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The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology has appointed a 17-member advisory task force to help create a personal health records certification program to begin in 2009.

CCHIT envisions conducting an environmental scan in July; developing draft criteria this summer; publishing draft criteria in September or October with a comment period; developing draft test scripts and refining criteria this fall; conducting alpha tests late this year,; publishing refined criteria and test scripts in December or January 2009; conducting pilot tests in January and February 2009; publishing proposed final criteria and test scripts in March or April 2009 with a comment period; publishing final materials in May 2009; and starting the program in July 2009.

Co-chairs of the task force are Mark Leavitt, M.D., chair of CCHIT; and Paul Tang, M.D., vice president and CIO, Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Other members include:

* Abha Agrawal, M.D., director of medical informatics and associate medical director, Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn;

* Richard Benoit, director of Dossia ecosystem development, Intel Corp.’s digital health group;

* Lorraine Doo, senior policy advisor, Office of e-Health Standards and Service at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and

* Steve Findlay, health care analyst, Consumers Union;

* Meighan Girgus, executive vice president, American Heart Association;

*Theresa Hancock, acting director, Office of Information, Veterans and Consumers Health Informatics, Department of Veterans Affairs;

* Leslie Harris, president and CEO, Center for Democracy and Technology;

* Missy Krasner, product marketing manager, Google Health;

* Steve Lampkin, vice president, benefits services and strategic initiatives, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.;

* Holly Miller, M.D., vice president and chief medical information officer, University Hospitals in Cleveland;

* Don Mon, vice president of practice leadership, American Health Information Management Association;

* Anna-Lisa Silvestre, vice president of online services, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan;

* Michael Stokes, principal program manager, Microsoft Corp.;

* Michael Ubl, director of e-health and I.T. strategy, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota.

A patient representative also has been selected but may remain anonymous. More information is available at cchit.org.