Mark Leavitt Leaves CCHIT

Today the big news was that Mark Leavitt is leaving his role as chairman of CCHIT. Healthcare IT news reported on the announcement:

“The board accepts Mark’s decision with reluctance but appreciates his commitment to overseeing a seamless transition,” said H. Stephen Lieber, chairman of the board of trustees and president and CEO of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

Lieber said CCHIT trustee Frank Trembulak, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Geisinger Health System, will chair the search committee for Leavitt’s replacement, and that a firm has been retained to conduct the search.

“Having the privilege to launch and lead this volunteer-based, nonprofit organization has been one of the most rewarding and educational experiences of my life,” said Leavitt. “Now it is time for me to keep a promise I made to myself and my family when I first took on this role five years ago, knowing that I will leave it in the hands of an exceptional group of volunteers and a highly capable and knowledgeable staff.”

It seems like there’s some mixed reaction to the departure of Mark Leavitt from CCHIT. Some spelling the end of CCHIT, and others saying that it could be a good thing. I personally think that CCHIT isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I hope they ditch their main CCHIT EHR certification path and just stick to ARRA EHR certification, but time will tell for that.

Personally I want to say that I think Mark Leavitt always came off as a very sincere guy who was trying to do good. I certainly differed with him in many areas, but I think he was just trying to do his job the best he could. I can admire that and I don’t blame him for stepping down. Things around EHR certification are going to heat up and become even more political than it’s been.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

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