Agenda – Day 3

Robert Tennant is Director of Health Information Technology Policy for the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). In his role at the association, Mr. Tennant focuses on federal legislative and regulatory health information technology issues including MACRA, HIPAA Privacy and Security, administrative simplification, interoperability issues, and other HIT topics. Mr. Tennant currently participates with numerous industry organizations including his position on the executive committee of the Board of Directors of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI); and co-chair of the WEDI Virtual Clipboard Initiative and ePayments Taskforce. In addition, he serves as co-chair of the National HIPAA Summit, is a member of the CMS DRLS workgroup, Board of Commissioners for the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), the United Healthcare Administrative Simplification Workgroup, the National Uniform Claim Committee, the Physicians EHR Coalition, and others. Mr. Tennant was named as one of HealthData Management magazine’s “Top 30 Health IT Experts to watch in 2019.”

For 30 years, Alix Goss has held leadership roles in developing national health care standards, implementing and complying with federal regulations, and aligning business strategies, systems integration and operations management in both private and public sectors of health care. This includes her roles as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania’s agency overseeing statewide health information exchange and Chair of the ASC X12 Insurance Subcommittee. She currently serves on The Office of the National Coordinator’s FHIR at Scale Taskforce (FAST) and is currently serving her second term as a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS). Goss is co-chair of its Standards Subcommittee.

April Todd is the Senior Vice President, CORE and Explorations for CAQH. She is responsible for leading the CAQH CORE multi-stakeholder collaboration that is driving the creation and adoption of healthcare operating rules for electronic administrative transactions and establishing a common foundation for the operational components of value-based payment. She also directs the research functions for the organization including the CAQH Index.

Prior to joining CAQH, April led data, analytic, strategic, and product development functions focused on value-based care for Avalere, an Inovalon Company. Before her role at Avalere, April established the MNsure state health insurance exchange and served as Minnesota’s State Health Economist. April also previously held roles as the Vice President of Strategic Analysis and Communications for Government Affairs at UnitedHealth Group and as the Director of Competitive Intelligence for United Healthcare.

Gail Kocher is Director, National Standards with Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). She has accountabilities for Administrative Simplification and supporting the Blues through industry-wide coalitions and standards setting organizations. She has testified before the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) on Administrative Simplification topics. Previously, she was at Highmark, Inc. in a variety of roles, including the HIPAA Knowledge Center, and was also in the Provider Business division, supporting network provider processes and database development. Gail represents BCBSA on the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) Board of Directors and serves on several WEDI workgroups and committees. She also currently serves as Policy & Procedures Secretary for the ASC X12N Insurance Subcommittee and Co- Chair for the Regulation Advisory/Collaboration Work Group. She currently serves on the Interoperability & Health Information Exchange Committee. She also participates in the HIMSS Blockchain Work Group.

Terrence Cunningham is the Director of Administrative Simplification Policy with the American Hospital Association. In this role, Terrence engages in regulatory and legislative initiatives associated with the HIPAA Administrative Simplification provisions, as well as other activities designed to reduce administrative complexities and billing issues for hospitals. Additionally, Terrence’s responsibilities include developing and maintaining the UB-04 Data Specifications Manual (UB-04 Data Set) and serving as the Chairman to the National Uniform Billing Committee (NUBC). Prior to joining the AHA, Terrence served as a Senior Policy Analyst with the American Medical Association, where his work focused on regulatory and policy developments affecting physician revenue processes.

Heather McComas is Director of the AMA’s Administrative Simplification Initiatives division. In her role at the AMA, Heather focuses on reducing practice administrative burdens such as prior authorization so that physicians can focus on patient care. She regularly participates in standards development organizations and is Co-Chair of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange’s (WEDI’s) Prior Authorization Subworkgroup. She is a pharmacist by training.

John Kelly, Principal Business Advisor at Edifecs, is a nationally recognized health information exchange expert. Mr. Kelly provides strategic consulting to Edifecs customers, specializing in information exchange and applying the principles of supply chain integration to the healthcare delivery lifecycle. He also serves on the Boards of Directors for WEDI and the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium. His wide-ranging experience includes serving as CIO of healthcare network provider NaviNet, Director of eBusiness Architecture at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and as managing director of his own health IT consulting firm. Kelly also served as the architect and technical lead for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ statewide HIE project, developing the specifications for the HIE and providing technical oversight for development and delivery.