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August 19, 2010
Laura A. Petersen, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., Director of HSR&D's Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, will serve on a Federal advisory committee that addresses issues related to improving the nation's healthcare through health information technology (HIT). The Health IT Policy Committee will make recommendations to Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for HIT at the Department of Health and Human Services, on the development of a nationwide health information infrastructure for the exchange of patient medical information. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requires that the HIT Policy Committee make recommendations on standards, implementation specifications, and certifications criteria on eight specific areas: Meaningful Use, Certification/Adoption, Information Exchange, Nationwide Health Information Network, Strategic Plan, Privacy & Security Policy, Enrollment, and Privacy & Security Tiger Team. Dr. Petersen will serve on the Meaningful Use Workgroup.
Dr. Petersen brings a wealth of health services research experience to the workgroup, particularly as a VA HSR&D investigator with extensive knowledge about the VA electronic health record. Her research also has focused on the effects of healthcare policy and organization on the quality of healthcare, as well as methods of translating evidence into practice. Her work has been cited in two Institute of Medicine reports. For example, Dr. Petersen's systematic review of the scientific literature on pay-for-performance published in the Annals of Internal Medicine was excerpted as an appendix in the Institute of Medicine report, Rewarding Provider Performance.
For more information about the HIT Policy Committee, visit the HHS website at http://bit.ly/c81Cj0 .
