Patient Engagement Systems Chief Medical Officer Chosen to Advise State HIT Initiative

May 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Burlington, VT  –  May 11, 2012  –  Benjamin Littenberg, MD FACP, Chief Medical Officer of Patient Engagement Systems, has been selected from a statewide pool of health care and technology experts to advise Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) on improvements to the State’s health care system.    GMCB is tasked to chart a path for the State of Vermont that is coordinated with the requirements of, but be independent to and more comprehensive than,  the Federal Affordable Care Act.      
In this role, Dr. Littenberg will contribute to GMCB’s Health Care Professional Technical Advisory Group, which will serve as a sounding board on various technical issues related to the GMCB’s work, including data analysis, development of provider payment models and development of a unified health care budget for the state.    “I am eager to contribute to this important effort for the state.  The panel represents experts from across the state, and I am honored to be selected” said Dr. Littenberg.
“We received a tremendous response to our call for technical advisors,” said Anya Rader Wallack, chair of the GMCB.  “This will be a great avenue for input from physicians and other health care professionals on some of our most complex and important tasks.”  
Dr. Littenberg is the Henry and Carleen Tufo Professor of Medicine, Professor of Nursing and Director of General Internal Medicine at the University of Vermont, and practices General Internal Medicine in Burlington, Vermont.   He received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University and trained in internal medicine at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Stanford University before becoming Assistant Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth.  Following an appointment as Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, he assumed his present position at the University of Vermont.
The Green Mountain Care Board was created by the Vermont legislature in 2011 to oversee the design of Green Mountain Care, a comprehensive health care system to serve the health care needs of every Vermonter.  Through the coordinated efforts of this independent board, state government, and the citizens of Vermont, and with valuable input from health care professionals, and the business community, the Board will offer implementation strategies and innovative systems to keep Vermont among the leading states in expanding quality, affordable health care to all Vermonters while reducing waste and controlling costs.
For more information about the Green Mountain Care Board,  visit http://gmcboard.vermont.gov.
Patient Engagement Systems is a health-care technology company that provides solutions for improving primary care for people with chronic diseases.  PES solutions enable clients to better identify, engage with, and manage patients who require attention for the health risks and progression of chronic disease.    PES technology is the only chronic care management and patient engagement platform that has demonstrated effectiveness in an NIH funded study. The PES program received URAC’s 2011 Bronze Award for Best Practices in Health Care Consumer Empowerment and Protection.   In 2011, PES was elected to the University of Vermont’s Office of Technology Commercialization Hall of Fame.
For more information about PES, visit http://www.patientengagementsystems.com