About the Office of Health Information Technology
In October 2021, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. signed an Executive Order establishing the Office of Health Information Technology under the Office of the Governor and named Michelle Francis as its executive director as part of his Healthier Horizons Initiative to pursue innovative health technology solutions for the greater good of the community.
In this role, Michelle leads the development of USVI health IT strategy and implementation, advises on federal health IT standards, policies and investments, coordinates government agency health IT projects, and creates spaces for collaboration on transformative health IT initiatives that include the implementation of a territory-wide HIE, telehealth, data interoperability, privacy, and security.
The following list outlines key actions the Office of Health IT will be responsible for coordinating and guiding:
- Coordinate and guide an aligned strategic approach on health information technology across public and private partners in the U.S. Virgin Islands to include the Health IT Taskforce.
- Coordinate the Health Information Exchange (HIE) efforts.
- Lead the major Medicaid Health IT investments and oversee the implementation of the 2021 Territorial Health IT Strategic Plan.
- Advance safe and secure data interoperability.
- Drive the implementation and maintenance of health technology initiatives across government agencies and the territory.
- Recommend Health IT legislation that supports the safe development and secure usage of health information technology.
- Facilitate collaboration across government agencies to coordinate and secure resources that can ensure high performance, consistency, reliability, scalability, and sustainability of all health technology offerings.
- Create curricula to build capacity, train and educate students and the current workforce in clinical informatics and digital health.
- Work with UVI, the RT Park, local physician practices and the business community to build pipelines to opportunities that will attract local talent and talent that wished to return or relocate to the USVI.
- Build and manage a detailed Implementation, identifying specific tactics and aligned efforts to facilitate the execution of priority efforts.
