CCCN Committees: Information Technology Committee Charter

Committees: Information Technology Committee Charter

Background

The Community Chronic Care Network (Network) is a partnership of Santa Cruz County health care providers to improve communitywide diabetes care via an interactive, web-based diabetes system with embedded clinical guidelines.

The Network is funded by a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for a 3-year period starting September 30, 2004. The Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust (Trust) is the recipient of the grant funds and is responsible for financial stewardship of the Network. Participating agencies and providers are contributing matching services, space, equipment, supplies and software to the Network. The Network IT Lead is Bill Beighe, Physicians Medical Group.

Purpose

The purpose of the IT Committee is to serve as a resource to the Network to ensure information technology decisions meet regulatory and community standards and will support the development of interoperable health information technology systems in Santa Cruz County. This includes guaranteeing each organization’s individual health information protocols are respected and providing a forum for rapid discussion and resolution of technical project issues. The IT Committee will consult with the Clinical Committee on technical difficulty of implementing clinical recommendations and with the Steering Committee to ensure integrity and privacy of patient/provider data.

Membership

The Steering Committee includes representatives of Health Information Management and Information Technology from inpatient, outpatient, and health plan organizations in Santa Cruz County. The organizations and their representatives for 2007 are:
• Central Coast Alliance for Health – Bob Chernis
• County of Santa Cruz, Health Services Agency – Bob Swetnam
• Dominican Hospital – Vicki Carlisle
• Palo Alto Medical Foundation – Michelle Nix
• Salud Para la Gente – Jensen Lai
• Santa Cruz Medical Clinic and Foundation – Catherine Tannaci
• Watsonville Community Hospital – Anna Jamrok and Sergio Nell

Chair

Bill Beighe, Network IT Lead, will Chair the IT Committee. Eleanor Littman, Executive Director, Health Improvement Partnership, and Marta Hotell, CCCN Project Manager, will provide staff support to the IT Committee along with the CCCN/PMG Technical Support Staff.

Meeting Structure

The IT Committee will meet bimonthly on the 2nd Thursday of the month from 9:30 am to 11:00 am in the Physicians Medical Group conference room. The IT Committee will meet in January, March, May, July, September and November. In addition ad hoc groups may be convened by the Chair to advise on specific implementation issues. The meeting agenda will include a Registry Implementation Report from the CCCN Technical Support staff. The Agenda and supporting materials will be sent electronically to the IT Committee members in advance of the meeting.

next meeting and to respond to clinical questions as CCCN staff. The Agenda and supporting materials will be sent electronically to the Clinical Committee members in advance of the meeting.

Project Communications

Clinical Committee members will work to promote understanding between the clinical and quality perspectives on health information technology and the technical, financial and policy points of view. Within the CCCN Committee structure, the work of the Clinical Committee will be integrated with that of the Steering and IT Committees.