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Position Specification
Chief Executive Officer
Massachusetts Health Data Consortium
Waltham, MA
May 2012
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com 2
Massachusetts Health Data Consortium Chief Executive Officer
The Opportunity
The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) seeks a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead the organization and keep it on the cutting edge of the health information technology and health data sectors. This is an opportunity to lead a small but highly successful, well run organization as they help their membership use technology to navigate the rapidly changing healthcare environment. This role affords great professional access and visibility, flexibility and intellectual stimulation, as well as the chance to work with some of the most prominent and gifted executives in health care. Most important is that MHDC continue in its role as a trusted neutral convener, a provider of high-quality educational offerings, an incubator of social capital between professional peers, and a catalyst for collaboration between healthcare stakeholders.
The Organization
The Massachusetts Health Data Consortium (MHDC) is a 501(c)(3)non-profit organization that creates, promotes, and supports collaborative efforts to improve health and healthcare using health data and health information technology. MHDC’s mission is to:
• Be a neutral convener of healthcare stakeholders to promote collaboration relating to health information technology, health data, and health information exchange;
• Be a trusted, neutral holder and disseminator of health data; and
• Promote the growth of health information exchange by addressing technical, financial, policy and operational barriers that slow the adoption of HIE.
MHDC is able to uniquely combine its subject matter expertise on health policy with its trusted, neutral status to serve as a vehicle for developing multi-stakeholder policies for pressing healthcare challenges.
In addition, they convene the Massachusetts healthcare community to address complex issues such as payment reform, care transitions, administrative simplification, and ICD-10 implementation. See www.mahealthdata.org.
MHDC has a multi-stakeholder Board of Directors comprised of some of the leading healthcare organizations in the Commonwealth. MHDC membership includes the leading providers, health plans, government agencies, vendors and non-profit healthcare organizations, totaling over 100 organizational members and many more individual members.
The Consortium was founded in 1978 by a broad coalition of stakeholders to serve as the neutral holder of the newly created hospital inpatient discharge database, and over the years the organization’s mission has evolved to continue serving the needs of its members and the broader public interest.
Today, MHDC serves as the acknowledged neutral convener of the Massachusetts healthcare community around issues relating to health data, healthcare information technology, and health
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com 3
information exchange. MHDC fulfills this role by hosting major conferences, in-depth workshops, and numerous ongoing Forums that bring together representatives from organizations across the delivery system. These gatherings are a rich source of peer-based education and professional network development. In addition, MHDC has also done policy development work for a number of healthcare organizations.
MHDC Programs and Activity
MHDC convenes nine discussion Forums that generally meet bi-monthly, and five conferences and workshops annually that are attended by healthcare providers, payers and other stakeholders in Massachusetts to engage in cooperative learning, to exchange knowledge on topics of mutual interest, to build social capital, and to promote collaboration. Their major activities and member services include:
• MHDC’s CIO Forum has served as the catalyst for major health information technology initiatives in the Commonwealth for almost 20 years. The annual CIO Retreat held in May consistently attracts leading CIOs to discuss issues such as the quality data and public reporting, meaningful use implementation, accountable care organizations, ICD- 10, privacy and security regulations, and much more;
• MHDC’s Care Transitions Forum is extremely active with over 200 people on the distribution list representing more than 150 healthcare organizations. This Forum communicates the progress of multiple demonstration projects across Massachusetts to improve care transitions, and facilitates coordination among the providers and other stakeholders involved in these projects;
• Their Electronic Health records Forum, ICD-10 Forum, Behavioral Health Forum and Payment Reform Forum. These Forums serve as a source of practical advice, lessons learned, best practices and collaborative solutions for the participants;
• Members may give presentations at their Innovator Spotlights, mHealth Forums and Data and Analytics Forums;
• Every year MHDC holds three major conferences including a February HIT conference, an annual June conference, and HealthMart. They also have a fall and spring workshop on more specific topics such as Payment Reform and ICD-10; attendance spans from 150-300 people. For the past two years MHDC has been contracted by the
Massachusetts e-Health Institute to plan and manage a conference on HIT on behalf of Governor Deval Patrick;
• Their inpatient discharge database contains over 850,000 discharges from all 73 Massachusetts acute care hospitals per year; MHDC’s emergency department database contains over 2 million visits per year, and they provide custom reports and data extracts on request.
Notable recent successes resulting from MHDC activity include having:
• Worked with the Massachusetts eHealth Institute and a diverse group of stakeholders to write a successful grant application to the Office of the National Coordinator for a $1.3 million health information exchange challenge grant;
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com 4
• Worked with more than a dozen leading healthcare institutions, collaborating under the umbrella of the Eastern Massachusetts Healthcare Initiative, to develop a strategic plan for health information technology interoperability.
• Been chosen by a broad mix of hospitals, health plans, and health associations to
facilitate an agreement eliminating local variations in healthcare coding practices, saving millions of dollars;
• Worked with the Massachusetts eHealth Institute and a diverse group of stakeholders to write a successful grant application to the Office of National Coordinator for a $1.3 million health information exchange challenge grant;
• Been selected by a broad coalition of provider and payer organizations to help facilitate work on multi-stakeholder administrative simplification initiatives;
• Worked with the Board of Directors of its subsidiary MA-SHARE and of the New England Healthcare EDI Network (NEHEN) to arrange the merger of the two organizations into the new NEHEN, which provides administrative and clinical health information exchange services to most large Massachusetts healthcare stakeholders, and is one of the largest and oldest HIEs in the country;
• Worked with more than a dozen leading healthcare institutions, collaborating under the umbrella of the Eastern Massachusetts Healthcare Initiative, to develop a strategic plan for health information technology interoperability;
• Been chosen by the Massachusetts eHealth Institute to plan and manage the two, highly successful Governor’s HIT Conferences put on by the Patrick Administration;
• Been chosen by the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative to provide legal and policy subject matter expertise in connection with planning work being done for the Commonwealth's HIT Council and Advisory Committee.
The Position
Reporting to the Board of Directors, the CEO of MHDC will be primarily chartered with identifying those emerging content areas in healthcare technology of import and value to membership, and overseeing development of programs that proactively address these content areas. The CEO must also be vigilant for new product or service opportunities. The role is also responsible for the ongoing effective operational and financial management of MHDC. Accompanying the MHDC CEO role are Board positions on the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), and the Commonwealth of MA Uniform Coding and Billing Advisory Committee. Specific responsibilities include:
• Assure that the organization has a long-range strategy which achieves its mission, and toward which it makes consistent and timely progress;
• Provide leadership in developing program, organizational and financial plans with the Board of Directors and staff, and carry out plans and policies authorized by the board;
• Maintain official records and documents, and ensure compliance with federal, state and local laws and regulations;
• Maintain a working knowledge of significant developments and trends in the field;
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com 5
• See that the board is kept fully informed about the organization and all important factors influencing it;
• Publicize the activities of the organization, its programs and goals;
• Establish sound working relationships with the major healthcare stakeholder organizations and associations in the state;
• Be responsible for the recruitment, employment, oversight, and management of all staff;
• Be responsible for developing and maintaining sound financial practices;
• Ensure that adequate funds are available to permit the organization to carry out its work;
• Work with the Board, the Finance Committee, and the staff to prepare a budget and to operate the organization within budget guidelines; and
• Jointly, with the president and secretary of the board of directors, conduct official correspondence of the organization, and jointly, with designated officers, execute legal documents.
Success in this role will be demonstrated by:
• The continuing engagement and support of the full spectrum of healthcare stakeholders;
• The ongoing financial health of the organization;
• The timeliness, relevance, and impact of MHDC’s programs for its members;
• The identification of one or more opportunities for the organization to grow and diversify; and
• The continued development of the Board of Directors to reflect the changing nature of the healthcare system.
The Candidate
The CEO of MHDC must be highly capable and credible in a wide variety of settings, and must have a good strategic sense of the current and future issues facing healthcare organizations as they use information technologies to improve healthcare. He or she must be at ease in a highly visible role, be able to represent MHDC in a professional and energetic way, be able to lead Forums, conferences, and other gatherings, and be comfortable speaking and presenting on a range of subjects. The right candidate must understand the issues and concepts in the use of health information technology, but need not be highly technical themselves. The CEO should have an entrepreneurial, business-building outlook and be able to identify and capitalize on market trends which could lead MHDC into new areas of service. This CEO must:
• Have a high degree of leadership credibility arising from high professionalism and competence;
• Be able to build productive relationships with the extremely wide range of people and organizations involved in the Consortium;
400 TradeCenter, Suite 5900, Woburn, MA 01801 781-938-1975 www.zurickdavis.com 6
• Be able to conceive, organize and manage educational sessions and programming;
• Work well with others and have the temperament for building consensus;
• Being at ease in a high visibility role;
• Show initiative and self-sufficiency, being able to work without requiring great support;
• Be able to combine long-range strategic thinking with hands-on attention to detail;
• Have the education and experience to be conversant in a wide range of healthcare subject matter domains;
• Be comfortable working with a wide range of players involved in the healthcare delivery system, including federal and state agencies, hospitals, group practices, doctors, health plans, and patients, as well as the vendor community that supports them;
• Have prior senior lever experience with a non-profit healthcare organization;
• Be a skilled manager;
• Have a graduate degree in a relevant discipline; and
• Have the ability and willingness to speak publicly and to represent the Consortium in public settings;
Compensation
A compensation package will be constructed commensurate with the background and experience of the selected candidate. Most significant is the opportunity to assume a vital community leadership role of a healthy organization about to undergo significant growth and transition.
For More Information
Referral of prospective candidates and/or networking sources is welcome. Interested parties please send resume and cover letter to [email protected] . For additional questions please contact Annette Cooke or Jeff Zegas at 781.938.1975. All contact with our office will remain confidential.
EEOC Statement
The Mass Health Data Consortium is firmly committed to providing equal employment opportunity.
MHDC does not discriminate in either their hiring practices or their employment practices on the basis of race, color, gender, age, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, disability, military status, sexual orientation, genetic information or physical characteristics. It is integral to their mission and vision that they provide a work environment that actively provides respect, dignity and equal participation, and facilitates job performance, job satisfaction and excellent patient care.