CONCORD - Gov. John Lynch announced today that he has named Paul Spiess of Amherst to serve as co-chair of the Citizens Health Initiative. Spiess, a former state representative, worked with Gov. Lynch to create the Citizens Health Initiative. The Governor made the announcement this morning during the Endowment for Health’s 2008 kick-off.

Spiess will replace Dr. Rob Nordgren who recently accepted a position with Dartmouth-Hitchcock and will move from co-chair to a position on the Initiative’s Board of Directors.

Spiess will join Dr. Jim Squires, executive director of the Endowment for Health, as co-chairs of the Initiative.

“I want to thank Rob for all his work in getting this initiative off to a great start, and for his extraordinary commitment to improving health care for New Hampshire residents,” Gov. Lynch said. “I am very pleased to announce that Paul Spiess will join Dr. Squires as co-chair of the Citizens Health Initiative. Paul has been intricately involved in the Citizens Health Initiative since its creation, and he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from the business perspective. I am confident that he will help the Initiative continue to move forward.”

Gov. Lynch created the Initiative two years ago as a way to bring together people from across New Hampshire to meet the goal of ensuring that in 10 years New Hampshire will continue to be one of the healthiest states in the nation, more New Hampshire citizens will have access to quality health care, and the growth in health care costs will be in line with economic growth.

As part of their efforts, the members of the Initiative are working to make New Hampshire the first state - by October 2008 - where all physicians have the ability to prescribe medications electronically, which is an important step in reducing health care costs by improving the efficiency of our health care system.

The initiative has also worked with insurance companies to develop criteria for “pay-for-performance” standards, putting the focus where we can get the most value for our dollar - preventative healthcare. The Citizens Health Initiative has also developed a new Web site, which adds transparency to health care costs and allows employers to get the information they need to make informed decisions about employee health benefits.

“I look forward to seeing further results from the Initiative, and I will continue to work lawmakers - both Democrats and Republicans - and to get real results on the issues facing health care for the people of New Hampshire,” Gov. Lynch said.