Background
CRISP consults with its Consumer Advisory Council to get opinions and feedback of Maryland healthcare consumers on issues relevant to health information exchange in Maryland. These issues include patient opt-out, data privacy protections, consumer education, and new uses of patient data to improve the health and wellness of Marylanders. The Council meets at least quarterly to discuss these and other topics and provide feedback to leadership on current and future policies
Upcoming Agenda
Next Meeting: 6/2/23
Agenda Topics:
- Consumer Education on Health Data Exchange
- Opting-out of a Health Information Exchange
Meeting Notes
Current Council Members
Robyn Elliott - Partner Public Policy Partners
Robyn Elliott is a founding partner of Public Policy Partners (PPP), a public policy and lobbying firm based in Annapolis. Robyn has been consulting in the public policy sphere for twenty years on the local, state and national levels. Her policy areas of expertise includes reproductive health, telehealth, health systems reform, and health insurance and Medicaid coverage. On reproductive health, she collaborates with policy experts across the country to advance access to care, recently co-authoring a peer-reviewed journal article on emergency contraception access in Contraception. On consumer health privacy on the state level, she currently serves as a member if the Health Information Exchange Policy Board under the Maryland Health Care Commission. In May 2023, she was honored for her work on reproductive health privacy and access with the Dorothy Beatty Memorial Award by the Women’s Law Center of Maryland. Robyn has a Masters in Healthcare Administration with a concentration in Finance from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Chris Peterson - Principal Health Policy Alternatives
Chris Peterson is long-time resident of Frederick County, Maryland, and a Principal at the consulting firm Health Policy Alternatives (HPA) in Washington, DC. He also serves as executive faculty at Boise State University (Idaho). Chris joined HPA in 2022 after more than 23 years providing nonpartisan health care policy analysis and advice in the areas of alternative payment models, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), private health insurance, and tax policy. He is also one of the founding faculty members of the award-winning Master in Population and Health System Management at Boise State, developed in collaboration with the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA). Chris served four years as Principal Deputy Director (and briefly as Acting Executive Director) of Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC), where he helped negotiate Maryland’s agreement with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) and led the team developing the state’s latest value-based payment innovations and obtaining CMMI approval. Most recently, he served two years for MITRE, a private-sector consulting firm, where he provided strategic, policy and operational consulting services to the federal Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) and CMMI. His experience as a nonpartisan health care policy advisor to the United States Congress includes nine years at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and six years at the then newly created Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC). In those roles, he provided technical insights on major health reform policy legislation, authored reports, and testified before congressional committees. He has also worked for the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. Chris earned an M.P.P. from Georgetown University and a B.S. in mathematics from Missouri Western State University and is a Certified Healthcare Financial Professional and Fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association.
Dan Martin - Senior Director of Public Policy for the Mental Health Association of Maryland
Dan Martin, JD is the Senior Director of Public Policy for the Mental Health Association of Maryland (MHAMD). He leads the MHAMD public policy team and coordinates with a variety of external stakeholders to further policies that expand access to quality mental health and substance use treatment for Marylanders of all ages. Dan organizes and directs a variety of advocacy campaigns and initiatives, chairs multiple coalitions, and publicly represents MHAMD before the Maryland General Assembly, the media, and on various task forces, workgroups, commissions and committees. He served for four years as co-chair of the Maryland Behavioral Health Advisory Council. Before joining MHAMD Dan spent four years as legislative liaison for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and two years as legislative director for then Delegate Bobby Zirkin. He received his juris doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Walter Saba, MHS, MBA
Walter Saba has worked in public health for the last 30 years managing health communication programs, building partnerships for health, and providing technical support on public health issues to more than twenty countries. During most of his career, Walter worked with Johns Hopkins University as a Senior Program Officer implementing behaviour and social change communication programs on HIV and AIDS, maternal health, and family planning, He has also worked in the Department of State / Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator as Team Leader for Latin America and the Caribbean supporting the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in the Region. In 2009, Walter joined United Nations as Regional Consultant for UNICEF/West and Central Africa Office on Global Polio Eradication and worked with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on technical support, community mobilization, and partnerships. Mr. Saba currently works as a Senior Program Manager for Maryland Latinos Unidos managing the health equity portfolio of projects for the organization. He completed a Master of Health Sciences (MHS) degree at the Johns Hopkins University / Bloomberg School of Public Health (1993), and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Johns Hopkins University / School of Business (2008).
Linda Fischetti - Health Innovation Center Director
Linda Fischetti is the director of MITRE’s Health Innovation Center, which applies the talents of hundreds of professionals across the healthcare ecosystem to solve some of the nation’s largest problems in health policy, technology, reimbursement, and other pressing challenges. Ms. Fischetti has experience across payer, provider, government, and private sector environments, including as Vice President of Care Delivery within the Accountable Care Solutions division of Aetna. Prior to that, she was the Chief Health Informatics Officer for the Veterans Health Administration at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In this role, she was instrumental in reaching across many federal executive branch departments to create alignment and innovation during the formative years of the government’s activities in health information technology and informatics. A current member of HIMSS America’s Board of Advisors, Ms. Fischetti previously served as a board member of Health Level 7 and the National eHealth Collaborative. She also served a two-year term on a U.S. federal advisory committee, the Health Information Technology Standards Committee and as an adjunct associate professor at Georgetown University in the Health Systems Administration program. Ms. Fischetti holds bachelor of science in nursing, a master of science and certificate in Informatics from the University of Maryland-Baltimore.
