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CO State Senator
Bob Hagedorn
District - 29

Bob Hagedorn is in his 15^th year as a Colorado legislator.  He was elected to House District 42 in 1992 and was re-elected in 1994, 1996 and 1998.  In 2000, he was elected to Senate District 29 in a highly competitive race, beating his Republican opponent by 11-percentage points; and in 2004, he was re-elected to the senate by a 2 to 1 margin.

Bob is a 41-year resident of Senate District 29.  He came to Aurora in 1965 when his father retired from the U. S. Navy and went to work as a flight instructor for United Airlines.  Bob graduated from Aurora Central High School in 1970, and received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1974.  He received a master’s degree in urban affairs from CU-Denver in 1979.

Bob is a political science instructor at Metropolitan State College of Denver.  He first taught for Metro State during the 1970s, and rejoined the faculty in 1990; he currently is teaching public administration courses. Hagedorn began his professional career as a newspaper reporter,  and later moved into marketing and public relations in both the public and private sectors.

Bob has chaired the Senate Health and Human Services Committee since 2005, having served as vice chair from 2001-2002.  He also serves on the Senate Transportation Committee, and in the past has served on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.  While in the House, he served on the Health, Environment, Welfare and Institutions Committee, the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, the Local Government Committee and the Business Affairs and Labor Committee.  He has served on interim committees that re-wrote the school finance act, evaluated workers’ compensation laws, and numerous committees over the past 10 years that have convened to examine the accessibility, affordability and quality of healthcare throughout the state.  Hagedorn chaired the Senate Select Committee on Energy during 2001-02, and served on the Senate Select Committee on Homeland Security, 2005.

Bob is recognized in Colorado and nationally as a leader on healthcare policy issues.  He serves on health committees with the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), including NCSL’s Health Chairs Committee and the NCSL’s “Health Information Technology Champions” program, and is a member of the Reforming States Group.  He has participated on, and has served as chair and moderator of, numerous panels focusing on a variety of healthcare issues at many national legislative conferences over the past 10 years.

Numerous groups over the years have recognized Bob’s legislative leadership over the years.  The Colorado Senior Lobby named him an “Outstanding Legislator” in 2001 and 2003, the only legislator to receive such recognition that year; the American Cancer Society named him “Legislator of the Year” in 2000; and the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry gave him “Business Legislator of the Year” awards in 1995 and 1999; among many others.

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Ken Jarvis
Director,
Americas, Healthcare Solutions & Alliance Hewlett-Packard

Ken is responsible for HP Americas Healthcare Marketing and Alliances.  In this capacity, Ken and his team have revenue responsibility for HP Americas Healthcare partner portfolio, partner recruiting, relationships with targeted trade organization, marketing program development and execution within the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Ken has spent most of his 25 year business career within the IT arena focusing on partner management and business process improvement in the healthcare, and financial industries.  Area of responsibility have included:  Sales, Sales Management, Business Development, and Marketing Management positions with Burroughs Corp., UNISYS, Digital Equipment Corp., Hill-Rom, McKesson/HBOC, Compaq, and now the HP.

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Kala Ladenheim
Project Director
NCSL / HITch

Ladenheim specializes in state-level access and financing issues: health care for the uninsured, insurance market reform, managed care, HIPAA, ERISA, risk pools, and comprehensive access reforms.  She is the director of NCSL’s HITCh (Health Information Technology Champions) project, which supports state legislative expertise in HIT.  She has produced a series of research reports on state experiments in insurance reform for small groups and individuals, including a recent study on high risk pools.  Previously, Ladenheim was Executive Director, Maine Health Policy Advisory Council, and has taught health policy at John Hopkins University; The George Washington University and other graduate and professional programs.  She has an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a master’s in public health from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a PhD from the George Washington University.

 
                                              H. Stephen Lieber, CAE
President & CEO
HIMSS

Steve Lieber joined HIMSS as President and CEO in April 2000. In addition to his role as President and CEO of HIMSS, Steve serves on the following Boards of Directors:  HIMSS, HIMSS Foundation, HIMSS Analytics (chairman), MedTech Publishing, Center for Information Technology Leadership, the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).  Also, serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the Markle Foundation’s Connecting for Health Initiative, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) strategic committee, the Healthcare Leadership Alliance, the EHR Collaboration, and the Board of Sponsors of the Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education.

Steve previously served as CEO of the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) for nearly nine years before accepting a position with the American Hospital Association as Vice President, Division of Personal Membership Groups. Prior experience includes Vice President of Operations for the Illinois Hospital Association; Senior Budget Analyst for the Illinois Bureau of the Budget; and Assistant Administrator, Research and Statistics for Arkansas Social Services. 

Steve earned an MA from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, a BA in Psychology from the University of Arkansas, and has completed additional course work at the graduate schools of business at both universities and at the Keller Graduate School of Management.  Steve has been a Certified Association Executive (CAE) since 1994, is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and Association Forum of Chicagoland and has been awarded honorary life memberships at the American Hospital Association and the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management.    

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John W. Loonsk, M.D.
Director
Office of Interoperability and Standards for Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services
 

Prior to coming to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Dr. Loonsk was associate Director for Informatics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that capacity he was instrumental in architecting the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS), leading the creation of the Public Health Information Network, initiating the BioSense program, and advancing the field of Public Health Informatics at the CDC and nationally.

He received his medical training at the State University of New York at Buffalo after graduating from the Johns Hopkins University. Through advanced degree work, research and administration he has pursued a medical career that balanced medicine and information technology.

His first medical informatics activities began as early as 1975 when he worked on a project to develop a taxonomy of liver diseases. Since then he has been involved in Informatics training, research and development at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he implemented the first mandatory course in the United States in Medical Informatics for medical students, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he oversaw the development of an electronic learning and decision support environment which included the electronic resources of the Health Sciences library, the medical school curriculum and the Internet.

Throughout his time in academic medical centers, public health and government he has advanced internetworked health care, just in time information delivery, surveillance, digital libraries, and decision support.

Lt. Governor
Barbara O'Brien
The State of Colorado

 

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Tony Rodgers has over 25 years of healthcare executive management experience in both hospital systems and health plans. He currently holds the position of Director of the Arizona Medicaid Program, known as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS).

As Director, Mr. Rodgers reports to the Governor and is responsible for providing health coverage for one million Arizonans. The agency administers multiple sources of funding and provides oversight and compliance to health care providers that focus on quality of care and fiscal accountability.

Director Rodgers currently holds visiting professor appointments at Arizona State University, at the W.P Carey School of Business, and at University of California – Los Angeles, School of Public Health.

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Dr. Jan Root
Assistant Executive Director
Utah Health Information Network

Dr. Root’s career has been focused on the pragmatic aspects of bringing electronic commerce practices into regional health care communities in ways that reduce costs and improve information exchange for the entire community.  Dr. Root has worked at the Utah Health Information Network (UHIN) since 1994 and serves as the Assistant Executive Director.  Through her work at UHIN, she has developed an in-depth understanding of how to create a sustainable and successful community regional health care network.  Dr. Root was deeply involved in the development and implementation of many aspects of HIPAA at both national and local levels.  She is the primary author of the HIPAA Professional Health Care Claim implementation guide; she is an author on the WEDi White Paper Implementation Guide Selection and she co-authored The AMA’s Field Guide to HIPAA.  Dr Root is now focused on applying the lessons learned from HIPAA and the principles of electronic commerce towards integrating ‘administrative’ and ‘clinical’ exchanges to create a compelling business model for Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO).

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Steve Summer
President & CEO
Colorado Hospital Association
 

The Colorado Health and Hospital Association (CHA) named Steven J. Summer its new President and CEO effective September 1, 2006.

The Colorado Health and Hospital Association and its affiliated organizations have a consolidated annual operating budget of over $4 million and 23 full time employees; membership consists of 81 hospitals and health systems. CHA serves Colorado’s hospitals to help them meet the needs of the communities they serve. The Association provides advocacy and leadership; fosters communication, collaboration and consensus; it provides technical assistance and information about emerging tools and trends to improve patient safety, hospital efficiency and effectiveness

Prior to coming to Colorado, Mr. Summer was President of the West Virginia Hospital Association since 1993. Before going to West Virginia, he was Senior Vice President of the Maryland Hospital Association, where he spent 19 years of his career.

Summer holds an M.B.A. in Health Care Administration from George Washington University and a B.S. in business administration from Northeastern University. He is a Diplomat of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is an adjunct faculty member of West Virginia University and a Senior Associate at The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

He and his wife Loraine, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology, have two sons, Ari and Jason, currently attending Cherry Creek High School. The Summer family reside in Englewood.