Michigan’s initiative to improve healthcare through electronic information sharing adds two members to Board of Directors
EAST LANSING, Mich. (December 7, 2015) – The Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) today announced the expansion of its Board of Directors to include two new physician members representing unique stakeholder groups: Dr. Scott Monteith representing Behavioral Health providers and Dr. Faiyaz Syed representing Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), federal grant-funded organizations that assist underserved areas or populations.
Each new director will offer guidance and input from the viewpoint of their stakeholder groups to further strengthen Michigan’s efforts to improve healthcare delivery and foster payment reform through better access to electronic health information.
“To achieve our core goals of lowering costs, improving the quality of healthcare, and reducing burdens on healthcare providers in Michigan, we need to ensure we’re receiving input from all major stakeholder groups that play a role in caring for Michigan’s residents,” said Dr. Tim Pletcher, MiHIN Executive Director.
“Adding Dr. Monteith and Dr. Syed to represent important stakeholder groups like Behavioral Health Providers and FQHCs provides increased diversity of thought to help us meet our goals,” said Larry Wagenknecht, MiHIN’s Chairman. “And just as importantly they bring a wealth of collective experience to enhance our growth strategies to ensure Michigan’s ongoing healthcare transformation meets the needs of our residents.”
Both directors bring decades of experience in their respective fields to MiHIN:
Dr. Scott Monteith – Scott Monteith, M.D. serves as a Physician Lead for Population Behavioral Health at Trinity Health and as a practicing psychiatrist at Grand Traverse Behavioral Medicine, P.C.
Dr. Monteith is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, board-certified in psychiatry, Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Vice President of the Michigan Psychiatric Society, and Clinical Assistant Professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Michigan State University. He has worked with his local community mental health center for over 20 years where he continues to work in direct patient care, and is a member of Trinity Health’s Population Behavioral Health core team.
Dr. Monteith’s interest in health IT spans over 25 years. He was a CCHIT physician juror, testified before the ONC on Meaningful Use, served three consecutive terms on the Controlled Substances Advisory Commission with its oversight role of the Michigan Automated Prescription System, a member of the Business Operations workgroup of the Michigan Health Information Network, consultant in the area of medical malpractice risk management as it relates to health IT, and published informatics research, including “Searching the internet for health information about Bipolar Disorder,” “Privacy in the digital world: Medical and Health Data Outside of HIPAA Protections,” and “New Measures of Mental State and Behavior Based on Data Collected from Sensors, Smartphones, and the Internet.”
He also serves on the Advisory Board of the leading health data privacy organization and extensively uses health IT in his work as a clinician and population health lead.
Dr. Faiyaz Syed – Dr. Faiyaz Syed is the clinical consultant for Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA). In this role, Dr. Syed utilizes the requisite clinical experience and public health education to rely on, plan and accomplish the goals of the clinical team. Before joining MPCA, Dr. Syed gained multiple years of experience as a practicing physician. He is a strong advocate for public health policies and procedures in the fight against chronic disease and its prevention. Dr. Syed serves as a member of the Physician Advisory Committee of the Michigan Caries Prevention Program, whose mission is to reduce the burden of childhood dental disease.
Dr. Syed is an integral part of the Michigan Quality Improvement Network team, the Health Center Controlled Network for Michigan. He oversees facilitation of Meaningful Use assistance, hosting of Chief Medical Officers network and EHR user group calls to support the QI initiatives at the Michigan Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). In his current position, one of Dr. Syed’s focus areas includes optimizing provider time with patients by maximizing the use of Electronic Health Records at FQHCs. Using his Lean healthcare training, Dr. Syed promotes the use of Lean tools and concepts for workflow and process improvement projects at the Health Centers.
Dr. Syed received his Medical Degree from Donetsk State Medical University and his Masters in Public Health from Michigan State University, School of Human Medicine. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys following international, college, and professional league sports. He lives with his wife in Holt, MI.
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About the Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN)
The Michigan Health Information Network Shared Services (MiHIN) is Michigan’s state-designated entity to improve health care quality, efficiency, and patient safety by sharing of electronic health information statewide, helping reduce costs for patients, providers, and payers. MiHIN is a non-profit, public-private collaboration that includes stakeholders from the State of Michigan, Health Information Exchanges that serve Michigan, health systems and providers, health plans/payers, pharmacies, and the Governor’s Health Information Technology Commission. For more information please visit www.mihin.org.
For additional information:
david.livesay@mihin.org