Executive order creates Ohio health care information advisory board

Gov. Ted Strickland on Monday signed an executive order creating a state advisory board "aimed at reducing the growth in health care costs partly by improving the exchange of health information between providers and patients." (Source: "Strickland orders up health advisory board," Dayton Daily News, Sept. 18, 2007.) According to the order, "Controlling health care costs is important to better managing state expenditures and to enhancing the state's economic environment." The board will bring together representatives from the public and private sectors to work on health information technology issues which can lower health care costs and provide higher quality and more patient-oriented care. (Source: Executive Order 2007-30S, PDF download.)

According to the Dayton Daily News article, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Jon Husted said the speaker "agrees in concept with Democrat Strickland on health care issues such as this one, as long as policies don't lead to a 'one-size-fits-all' government-run universal health care system." R. Steve Edmondson, the state's chief information officer, will lead the board, while Strickland will also appoint a co-chair. Two members will come from both the Ohio House and Senate. Other members will be appointed as needed.