Balavignesh “Bala” Thirumalainambi, Senior Director for Interoperability and Healthcare Policy at Andor Health, helps health systems achieve their digital transformation goals. With extensive knowledge of healthcare policy, he provides policy and regulatory briefs related to healthcare quality improvement, interoperability, cost reduction, and health information technology. As a HIMSS board member, Bala brings insights related to federal and state funding opportunities.

Previously, Bala served as Senior Director for Government Affairs and Finance for the New Jersey Innovation Institute where he educated the team on government-related healthcare initiatives and oversaw the financial operations for the healthcare delivery system.

Bala also served as Meaningful Use Director for the New Jersey Health Information Technology Extension Center (NJ-HITEC). He led the Medicaid Provider Program by assisting providers transition to electronic health records and helping primary care providers achieve meaningful use. Plus, Bala wrote proposals including the Practice Transformation Network award for the State of New Jersey which received nearly $50 million.

Bala currently teaches Electronic Health Records and Healthcare Information Systems at NJIT and researches improving quality outcomes. He holds an MBA in technology and an engineering management degree with a concentration in healthcare, both from NJIT. He received NJBIZ 40 under 40 recognition in 2018 and Top 100 Magazine’s top 100 in finance in 2019