News

Dave Lehr, the first chief strategy officer for Meritus Health, was officially appointed to serve as a commissioner on the Maryland Community Health Resource Commission (CHRC) by Governor Larry Hogan.

As a commissioner on the Maryland CHRC, an independent group operating within the Maryland Department of Health, Lehr will work to help expand access to health care services in underserved communities in the state. Since its inception in 2005, the CHRC has awarded more than $85 million in grants to support programs in every jurisdiction of the state that have collectively served nearly 500,000 low-income individuals with complex health and social service needs.

Before joining Meritus Health, Lehr served as the chief information officer (CIO) for Luminis Health, based in Annapolis, Md. In his time there, he was selected as one of the top 25 emerging leaders in health care in 2019, by Modern Healthcare. He also served as a co-chair for the national opioid taskforce for the College of Health Care Information Management Executives (CHIME), which brings CIOs together from across the country to fight the opioid epidemic. Earlier in his career, Lehr founded a consulting practice and cloud-based clinical decision support company, Maven Medical. He also previously worked at Epic, the electronic medical records company.

“Dave will provide tremendous contributions to this important commission that seeks to help the most vulnerable in our state,” says Maulik Joshi, president & CEO of Meritus Health.

“The Community Health Resources Commission welcomes Dave Lehr as he joins the commission as our new commissioner,” says Mark Luckner, CHRC executive director. “Commissioner Lehr brings a wealth of experience and we are looking forward to working with him in the coming weeks and months as the commission fulfills our statutory responsibilities to expand access in underserved communities, serve vulnerable populations, improve health outcomes and promote health equity.”