David Merritt
Vice President, Director of National Health Policy

David Merritt is Vice President and National Policy Director at the Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich Group. The Center, headed by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, is a collaboration of leaders dedicated to transforming health and healthcare in America. Mr. Merritt advises Speaker Gingrich and leads the Center’s work on national health reform and health information technology.

Mr. Merritt’s writing has been widely published, including the Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Miami Herald. He is widely quoted in national and trade press, including the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and a frequent speaker in the industry. He has been a guest lecturer at the Yale School of Management and at Princeton University, at the invitation of visiting professor and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. He is the editor of Paper Kills: Transforming Health and Healthcare with Information Technology, winner of the 2007 book of the year award by the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

Mr. Merritt was a health policy adviser to the presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, having served the same role with former Senator Fred Thompson. He served on Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s Health Information Technology Council. He also served on the Improving Quality Workgroup of Governor Kaine’s Health Reform Commission. He has testified before state and federal hearings, including the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on privacy and health information technology. He serves on numerous advisory boards, as well as on the board of commissioners of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).

Prior to joining the Center, Mr. Merritt was with America’s Health Insurance Plans. He earned his Master’s degree in political science and government from Loyola University Chicago, and he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University.