3 Health IT Leaders in Congress to Address CHIME’s Advocacy Summit

5.30.2019
By Leslie Krigstein – VP, Congressional Affairs

In recent years, congressional interest in health IT issues has skyrocketed. From what was the Meaningful Use Program (now the Promoting Interoperability Program) to patient identification, cybersecurity to telemedicine, there is something for just about everyone in Congress. (We have all of you to thank for this new phenomenon; health IT leaders are becoming a force to reckon with in D.C.!)

At the second annual CHIME Advocacy Summit, held in Washington, D.C., from June 26-28, attendees will hear from three health IT thought leaders from Capitol Hill: Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA-6th District), Congressman Bill Johnson (R-OH-8th District) and Congressman Greg Gianforte (R-MT-at large.) Let’s meet these three:

Congresswoman Doris Matsui

Doris Matsui has represented the city of Sacramento and its surrounding areas in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. She was instrumental in crafting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. She is a leader in Congress on the rapidly growing issue of telehealth and is the author of the bipartisan Excellence in Mental Health Act, which was signed into law in 2014. She also serves on the bipartisan Telehealth Working Group, helping to open up reimbursement for telehealth within the Medicare program.

Matsui is a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Spectrum Caucus and continues to focus on promoting the deployment of next-generation wireless technologies such as 5G. As the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional High Tech Caucus, she advocates for policies to expand the innovative use of technology across every sector of the economy. She also is an ardent supporter of advancing STEM education, especially for women and girls.

Congresswoman Matsui has sponsored or co-sponsored bills of interest including:

Congressman Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson represents the U.S. House of Representatives Sixth Congressional District in Ohio. A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, he served as director of the Air Force’s Chief Information Officer Staff at U.S. Special Operations Command. In that role, he worked directly with senior congressional and Secretary of Defense representatives as well as top leaders within the various U.S. intelligence communities to ensure America’s Special Operations forces were adequately equipped to carry out critical national security missions. He sits on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which plays a key role in developing America’s energy, healthcare and telecommunications policies (among others), while providing oversight on the administration’s implementation of these laws.

Following his retirement from military service, Johnson co-founded Johnson-Schley Management Group, Inc., an IT consulting company, and founded J2 Business Solutions, Inc., where he focused on providing executive-level IT support as a defense contractor to the U.S. military. From 2006 through 2010, Johnson served as CIO of a global manufacturer of highly engineered electronic components for the transportation industry headquartered in Northeast Ohio. He was elected in the U.S. House in 2010 and is now in his fifth term.

Since joining Congress, Johnson has been a leading voice on technology issues. He has been a telehealth leader, serving on both the Energy and Commerce Telehealth Working Group and the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Telehealth Caucus that recently issued a request for information to stakeholders on how to expand access to telehealth and remote patient monitoring.

He’s sponsored a number of telehealth bills in recent years, including:

Congressman Greg Gianforte

Greg Gianforte represents Montana’s at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sworn into Congress in 2017, Gianforte serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The committee has the broadest jurisdiction of any authorizing committee in Congress, with a portfolio that includes telecommunications, consumer protection, food and drug safety, public health and research, environmental quality, energy policy, and interstate and foreign commerce. He serves on subcommittees on communications and technology, consumer protection and commerce, and health.

Gianforte is a businessman and entrepreneur who launched and ran five successful companies before his election to Congress. He and his wife, Susan, founded RightNow Technologies in their Montana home over 20 years ago. The company grew into Bozeman’s largest commercial employer.

He is very interested in telehealth and expanding access to and quality of care delivered in rural areas. He is the only Republican to join the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee for the 116th Congress.

We hope you’ll consider joining us in our nation’s capital June 26-28 for the second annual CHIME Advocacy Summit. To see our impressive list of speakers and to register, click here.

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