Debora A. Slee, JD

Debora A. Slee, JD, is an attorney, writer, and teacher with experience in healthcare law, quality management, and information systems. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and juris doctor from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is contributing author to The Law of Hospital and Health Care Administration, Second Edition, by Arthur F. Southwick.

Vergil N. Slee, MD

Vergil N. Slee, MD, MPH, is Chairman of the Board of the Health Commons Institute and Emeritus Fellow of Estes Park Institute (EPI). He pioneered the Professional Activity Study (PAS) and founded the Commission on Professional and Hospital Activities (CPHA). Dr. Slee was president of the Council on Clinical Classifications, which, with the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, created the Clinical Modification of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9-CM). He served for over twenty-five years as a member of the faculty of EPI. Dr. Slee is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. In 1998, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established the Vergil N. Slee Distinguished Professorship in Healthcare Quality Management in the School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Administration.

H. Joachim Schmidt, JD

H. Joachim ("HJ") Schmidt, JD, is an attorney-turned-computer jockey. He has a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a juris doctor from William Mitchell College of Law. He has been involved in numerous information management projects, including those concerning health maintenance organizations, air quality, traffic safety, performance management, and healthcare claims processing.