ABMS Appoints Tom Granatir as New Senior Vice President For Strategic Partnerships, Health Policy and Governmental Affairs

CHICAGO - Aug. 24 - The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the organization overseeing the certification of physician specialists in the United States, has appointed Thomas Granatir as senior vice president for strategic partnerships, health policy and governmental affairs. He will assume his new duties Aug. 30, 2010.

Granatir will be responsible for developing policy and strategic relationships to advance the ABMS?s quality improvement goals through the public and private sectors. He will be part of the executive team that provides leadership to the ABMS Board of Directors.

Granatir has had a career interest in creating a more patient-centered, publicly accountable health system. He has worked for the American Hospital Association, the Health Research and Educational Trust, and The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and more recently for Humana ? in the United States and the United Kingdom. He has been a Baldrige Examiner and has served on the boards of the American Health Quality Association, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Bridges to Excellence, and, most recently, the Alliance to Make US Healthiest. He currently serves on the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on Health Inequalities. He has taught at several universities, served on U.S. and international advisory panels and spoken worldwide on improving healthcare.

“With his experience working in health policy for hospitals, managed care and long-term care as well as in the world of private accreditation, Thomas brings to ABMS a truly well-rounded perspective in healthcare quality,” said Kevin B. Weiss, MD, president and CEO of ABMS. “He has an excellent understanding of the context and systems in which physicians practice as well as the influences on their practices, and will undoubtedly be a major asset as ABMS continues its work to improve the quality of healthcare for all Americans.”

“I am completely committed to the ABMS mission of setting standards to improve the quality of medical care,” said Granatir. “Most of my policy work has focused on how the quality of healthcare can be assessed, regulated and improved, and how those assessments can help people make better healthcare choices. I look forward to continuing that work with the ABMS.”

Granatir received his MA in health policy and evaluation and his BA in philosophy and literature from the University of Chicago.

About ABMS
For more than 75 years, American Board of Medical Specialties has been the medical organization overseeing physician certification in the United States. It assists its 24 Member Boards in their efforts to develop and implement educational and professional standards for the evaluation and certification of physician specialists. ABMS Member Boards provide physician certification information to ABMS for its certification verification service programs. ABMS is recognized by the key health care credentialing accreditation entities as a primary equivalent source of board certification data for medical specialists. Patients can visit www.abms.org or call toll-free 1-866-ASK-ABMS to see if their physician is board certified by an ABMS Member Board. For more information about ABMS visit www.abms.org or call (312) 436-2600.

The 24 Member Boards that make up the ABMS Board Enterprise covers over 145 medical specialties and subspecialties include: American Board of Allergy and Immunology, American Board of Anesthesiology, American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, American Board of Dermatology, American Board of Emergency Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Medical Genetics, American Board of Neurological Surgery, American Board of Nuclear Medicine, American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Board of Ophthalmology, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, American Board of Otolaryngology, American Board of Pathology, American Board of Pediatrics American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, American Board of Plastic Surgery, American Board of Preventive Medicine, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, American Board of Radiology, American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and American Board of Urology.