Below is a information about the WVRHITEC team.
Executive Team
Roger Chaufournier
Roger Chaufournier is the Chairman of the Board and interim Executive Director of the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute, the lead grantee for ONC funding to the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center. In this role he provides oversight for the WVRHITEC and serves as the lead WVRHITEC external liaison. Chaufournier also is one of the founders and Chief Executive Officer of CSI Solutions, LLC, a Washington, D.C. health care innovation and consulting services company that provides contract management services to the Health Improvement Institute and WVRHITEC. He was formerly Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Patient Infosystems, a publicly traded health services and population health management company.
Chaufournier’s career in the health care industry is extensive, having served in progressive senior leadership positions in hospital administration, particularly at the George Washington University Hospital and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He also served as an Examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and is a nationally recognized authority on quality in health care. He continues to serve on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Christine St. Andre
Christine St. Andre is the Project Director for ONC’s Cooperative Agreement supporting the WVRHITEC and is responsible for the operational and financial activities of the Extension Center. She also holds the title of Interim Deputy Director of the W.Va. Health Improvement Institute and serves as the organization’s chief operations officer.
St. Andre began her career in the area of information technology as a programmer/analyst and migrated into health care administration after receiving her Masters Degree in this area. St. Andre has enjoyed an extensive and successful career in health care administration, serving as one of the first women CEO’s in an academic medical center and the CEO of two such organizations during her career. She has led these organizations through EHR selection and implementation in both the inpatient and group practice settings. Her hospital organizations were early adopters in both health information technology and quality improvement, and one of these earned the honor of being named one of Hospital’s first “Most Wired” hospital systems. St. Andre is one of the founders and principals of CSI Solutions, LLC and currently serves as its COO.
Dwayne Edwards
Dwayne Edwards is the REC Director of the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center. As Director, he will be responsible for day-to-day management and operations, as well as overseeing the Health Improvement Institute’s staff that support the WVRHITEC. Edwards has 20 years of experience in healthcare management, technology systems and operations.
Edwards brings to the center extensive experience in electronic health record implementation, as well as corporate compliance, HIPAA compliance, resource management, strategic planning, marketing, patient satisfaction, provider evaluation, and federal/state reporting and budgeting with a focus on Federally Qualified Health Centers. Edwards also has served on regional healthcare planning committees as well as regional threat preparedness efforts.
Management Team
David Campbell
David Campbell is strategic and privacy counselor to the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center He also is CEO of the Community Health Network of WV (CHNWV). Campbell helped establish CHNWV in 2000 as a health improvement-focused network of community health centers that was the first in the country to use a public domain electronic health record (RPMS) as a community health improvement tool. He also assisted in the formation and initial funding of the West Virginia Telehealth Alliance, the WV Connect program to expand access to care for the uninsured, the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute. He serves as a part-time consultant for the Governor’s Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning.
Prior to his leadership of CHNWV and service to GOHELP, Mr. Campbell served as Chief of Staff for West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton from 1993 to 1996. He was responsible for budget, legislation and health care policy and participated in Medicaid oversight and coordination with national health care initiatives. He previously practiced as an attorney and CPA and has more than 30 years of business experience, including representation of health care organizations and operation of commercial ventures. He currently serves on the board of directors of Mountain State Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Mr. Campbell has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree from Marshall University and a Juris Doctorate degree from West Virginia University.
Sarah Chouinard
Sarah Chouinard, MD is an EHR Advisor and Chief Medical Officer to the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center and part of the management team. She also is the Medical Director of Primary Care Systems, Inc. (an FQHC in Clay, West Virginia). In addition, Chouinard serves as the Chief Clinical Advisor for the Community Health Network of West Virginia.
Chouinard also serves a member of the Indian Health Service clinical committee on its electronic health information system and to HRSA for health system realignment. She is a Vice President of the W.Va. chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a member of the West Virginia Health Information Network board of directors and assists with the clinical initiatives of the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute.
She was recognized by the West Virginia Rural Health Association as “Rural Practitioner of the Year” in 2008 and was recently featured in stories by Governing magazine and CNN on HIT and health reform. Chouinard is a co-founder of the Fayetteville Skate Park, a multi-faceted recreational facility promoting physical activity and wellness for youth and adults in southern WV.
She has a degree in neurobiology from the University of Vermont and has conducted scientific research at the University of California. She is a graduate of Marshall University’s School of Medicine.
James DeGarmo
James DeGarmo is a Strategic Services Director for the WVRHITEC and is the Director of Operations of The Upper Ohio Valley Individual Practice Association. DeGarmo is responsible for the daily operation and management of The IPA. The IPA has been actively promoting the adoption of electronic health records systems by their 296 member physicians since 2006. As a strategic service partner with the West Virginia Regional Health Information Technology Extension Center, the IPA will be providing technical and support services to eligible providers in the state’s northern panhandle region.
DeGarmo has more than 25 years of experience in multiple aspects of the healthcare industry in West Virginia and Ohio. He has experience as a hospital controller, the CFO of three behavioral healthcare centers, and as a hospital and medical clinic auditor. DeGarmo has a Bachelor of Science in Business from Alderson-Broaddus College.
Kristen diDonato
Kristen diDonato is Webmaster and CRM Lead for the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center. Kristen also is a project manager for CSI Solutions, LLC. Previously, she provided information systems and data training services to more than 100 federally-funded community health centers in over 13 states along the Atlantic coast.
diDonato has served as a lead information systems specialist for national, regional and state-based initiatives related to health care quality improvement. Of these was a cancer demonstration quality improvement project which led to a co-authored paper published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. She brings to the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center her broad experience managing information systems support efforts and working with health center staff to use data systems as health improvement tools that help drive best practices.
Lawrence J. Malone
Larry Malone is the Communications and Outreach Director for the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center. In this role he manages the center’s communications, marketing and outreach activities and serves as liaison on behalf of the WVRHITEC with other state HIT initiatives and state officials.
Malone is owner of Malone Consulting Services, which provides communications services to business clients and non-profit organizations. In his 25-year career he has held a number of leadership roles with state non-profit organizations, including the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the West Virginia Oil & Natural Gas Association. He also has worked as a Vice President with two national PR firms. Malone is Chairman of the West Virginia Telehealth Alliance and has been an active participant in numerous HIT and health broadband initiatives in West Virginia. He is co-recipient of the West Virginia Chapter 2007 “Best PR Campaign Award” from the Public Relations Society of America. Malone has a B.S. in Journalism from West Virginia University.
Patricia Ruddick
Patty Ruddick is the West Virginia Medical Institute’s (WVMI) Project Director for the WVRHITEC. In this role, Patty directs WVMI’s day-to-day management and operations as a sub-recipient to the West Virginia Regional HIT Extension Center’s Federal Grant and is responsible for direct assistance, education and outreach to health care providers.
Ruddick is also the Director of Patient Safety for WVMI and has a wealth of experience and knowledge in patient safety and health care quality improvement. She continues to direct many patient safety and health care quality projects and grants at WVMI and has performed research and training collaboratives in many areas of health care, including patient safety, rural health care, health information technology, and privacy and security. She is also a Family Nurse Practitioner.