Electronic Health Reporter

DirectTrust today announced that a call for nominations for new directors has been sent to the membership by its board of directors. DirectTrust is a nonprofit healthcare industry alliance created to support secure, identity-verified electronic exchanges of personal health information (PHI) between provider organizations, and between provider and patients, for the purpose of improved coordination of care.

“The organization is also seeking a new CEO to lead through the next era following the departure of current president and CEO David C. Kibbe, MD, MBA, at year-end so this is a pivotal time for the organization. We are seeking thought leaders who can translate the breadth of DirectTrust’s value proposition among the organization’s many constituencies,” stated DirectTrust board chair Paul Uhrig, chief administrative, legal and privacy officer for Surescripts.

DirectTrust’s non-paid Directors support the work of DirectTrust with mission-based leadership and strategic governance. DirectTrust’s Board of Directors is relatively small and unusually active, working with the CEO on policy, strategy, industry relationships, technological advances, and the end-user experience, especially for consumers, their families, and their health care providers. Nominees for a three-year term commencing June 2018 must be and remain associated with members in good standing of DirectTrust. They are sought from various industry groups representative of DirectTrust’s diverse membership, including:

• providers of direct exchange services
• users of direct exchange services
• healthcare providers or provider organizations
• providers of services to healthcare providers
• governmental entities
• educational or scientific research organizations interested in the nationwide health
• information network
• patient or consumer advocates

Letters of interest with bios may be sent to Kelly Gwynn at Kelly.Gwynn@DirectTrust.org. The deadline for submissions is COB Mar. 18, 2018.

About DirectTrust
DirectTrust is a five-year old, nonprofit, competitively neutral, self-regulatory entity initially created by and for participants in the Direct exchange community, including Health Internet Service Providers (HISPs), Certificate Authorities (CAs), Registration Authorities (RAs), doctors, patients and vendors. DirectTrust supports both provider-to-provider and patient-to-provider Direct exchange. In the period 2013 to 2015, DirectTrust was the recipient of a Cooperative Agreement Award from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as part of the Exemplar HIE Governance Program.

DirectTrust serves as a forum and governance body for persons and entities engaged in the Direct exchange of electronic health information as part of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). DirectTrust’s Security and Trust Framework is the basis for the voluntary accreditation of service providers implementing Direct health information exchange.

The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote, and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain security and trust within the Direct community, consistent with the HITECH Act and the governance rules for the NwHIN established by ONC. DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the interoperable exchange of health information. To learn more, visit www.directtrust.org.