News

Future President of NCHICA Named

September 22, 2005 - Tom Earnhardt, PA-C, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cabarrus Family Medicine, has recently been named the future president of the North Carolina Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA).

Mr. Earnhardt was elected at the 11th annual NCHICA conference held in Greensboro, September 10-13th. According to the organization of the Alliance, Mr. Earnhardt will currently serve as Second Vice President, and next year he will serve as First Vice President. The third year he will assume the responsibility of President.

This year, Mr. Earnhardt will serve with NCHICA President, Robert H. Seehausen, Jr., Senior Vice President Business Development & Sales of Novant Health System.

NCHICA, a nonprofit organization, is the premiere consortium in North Carolina that champions the adoption of information technology (IT) to improve healthcare. Its members include leading organizations in healthcare, research and information technology.

Working closely with its members, NCHICA operates in many venues as a promoter, catalyst and innovator. NCHICA leads demonstration projects, hosts educational sessions, fosters collaborative efforts among various healthcare provider organizations and supports initiatives that promote IT in healthcare.

“I will be leading the organization with a focus on physician involvement and collaboration with healthcare systems across the state of North Carolina,” Mr. Earnhardt explained of his three-year term.

Mr. Earnhardt has a special interest in computerized patient medical records and has spent countless hours working toward electronic data interchange and commerce.  His vision has sparked interest by many in the industry, and he has been invited as guest speakers for many local, state, and national organizations including HIMSS (Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society) and the Medical Records Institute.  Mr. Earnhardt is also a member of the Editorial Board for Health Data Management Magazine.

Tom Earnhardt, P.A.-C is a North Carolina native originally from Rocky Mount, who grew up in the Mt. Pleasant area. He completed his undergraduate training at Pfeiffer University where he received a B.S. in biology and completed his P.A. training at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.  He obtained his masters degree in health administration from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.