Speaker Information

Keynote Speaker: Robert Bazell, NBC News' Chief Science and Health Correspondent

Robert Bazell is NBC News' Chief Science and Health Correspondent. His reports appear on "NBC Nightly News," "Today" and "Dateline NBC."

Bazell has won numerous awards for his reports, which number more than 3,500 to date. When he was awarded the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for distinguished achievement and meritorious service in broadcasting, the citation said Bazell's "reports have exemplified the best reporting on science and medicine. From transmission of the AIDS virus to innovations in cancer treatment, from the perceived dangers of cellular phones to alternative modes of health care, Mr. Bazell brings intelligence, understanding and reportorial excellence to the task. Robert Bazell is an outstanding television reporter who recognizes when to speak, when to listen and when to tell."

In addition to the Peabody Award, Bazell has been widely honored for his reporting. His extensive tracking of the AIDS epidemic, which began in 1982 when there were only a handful of cases, has included reports from all parts of the United States, Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and South America, and earned the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and the Maggie Award from the Planned Parenthood Federation. Bazell has won two Emmys for reports on the human brain.

During his career with NBC News, Bazell has reported on a wide range of subjects in the areas of science, technology and medicine, from throughout the United States and around the world. NBC viewers have long known that when there is a major breakthrough in science or medicine, Bazell will be there to explain it in a lively and understandable way.

User Group 2008 Guest Speakers

In addition to our keynote session, this year's conference will feature presentations by numerous industry experts. These speakers include:

Marion J. Ball, Ed.D
Guest speaker for Care Management, QCPR, Pharmacy, and AcuityPlus tracks

Speaker Biography: Dr. Ball is a member of the Institute of Medicine, and serves on the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine. She also serves on a variety of boards in the area of health information technology, including American Health Information Management Systems (AHIMA/FORE), and she just finished a three-year term as Co-Chair in 2007 on the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Board. She received the Morris F. Collen Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and is an honorary member of Sigma Theta Tau, the Honor Society of Nursing, and the Medical Library Association (MLA). She is the author/editor of 20 books and over 260 articles in the field of Health Informatics. Her book, Consumer Informatics, received the HIMSS 2005 Book-of-the-Year Award. In 2006, the third edition of Introduction to Nursing Informatics was published, as well as a second edition of Aspects of Electronic Health Record Systems. Her previous book entitled Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet has most recently been translated into Chinese, joining the family of other translations into Japanese, German, Korean, and Polish.

Mary D. Brandt, MBA, RHIA, CHE, CHPS
Guest speaker for Patient Revenue Management and HIM tracks

Speaker Biography:
Mary Brandt is president of Brandt & Associates, Inc., a healthcare consulting firm that provides services to a wide range of clients. She is a nationally recognized expert on patient privacy, information security, and regulatory compliance. Some of her publications were used as a basis for HIPAA's privacy regulations.

Previously, Ms. Brandt provided consulting services for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a large healthcare IT company. As the former Director of Policy & Research for the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), she worked with standards development organizations to address privacy and confidentiality issues and develop standards for computer-based patient records. Ms. Brandt has published more than 30 articles, 25 position statements/practice briefs, and 3 sets of practice guidelines on health information management issues, including information security and computer-based patient records. In 1999, she received AHIMA's Legacy Award for her contributions to the professional body of knowledge.

Ms. Brandt holds a baccalaureate degree in medical record administration, a master's degree in business administration, and certifications by the American Health Information Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

William B. Munier, MD, MBA
Guest speaker for Care Management, QCPR, Pharmacy, AcuityPlus, Quality Measures, Patient Revenue Management and HIM tracks

Speaker Biography:
William B. Munier, MD, is currently serving as Director of the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety (the Center) at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) within the Department of Health and Human Services. The Center has primary responsibility for implementing the new Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005; production of the annual National Health Quality Report and National Health Disparities Report; and development and maintenance of the widely-used CAHPS surveys that measure patients' health care experience. The Center also supports a broad array of initiatives designed to further quality improvement and patient safety.

Dr. Munier has been in healthcare management most of his career with a particular focus on performance measurement, quality and safety, and clinical software development. Prior to joining AHRQ, Dr. Munier was President and CEO of Wang Healthcare, which produced an electronic health record for physicians' offices; president of Quality Standards in Medicine, which produced an expert system for measuring quality in hospitals; director of the Department of Defense Civilian Peer Review of Military Care Program (for CPHA, the prime contractor); partner at Ernst & Whinney; and Executive Vice President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, publishers of The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Munier received a BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania, an MD from Columbia University, and an MBA from Harvard University.