Crystal Kallem is a health information management and quality measurement expert with more than 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of international health IT data and metadata standards that support consistent representation of quality measure data and logic, as well as transmission of data from electronic health record (EHR) systems for secondary uses.

Since 2018, Kallem has directed multiple contracts for the Chief Scientist’s Division (CSD) of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). These contracts support a range of initiatives aimed at advancing the precision medicine initiative (PMI), supporting patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), and establishing policy around workflow automation through the use of health information technology.

Kallem directed the first Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) contract aimed at advancing and implementing standards for data capture and reporting of clinical quality measures from certified EHRs. The standards developed and implemented under this contract were instrumental in advancing the electronic exchange of clinical quality measure data and continue to be used and enhanced by CMS and other federal and industry stakeholders today.

Through her role as volunteer and co-chair of the HL7 Clinical Interoperability Council (CIC) from 2008 to 2010 and the HL7 Clinical Quality Information (CQI) Workgroup from 2013 to 2016, she effectively represented her clients in developing and enhancing multiple data and transmission standards, including the Quality Reporting Document Architecture (QRDA) and the Health Quality Measure Format (HQMF/eMeasure).

Kallem served as vice chair of a National Quality Forum (NQF) eMeasure Review Panel charged with reviewing 113 electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) technical specifications to ensure reliability, validity, and alignment with the measures’ intent for NQF endorsement. In addition, she testified before the Health IT Advisory Committee’s Policy Workgroup and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) Workgroup on Quality, advocating for advancement of information technology to improve healthcare quality while minimizing burden for healthcare providers.