Robert Wah, MD former American Medical Association president and Carolyn Petersen, senior editor of Mayo Clinic’s health information website are the new co-chairs of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Health Advisory Committee.

HITAC is made up of 25 members, tasked with advising ONC on health IT issues. Its first task is to tackle the Trusted Exchange Framework: ONC’s interoperability framework for health information exchanges. ONC head Donald Rucker has called the concept a “network of networks.”

It's an honor and privilege to serve as #HITAC @ONC_HealthIT Co chair. Let's harness technology to improve #healthcare @DXCHealth https://t.co/DIgVUpuSh0

— Robert Wah (@RobertWahMD) February 12, 2018

Required by the 21st Century Cures Act, the framework will aid data sharing between HIEs and seen by the agency as a major step in filling gaps in interoperability.

Wah, who joined the group in November, is DXC Technology’s global chief medical officer and is a 23-year Navy veteran. He served as the agency’s first Deputy National Coordinator for Health IT and was the former associate chief information officer of the Military Health System.

[Also: HHS names three new members to HIT Advisory Committee]

Petersen was a patient stakeholder reviewer for PCORI, a patient advocate for the National Cancer Institute and consumer representative for a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel.

HITAC replaced ONC’s Policy and Standards committees and held its first meeting in January. The panel is scheduled to meet again on Feb. 21.

Twitter: @JessieFDavis
Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com