Devin Jopp is stepping down from his role as president and CEO of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. The organization helped the nation transition successfully to the ICD-10 code system.
The Reston, Va., based not-for-profit organization is an authority on the use of health information technology. It was formed by HHS in 1991.
“It has been a true pleasure serving WEDI and its incredible members over the past four years,” Jopp said in a news release. “As I look ahead, I remain extremely excited about the future of the organization and the important role that WEDI plays in promoting the effective use of health information technology.”
In the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, WEDI was named an official technical adviser to HHS. It serves the private and public sectors and is composed of doctors, hospitals, health plans, laboratories, pharmacies, vendors, government regulators and other industry stakeholders.
WEDI played an important role in the thrice-delayed ICD-10 adoption campaign, which finally kicked off Oct. 1. The conversion to the more complex and numerous diagnostic and procedural codes launched with fewer glitches than many pundits expected.
WEDI established a workgroup on ICD-10, held twice-annual meetings on implementation plans, conducted numerous industry surveys to measure readiness – or lack thereof, early on. That forced HHS, and then Congress to push back the code system launch by four years.
Jopp had “A lot of good ideas and a lot of positive energy,” said Stanley Nachimson, a health IT consultant and ICD-10 expert who served on the WEDI ICD-10 workgroup. "He looked for ways for the organization to have a wider impact beyond the pure electronic data exchange issues the organization was founded on.”
No information was available at deadline about Jopp's future plans. The WEDI Board of Directors has formed a search committee to identify a replacement.
