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WISHIN's eNewsletter
Welcome to WISHIN Connections, the monthly e-Newsletter for the Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network (WISHIN).  We will keep you up to date with WISHIN activities, news on health information exchange (HIE) and new product developments.
Recent WISHIN Beat Posts

Turning the Wisconsin Map WISHIN Blue

 

The latest numbers are impressive: More than 750 points of care across 56 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, each one of them with a figurative (and soon to be literal) WISHIN Pulse sticker on the door.  Read more

 

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WISHIN News

 

Meet WISHIN's New Board Members and Officers

 

The WISHIN Board of Directors has a new look in 2014, with five new members and a new set of officers.

 

New Officers

  • Rick Abrams has been appointed Chairman of the Board, to succeed Chris Queram, who had served as Chairman since late 2011.  Mr. Abrams is chief executive officer/executive vice president of the Wisconsin Medical Society.
  • Lisa Ellinger now serves as Vice Chair.   Ms. Ellinger represents the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds on the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO) Board and is WHIO's representative on the WISHIN Board.
  • Mr. Queram, President and CEO of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), will now serve as Board Secretary.
Other New Board Members

 

  • Brian Potter is now serving as Treasurer. Mr. Potter is Senior Vice President of Finance for the Wisconsin Hospital Association and is WHA's new representative on the WISHIN Board, succeeding Steve Brenton
     

    Mr. Potter has been with the hospital association for more than 18 years, working primarily on hospital reimbursement issues and other regulatory, compliance and legislative matters facing hospitals and health care systems. He also oversees WHA's internal operations and the WHA Information Center.

     
    Prior to joining WHA, he worked for a staff- model HMO concentrating on finance and operational issues. He also spent three years in public accounting focusing on hospital audits and other health care consulting projects. 

     
    He serves as treasurer for the HIPAA Collaborative of Wisconsin, serves on the finance committee of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, and serves on the boards of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management.

 

 

 

 

  • Mike Day is Chief Information Officer for Columbia St. Mary's Hospitals. He fills the vacancy created by the departure of Craig Samitt, MD, who relocated to California. 

     
    In his role at Columbia St. Mary's, Mr. Day is responsible for leading the organization's technology vision, including operations, finances, technology procurement and implementation. He has overseen several large-scale technology programs during his tenure with Columbia St. Mary's, including the electronic health record and enterprise resource planning implementations.

     
    Mr. Day has 18 years of experience in information technology. Prior to joining Columbia St. Mary's, he worked for Accenture where he developed expertise in applications development, implementation and support as well as the implementation of IT operating models in the healthcare and financial services industries.

 

 

  

 

 

  • Pete Farrow is CEO and General Manager of Group Health Cooperative of Eau Claire.  He succeeds Sheila Jenkins as a payer representative on the Board.

    In the 14 years since Mr. Farrow's arrival at Group Health Cooperative, the health plan has more than tripled its enrollment whilte consistently achieving high levels of member satisfaction and quality among regional health plans and nationally.

    Prior to joining Group Health Cooperative, Mr. Farrow served as Assistant Deputy Insurance Commissioner for the state of Wisconsin.  In addition to directing the operation of the state's four insurance funds, he oversawthe policy development and implementation for the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and took a lead role in several health insurance refor initiatives, including Wisconsin's managed-care reforms.  Farrow is a former small-business owner and served as press secretary for Congressman Jim Sesenbrenner of Wisconsin.

    He currently serves on the Board for the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans, Wisconsin Insurance Security Fund, United Way of the Greater Chippewa Valley, and Eau Claire Economic Development Corporation.  He is past Chairman of the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and a past President of the Wisconsin Association of Health Plans Board of Directors.

 

 

 

 

  • Jonathan Jaffery, MD, MS, is Medical Director for Delivery System Innovation for the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation and President CEO of the UW Health ACO. He succeeds Patti Brennan, RN, PhD, as the higher-education representative on the Board. 
     

    Dr. Jaffery is a practicing nephrologist and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. He is board certified in nephrology and a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

    As a 2010 - 2011 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, Dr. Jaffery worked with the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance on a variety of issues relating to delivery system and payment reform, and he continues to focus on this area in his role with the UW Medical Foundation.

    Dr. Jaffery previously served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Wisconsin Medicaid program, from 2008-2010.

 

  
  

 

  • Karen McKeown is the Administrator of the Wisconsin Division of Public Health. Ms. McKeown succeeds Henry Anderson, MD, as the public health representative on the Board.

    Ms. McKeown has served in her present position in Wisconsin government since January 2012. Previously she worked as an oncology staff nurse and leader for eleven years, overseeing the clinical operations of inpatient and outpatient oncology departments.  Her health-policy experience includes a student fellowship with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, and a graduate fellowship with the Heritage Foundation. She has also worked with the Oncology Nursing Society on policy-related projects, including work to engage oncology nurses in the policy process.
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

CMS EHR Incentive Program Attestation Deadline Extended
 

CMS has extended the attestation deadline for the Medicare EHR Incentive
Program to 
March 31, 2014, to allow eligible professionals (EPs) the opportunity to submit their Meaningful Use (MU) attestation data to qualify for 2013 incentive payments. The previous deadline was February 28, 2014.

 

CMS has also extended the attestation deadline for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program to March 15, 2014, to allow eligible hospitals (EHs) the opportunity to submit their MU attestation data in order to avoid FY 2015 payment adjustments. The previous deadline was November 30, 2013.

 

The attestation deadline extensions do not affect critical access hospitals or EPs participating in the Wisconsin Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. 
 

The attestation deadline extensions do not change the EHR reporting periods for 2014 or future program years (see chart below).
 

     
February 2014
In This Issue
Quick Links
  
Products
 
WISHIN Pulse
WISHIN Pulse is a community health record that provides an aggregated summary view of a patient's health information from all providers that have seen the patient.  WISHIN Pulse is HIE technology that gives providers secure access to patients' medical information where and when they need it. 
  
Click here for more information on WISHIN Pulse
 
    
WISHIN Direct+
WISHIN Direct+ allows providers to easily connect and communicate with one another electronically across EMR systems.  Direct+ offers a suite of tools including Referrals and Secure Messaging to easily coordinate and exchange patient care. 
  
  
Click here for more information on WISHIN Direct+
Events

Click here to view WISHIN's upcoming events.

 

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Wisconsin Statewide Health Information Network | 608-274-1820 [email protected] | http://www.wishin.org
PO Box 259038
Madison, WI 53725-9038

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