Interoperability Involving 21st Century Cures Act

January 16th, 2025 5:30pm - 9:00pm

LMI Building, 7940 Jones Branch Dr. Tysons, VA 22102

5:30 - 6:15pm - Networking

6:15 - 6:30pm - Welcome & Announcements

6:30 - 7:30pm - Program

7:30 - 9:00pm - Networking

Download the January 2025 Program Slides

Join the HIMSS National Capital Area Chapter to discuss how various federal agencies contribute to the 21st Century Cures Act's goal of accelerating medical product development and fostering innovation in healthcare. The discussion will center its key provision, which focuses on interoperability to improve the secure exchange of electronic health information (EHI) and reduce barriers to accessing data for patients, providers, and other stakeholders. We are excited to have an influential panel of federal employees join to discuss: an overview of the Cures Act, interoperability standards, compliance requirements, information blocking, patient empowerment, and its future implications.

Featured Corporate Sponsor

Connect with InterSystems at our January Program and learn more about how they are a leading provider of data solutions for healthcare, financial services and logistic. 

 

 

 

Educational Session Sponsor

Our January Educational Session Metro Sponsor is Omni Federal. Connect with them this month's program!

Moderator 

Mr. Tom Leary 

Senior Vice President and Head of Government Relations, HIMSS National 

Mr. Tom Leary is senior vice president and head of government relations for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), where he leads the organization’s digital health policy development to achieve One HIMSS voice that transforms healthcare delivery around the globe. He guides HIMSS strategic engagement with government, informatics SMEs, and membership through policy analysis and outreach to establish and support priority engagements and strategies to achieve the HIMSS vision to realize the full health potential of every human, everywhere. 
 
Mr. Leary also serves as the executive director of the HIMSS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of HIMSS, which enriches the public discourse on public policy; advances clinical informatics and data science education; presents undergraduate and graduate scholarships; and fosters partnerships to advance equity, access, and inclusion in the healthcare information and data science workforce. 
 
Mr. Leary is a proud member of the Leary Bunch from Wanaque, NJ.  He lives in Falls Church, VA with his awesome educator wife, Day, and sons, Jackson Thomas and Marcus Paul, who are his current and future heroes! 

Speakers

Mr. Luis Belén

Chief Executive Officer, National HIT Collaborative for the Underserved, Inc.

Mr. Luis Belén is the Chief Executive Officer of the National HIT Collaborative for the Underserved, Inc. (NHIT®), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. He is responsible for leading the stakeholder engagement efforts with the White House, Capitol Hill, and strategic partners. He leads the collaboration with AWS, who helped launch the NHIT Data Fusion Center, to tackle and translate SDOH data into actionable insights. 

Mr. Belén is the recipient of the 2024 New York University Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award, Co-Created and Co-Founded the Telehealth Equity Coalition in 2021, and co-Founder of HIMSS Latino in 2011. 

Mr. Belén attended the A Better Chance program in Swarthmore, PA, and obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from NYU.

Dr. Andrea Ramirez, M.D, M.S.

Chief Data Officer, All of Us Research Program

In her role, Dr. Ramirez centralizes data governance and analytics processes within the program. Dr. Ramirez previously served as senior advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at All of Us.

Before joining the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Ramirez was a physician scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, where she studied the genomics of metabolic disorders and precision diabetes care. While there, she also led the data science team at the All of Us Data and Research Center. Dr. Ramirez received her undergraduate education from North Carolina State University, medical education from Duke University, internal medicine and clinical pharmacology training at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She also completed training at NIH in endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism. Her work has been funded in the past by the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and through several NIH awards. Dr. Ramirez maintains her clinical practice in pharmacogenomics, atypical diabetes, and general endocrinology. 
 

Ms. Mariann Yeager, MBA

CEO, The Sequoia Project

Mariann Yeager has more than 20 years of experience in the health information technology field. She currently serves as CEO for The Sequoia Project, a non-profit, public-private collaborative chartered to advance implementation of secure, interoperable nationwide health information exchange. The Sequoia Project focuses on solving real-world interoperability challenges and brings together public and private stakeholders in forums, such as the Interoperability Matters program. Sequoia is the Recognized Coordinating Entity (RCE) for the Assistant Secretary of Technology and Policy’s (ASTP) Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). In this role, Sequoia works with ASTP to develop, implement and maintain the TEFCA trust framework, supporting governance and rollout of TEFCA-based exchange.

Prior to her tenure at The Sequoia Project, she worked with the HHS Office of National Coordinator (ONC) for five years on nationwide health information network initiatives.  She also led the launch and operation of the first ambulatory and inpatient EHR certification program in the US.