A. JOHN BLAIR, III, MD, FACS
CHAIRMAN & CEO
A. John Blair, III, M.D., is a healthcare and technology executive with broad experience across the healthcare industry including clinical practice, hospital planning and governance, revenue cycle management, managed care, public health, and healthcare informatics.
Dr. Blair is the CEO of MedAllies, a Health Information Service Provider (HSP) company established in 2001. MedAllies facilitates physician adoption of Health Information Technology and integrates the healthcare community to improve safety, enhance quality and increase efficiency in the delivery and maintenance of individual and community health. MedAllies built and currently operates the Hudson Valley Health Information Exchange (HVHIE) which connects healthcare stakeholders throughout New York’s Hudson Valley. The HVHIE operates under the direction of the Taconic Health Information Network and Community Regional Health Information Organization (THINC RHIO), one of the nation’s leading Regional Health Information Organizations.
Dr. Blair is a board-certified General Surgeon who spent fifteen years in academic medicine and private practice before becoming President of the Taconic IPA. While in clinical practice, he spent ten years as the managing partner of Hudson Valley Surgical Associates, a multi-specialty surgical group. Dr. Blair received his medical degree from Rush Medical School in Chicago and completed his surgical training at the University of Texas Medical Center in Dallas. He performed a gastrointestinal fellowship at the Middlesex Hospital in London, England. He published extensively in Gastrointestinal Physiology, his primary area of research.
After leaving practice, Dr. Blair became president of the Taconic Independent Practice Association (IPA), a 3500 physician organization in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley. During his tenure at the IPA, Dr. Blair served as the co-principal investigator on several studies evaluating the impact of Health Information Technology on safety, quality and cost of healthcare in a community setting.
Dr. Blair currently Co-Chairs the Network workgroup for the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and he is an advisory member of the Health Information Management System Society (HIMSS) Board of Directors. He is a member of the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Health Information Technology Structural Measures Steering Committee. Other examples of current and past positions include: the HIMSS HIE Steering Committee,, the American Health Quality Association (AHQA), Doctor’s Office Quality – Information Technology (DOQ-IT) Advisory Committee, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO) Healthcare Information Technology Advisory Panel, the NYeC-Business Council Joint Workgroup on Health Care IT Financial Sustainability, the Medical Society of the State of New York’s (MSSNY) Health Information Technology Committee, National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) Technical Advisory Panel for Physician Practice Connections, Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Anti-Fraud Health Information Technology Research Project, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS: Expert Panel on Health Information Infrastructure Workforce.
Dr. Blair is a recognized healthcare industry expert and public speaker. He is the recipient of the Healthcare Informatics’ Healthcare IT Innovator award. Examples of speaking engagements include: The HIPAA Colloquium at Harvard, the National WEDI/SNIP Summit, eHealth Initiative’s Annual Conference, National Business Coalition on Health’s Annual Conference, The Quality Colloquium at Harvard, HIMSS, the Emerging Technologies and Healthcare Innovations Congress, and the HIT Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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