Rachel Block Is Named Executive Director Of New York eHealth Collaborative

NEW YORK, NY, February 14, 2008 — The board of the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) has selected Rachel Block to be its executive director. Ms. Block has served as NYeC’s interim executive director since helping create the organization in 2007. She will assume her new full-time role on March 1.

The New York eHealth Collaborative is a 501C3 public-private partnership designed to galvanize improvement in health care quality and efficiency and to create more integrated approaches to care through the widespread use of health information technology. It was founded by leaders across the state who have been champions of the adoption and exchange of health information enabled by technology. NYeC is working in close partnership with the NYS Department of Health to support the implementation of an information highway in the state, including electronic health records that make it easy for patients, providers and payers to get the information they need when they need it to support improvements in quality, affordability and outcomes for all New Yorkers. NYeC is engaged in building consensus among a wide range of stakeholders on the standards and policies needed to advance the health IT agenda and eliminate current barriers.

“NYeC is convening a statewide collaborative process to align health IT initiatives helping to ensure the expected quality and efficiency goals are realized, said Lori M. Evans, Deputy Commissioner, New York State Department of Health, Office of Health Information Technology Transformation. “Rachel has been pursuing these goals throughout her career and is poised to help lead this process inclusively and transparently.”

“Considering the ambitious scope and complexities of NYeC I couldn’t be more pleased with Rachel Block’s appointment,” said Carol Raphael, chair of the NYeC board and President & CEO of Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the largest not-for-profit home health care agency in the nation. “Rachel is uniquely qualified to step into this role thanks to her enormous national and regional experience in health care policy, health care issues and health IT initiatives.”

Over the past year, while assuming her interim role with NYeC, Ms. Block has continued to serve as project director for the United Hospital Fund's Quality Strategies Initiative, which has focused on advancing the use of information technology to improve health care and on leading projects that improve the quality of care and patient safety in New York’s hospitals. She joined the Fund in 2003.

Prior to the Fund, Ms. Block worked at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (previously Health Care Financing Administration), where she held several senior management positions directing policy development and operations of Medicaid, State Children's Health Insurance, and Federal Survey and Certification Programs, with particular emphasis on quality improvement, data, and systems issues. Earlier, she worked for then-Governor Howard Dean in the development of a comprehensive health reform plan for Vermont; and for the New York State Legislature, where she concentrated on Medicaid, coverage for the uninsured, public health, and professional licensing issues.

Ms. Block is a member of the eHealth Initiative Foundation Board; during 2008 she is serving as president of the board.

“Rachel’s vision and unflagging capacity for hard work have been critical to the formation of this important new organization,” said James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund. “The Fund has taken real pride in contributing to the creation of NYeC, and we applaud its board’s decision to name Rachel its executive director.”

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Members and Officers of the New York eHealth Collaborative Board

- Rod Adkins, Senior VP, Development & Manufacturing, IBM Systems & Technology Group
- Maura Bluestone, CEO, Affinity Health Plan
- Troyen A. Brennan, MD, Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer, Aetna
- Pamela Brier, CEO, Maimonides Medical Center (Treasurer)
- Neil Calman, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Urban Family Health (Secretary)
- Andrew S. Doniger, MD, Director, Monroe County Department of Public Health
- Craig Duncan, former President and CEO, Northeast Health
- Martin E. Hickey, MD, Senior VP of Health Affairs, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Arthur A. Levin, Center for Medical Consumers
- Farzad Mostashari, MD, Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Richard Peer MD, Buffalo Medical Group; Past President, Medical Society State of NY
- Thomas P. Quinn, President and CEO, Community General Hospital (Vice Chair)
- Barbara Radin, Executive Director, Bronx RHIO
- Carol Raphael, President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Service of NY (Chair)
- Nancy H. Smith, Executive Director, Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York
- James R. Tallon, Jr., President, United Hospital Fund
- Lew Titterton, President, NYMED

For Immediate Release
February 14, 2008

CONTACT: Alex Low
212-494-0745