Key employees of Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc, Malvern, Pa, have received executive appointments and leadership positions in strategic health care industry organizations.

•    Charlene Underwood, director of government and industry affairs for Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services and a nationally recognized expert in the field of health care informatics, was elected to serve on the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) board.

•    Donald Bechtel, chief privacy officer for Healthcare Data Exchange, a service of Siemens Medical Solutions, was re-elected to the board of the Healthcare Information Technology Standards panel to represent ANSI-accredited standards committee X12. He co-chairs the X12N Health Care task group, which develops and maintains the financial and administrative health care transactions used by the insurance industry for HIPAA and other purposes.

•    Hans Buitendijk, senior product manager, was named as a 2007 Health Level Seven Volunteer of the Year. The annual W. Edward Hammond, PhD, Volunteer of the Year award recognizes key contributors to the success of HL7, an accredited standards-developing group.

•    Michael Campana, ambulatory marketing and business manager, was elected as chairperson of the HIMSS Electronic Health Record Vendors Association communications work group.

•    Joe D’Antonio, a senior manager for Soarian HIM product development, and Denise Dunyak, marketing manager for Soarian HIM and EDM solutions, were named as members of the American Health Information Management Association’s action community for e-HIM Excellence.   

•    Susan Matney, RN, clinical informatics, was appointed to the American Nurses Association’s committee for Nursing Practice Information Infrastructure, a standing committee of the Congress on Nursing Practice and Economics.   

•    Michele McGlynn, manager of government and industry affairs, was tapped for the eHealth Initiative Policy Steering committee, which recommends eHI positions on key policies from a multi-stakeholder perspective.

•    Kathleen Ochal-Thompson, revenue cycle product manager, was elected as the vendor representative for the National Uniform Claims committee on behalf of HIMSS and the Association for Electronic Health Care Transactions.

•    Henri "Rik" Primo, director of marketing and strategic relationships for the Image and Knowledge Management division of the customer solutions group, was re-elected for a third term as chairman of the Medical Imaging Informatics section of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, a division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.