Sharon F. Canner, MA

Ms. Canner, Director of Advocacy, provides leadership over the government affairs function of the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME). Prior to joining CHIME in April 2008, she served as Director for Corporate Relations and the EHR Vendors Association/Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Other recent government relations experience includes senior positions with the eHealth Initiative and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA). As a senior lobbyist and health policy expert, she has extensive experience in lobbying federal and state government affairs, health policy and health information technology.

Before coming to PCMA, Ms. Canner lobbied for the National Association of Manufacturers for 17 years, overseeing policy and issues including health care, Medicare and Social Security reform and human resources policy. Ms. Canner has also been active as a consultant, including a project with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to develop partnerships with the business community to improve health coverage and quality; planning assistance to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Plan of Florida regarding strategic use of PBM services; and work with the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy to survey state health policymakers. Educational background includes a Post-Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration/George Washington University and MA and BA from Northeastern University.

Jane Horowitz

Jane Horowitz brings 20 years of experience in business and brand development, marketing and communications to the task of spearheading the National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT). Prior to being named chief operating officer, Ms. Horowitz was the organization’s vice president chief marketing officer.

Ms. Horowitz is a critical link to NAHIT’s accomplishments and its uniquely successful approach to consensus-building among all healthcare sectors. Recently, she lead two distinguished work groups in defining and standardizing key health IT terms to facilitate adoption of information technology and lead NAHIT’s efforts in redesigning the New Orleans healthcare system conducting qualitative research to support the medical home model of care concept and to understand consumer perceptions and attitudes on privacy and sharing health information.

Ms. Horowitz joined the Alliance in 2003 after spearheading innovative business and marketing solutions for world-class companies including IBM, FedEx, Quaker, Sears, Gillette and Frito-Lay.

Ms. Horowitz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and social psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Pam McNutt

Pam McNutt has been in the field of healthcare information technology for 29 years, the last 18 of which in the role of Chief Information Officer(CIO). She has worked for Medicus/HBOC, Hermann Hospital and is currently the Sr. Vice-President and CIO with Methodist Health System in Dallas, Texas.

Ms. McNutt is an active member of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Healthcare Information Systems Executives Association. She served as a Director on the HIMSS national Board (1998-2001) and currently serves on the CHIME Board of Trustees.

Pam is a fellow in HIMSS. She was awarded the John Gall CIO of the year award in 2002, the HIMSS Leadership award in 2001 and the HIMSS Information Systems award in 1998. She participated as faculty in the CHIME Healthcare CIO Boot Camp 2003- 2006.and currently serves as a member of the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council Data Initiative Executive Committee.

Rod Piechowski

Rod Piechowski is Senior Associate Director, Policy, at the American Hospital Association, where he specializes in health information technology related issues and also serves as a director at NAHIT. He frequently speaks on the relationships among policy, technology and visionary leadership in health care. Prior to joining AHA, Rod was Vice President, Technology Leadership at The National Alliance for Health Information Technology, where he led NAHIT’s efforts to raise awareness of issues related to unique patient identifiers, interoperability, and managing technology-enabled change in the healthcare environment.

He brings broad experience to his role at the AHA: As editor and publisher of several magazines and newsletters, Rod chronicled the changes to the printing industry brought about by computerization and digital imaging. Later, as a technology product manager and developer, he experienced firsthand the importance of recognizing that the value of technology is found in its ability to enable a much larger idea.

Rod attended Northern Michigan University, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in English Literature.

Chantal Worzala

Chantal Worzala is a Health Policy Advisor with Health Policy R&D, a health policy firm in Washington, D.C., affiliated with the law firm of Powell Goldstein LLP. Health Policy R&D offers its clients a wide range of specialized services, including research, design and analysis of health policy proposals. Ms. Worzala draws on her professional experience and technical expertise to develop strategic health policy solutions and effective business plans for clients. Dr. Worzala previously served as Senior Associate Director for Policy for the American Hospital Association, focusing on health information technology (IT) use and policy development, including health IT adoption, information exchange, standards development, Stark regulations, privacy and related issues. She also served as the AHA's liaison to government and other entities involved in setting health IT policy, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the American Health Information Community, the Certification Commission on Health Information Technology, and the Health Information Technology Standards Panel.

Prior to her work with the AHA, Dr. Worzala served as Senior Analyst for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, where she proposed, researched and developed policy recommendations for Congress on Medicare payment policy and broader health policy questions. Her primary areas of focus included: payments for services delivered in hospital outpatient departments, health information technology, payment and coverage of new technologies, supplemental coverage (e.g., Medigap), access to care and managed care. Her work also included hospital inpatient and physician payment issues.