Xcertia Announces Addition of Four New Board Members, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Also Join the Xcertia mHealth App Collaborative

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Xcertia, an industry and government collaborative that supports the unmet need for guidelines that will enhance the development of safe and effective mobile health applications (apps), is pleased to announce the addition of four new directors and two ex officio board members to Xcertia's leadership. The new board members, representing the federal government and the fields of data science, telemedicine and nursing further increases the breadth of viewpoints and disciplines involved in Xcertia's efforts as teams of experts are now engaged in updating the draft guidelines released in December 2017.

The new full members of the Xcertia Board of Directors are:

• Murray Aitken, Executive Director IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science
• Ann Mond Johnson, CEO American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
• William Kassler, MD, MPH, Deputy Chief Health Officer, Lead Population Health Officer, IBM Watson Health
• Karen Dunn Lopez, PhD, MPH, RN, Alliance for Nursing Informatics

The ex officio members of the Xcertia Board are:

• Bakul Patel, M.S., M.B.A, Associate Director for Digital Health, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
• Andrew Gettinger, M.D, Chief Clinical Officer, Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology

With the recent launch of FDA's Digital Health Software Precertification (Pre-Cert) Pilot Program and ONC's instrumental part in enhancing innovation in digital health, Xcertia recognized that these two agencies would be an important voice at the collaboration's table.

"Bakul and Andrew will be key voices to influence and support how Xcertia evolves its mHealth guidelines. They will provide their expertise and opinions towards developing best practices and design elements aimed at promoting safe, effective and trusted digital health solutions. We believe it's a significant step forward for the market when industry and government join forces to present a unified voice and positively affect the trajectory of the mobile health app market," said David Vinson, Founding Director and Vice Chairman of Xcertia.

"Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of the ATA, said, "We are excited to join the Xcertia Board and will work closely with our fellow members to help advance Xcertia's mission. ATA is committed to ensuring that virtual care is broadly available and implemented to maximum effect. Working in collaboration with Xcertia helps to ensure that virtual care apps are developed and implemented within a consistent framework to the benefit of consumers, providers and technology developers alike."

The four new Xcertia directors join a board that includes the four founding directors, each representing:  American Heart Association (AHA), American Medical Association (AMA). DHX Group and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) as well as directors from the Mayo Clinic, Accenture, Partners Connected Health, and ACT|The App Association.

About Xcertia:  Xcertia is a joint mHealth app collaborative effort pioneered by the American Medical Association, American Heart Association, DHX Group and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The collaboration builds on each organization's ongoing efforts to foster safe, effective, and trusted mHealth solutions. Our combined expertise, along with a diverse membership, leverages the insights of clinicians, patients, government agencies and industry experts to help improve patient care. For more information, please visit us at xcertia.org or contact [email protected].

SOURCE Xcertia