What Happened?
Irving, TX-based VHA has Appointed Russell F. Lewis as Chief Information and Technology Officer
About the Company
VHA Inc. is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations working together to improve performance and efficiency in clinical, financial and operational management. Since 1977, when VHA established the first hospital membership organization, the company has applied its knowledge in analytics, contracting, consulting and network development to help members and customers achieve their strategic objectives. In 2012, VHA delivered $1.9 billion in savings and additional value to members. Serving 5,100 health system members and affiliates, VHA represents more than a quarter of the nation's hospitals. VHA also serves more than 118,000 non-acute health care customers enterprise-wide. VHA is based in Irving, Texas, and has 12 regional offices across the U.S. VHA, together with UHC, owns Novation, a supply chain company, and aptitude™ , the health care industry's first online direct contracting market. VHA also owns Provista, a supply chain company serving the non-acute market as well as hospitality, education and corporate markets.
About the Person
Rusty Lewis joined VHA Inc. in February 2014 as chief information and technology officer (CITO). He leads VHA’s Technology and Development department as well as an enterprise level Information Technology Steering Committee, which includes representatives from VHA, Novation and Provista. Lewis’ professional career spans a wide range of health care firms and technology roles. He brings expertise to VHA in support of health care and information technology. Prior to joining VHA, Lewis served in other technology roles within VHA’s family of companies. He was senior vice president of information services for Provista, a supply chain company focused on non-acute medical facilities as well as hospitality, education, corporate and government markets. Before joining Provista, Lewis served as a consultant on supply chain business models, technology, operations, commercialization and intellectual property during the development phase of aptitudeTM, the health care industry’s first online direct contracting market. Throughout his professional career, Lewis has held senior leadership roles in information technology with a number of firms in the health care industry including two Fortune 10 companies. He served as senior vice president and chief technology officer for McKesson from 1996 to 2000. He later served as president of the automation and technology division of AmerisourceBergen. Lewis has also served as a senior executive in a number of venture-backed health information technology start-ups including Ameritech Health Connections, Bridge Medical Systems, Skylight Healthcare Systems and Medsphere Systems Inc. Lewis began his career at Texas Instruments in 1982. He holds more than 15 international and U.S. patents spanning handwriting recognition, virtual reality, clinical software and medication management systems. He is author of two books – “Impact of Information Technology on Patient Safety” and “Barcode and Auto-ID Implementation Guide” – both of which are published by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. Lewis holds degrees in computer science and applied mathematics from Southern Methodist University. He is a past board member of the National Alliance for Healthcare Information Technology (NAHIT) and Microsoft’s Healthcare User’s Group (MSHUG).
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