Malvern, Pa., Dec. 21, 2009 – Today, Siemens Healthcare announced that Henri “Rik” Primo, director of marketing and strategic relationships, Image and Knowledge Management, has just been re-elected to chair the Medical Imaging Informatics (MII) section of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA). In his fifth consecutive year as MII chairman, Primo will oversee several MITA workgroups heavily focused on providing standards guidance and recommendations related to the ongoing healthcare IT reform measures underway across the U.S. healthcare system.
One particular area of focus for MII in this space will be facilitating the inclusion of medical imaging data into the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). The NHIN is a key component of the nationwide health information technology strategy and will provide a common platform for health information exchange across diverse entities, within communities, and across the country, helping to achieve the goals of the HITECH provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
According to Primo, MII will also recommend to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) that the NHIN incorporate widely-accepted medical IT standards and integration profiles, such as DICOM, HL-7, and IHE, which MII helped to develop.
As MII chairman, Primo will also continue serving on MITA’s Board of Directors, alongside other Siemens Healthcare colleagues, including Siemens Healthcare Customer Solutions Group CEO, Michael Reitermann.
“Siemens is honored to have such a strong presence through MITA that enables us to join the collective body of organizations helping to advocate medical imaging’s applications and benefits,” said Reitermann. “I congratulate Rik on this achievement and look forward to serving alongside him in the coming year.”
MITA provides leadership for the medical imaging industry on legislative and regulatory issues at the state, federal, and international levels. It serves as an advocate for fair legislative and regulatory proposals that encourage innovation, investment in research and development, and the continued global competitiveness of the medical imaging industry. MITA is also a leading standards-development organization for medical imaging equipment. These standards are voluntary guidelines that establish commonly accepted methods of design, production, testing and communication for imaging and cancer treatment products.
