IT Outcomes. “Individuals and organizations that have demonstrated the transformative power of health IT and motivated others to follow their lead should be recognized and respected by our industry. Our inaugural class of Health IT Change Agents represents the cream of the crop of influencers driving our industry forward. I would personally like to congratulate this year’s honorees for this well-deserved distinction and thank them for their valuable contributions to our field.”