Kate Ricker-Kiefert

Kate Ricker-Kiefert is a subject matter expert in state and federal government health IT policy and interoperability. She advises the states and the federal agencies on advancing use of electronic health information use and interoperability for informed decision making, treatment, operations, measurement, public health, and population health purposes. Ms. Ricker-Kiefert also advises multi-stakeholder collaboratives on governance, HIT/Exchange strategy, funding opportunities, and policy alignment around topics such as Social Determinants of Health, Public Health Infrastructure Modernization, and Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs.

Ms. Ricker-Kiefert has assisted 25 states by providing facilitation services and strategic advising through the Office of the National Coordinator’s HIT Resource Center and direct state contracts. Through ONC, she provided technical assistance to 13 State Innovation Model and All Payer Model states advising on use of technology and information to support payment and delivery system reform. She also served as Colorado’s State HIT Coordinator in the Office of Governor John Hickenlooper directing multi-agency health IT strategy and portfolio. She contributed to multiple, successful health IT legislation and health transformation grants. Additionally, Ms. Ricker-Kiefert redeveloped Colorado’s statewide health information exchange governance model and created the Office of eHealth Innovation and eHealth Innovation Commission advancing interoperability and a statewide technical solutions strategy (Executive Order B 2015-008). While serving in the Governor’s Office, she also was served on a Federal Advisory Committee’s Interoperability Workgroup member.

Prior to joining the Governor’s Office, Ms. Ricker-Kiefert served as Director of Policy and Public Sector Initiatives at Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) implementing the State HIE Cooperative Agreement and other HITECH grants. In addition to her work at CORHIO, Kate served as a consultant on federal and state HIT projects with Booz Allen Hamilton and served as lead technical resource for Kaiser Permanente Colorado region’s enterprise EHR implementation. She holds a graduate degree in Technology Management from University of Denver and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).