SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Orion Health, a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for the healthcare sector, announces the appointment of John Lightfoot to Chief Technology Officer, Orion Health North America.
Lightfoot brings in-depth knowledge of information management needs pertaining to Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), hospitals, Integrated Delivery Networks, academic medical centers, payers, health plans, executives, physicians, nurses and other healthcare delivery professionals.
"John's unique interests and understanding of healthcare information technology, security, integration and architecture will be a great asset to Orion Health and to Orion Health's customers," says Paul Viskovich, Orion Health President, North American Operations.
"The issues affecting healthcare providers today are complex. We're pleased to have someone who knows the industry and technology so intimately to add value to our North American team."
Lightfoot's extensive experience includes all aspects of Health Information Technology (HIT), from the role of developer to healthcare CIO, within health systems, HMOs and vendor organizations.
As Orion Health's CTO, Lightfoot will build on the company's existing healthcare expertise and RHIO success and contribute to the company's priority on addressing customer needs and challenges.
"My goal is to help Orion Health in their mission to make healthcare information technology more accessible and to improve patient care through the automation and exchange of clinical data," Lightfoot says. "Orion Health's global healthcare experience makes this an exciting place for me to be and I look forward to my new role."
Worldwide, Orion Health is implementing health information communities involving over 35 million patients with tens of thousands of active users.
Lightfoot's past experience includes Vice President of Technology for Healthvision and CIO of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Medical Department and Health Plans.
Mr. Lightfoot is a member of Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS). He has spoken at numerous national conferences on healthcare standards and interoperability, and published many articles on clinical information technology in journals such as Annals of Internal Medicine, MD Computing and the proceedings of the AHIMA conference.
About Orion Health
Orion Health's easy-to-use applications and tools integrate and enhance existing healthcare information systems and deliver secure, universal access to information. The innovative company delivers an end-to-end information technology (IT) integration platform that brings together clinical content to improve clinician effectiveness and the quality of patient care.
Orion's partners include leading health and IT vendors such as Oracle Corporation, Philips Medical Systems, LogicaCMG, Hewlett Packard, McKesson, and Sierra Systems. Orion also has more than 1,000 clients worldwide including Johns Hopkins Hospital, New York State Department of Health, Central Washington Hospital, U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and many more. More information can be found at www.orionhealth.com.