Is CCHIT Registered as a 501(c)3 in Illinois, And if Not, Where is it Registered, and Why Was it Involuntarily Dissolved in April 2008?

At "A very troubling post about the CCHIT" I reported on a finding that the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology's corporate status was "involuntarily dissolved 0n 4/11/08." Its current state appears as "dissolved" in the database of corporations/LLS's maintained by the Illinois state government, CyberDriveIllinois at http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController.

I called the CyberDriveIllinois support number today (would have done so yesterday, but it was a holiday) listed on the Secretary of State Business Services Contact Form as "For certified copies and copy requests for corporations, please call (217) 782-6875."

Two different staffers told me the database is accurate and up to date, and confirmed that file 65254336, Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, old name CCHIT, had a current status of "dissolved."

Therefore, might one not reasonably conclude the CCHIT, with administrative offices at 200 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 3100, Chicago, Illinois per its marketing director, is operating (in some manner) without being registered in the state in which it is conducting those operations?

I ordered a copy of the file on the dissolution and will report on what it contains.

Yesterday morning I also sent the following email to Sue Reber, Marketing Director, the contact person listed on a response posted to the WSJ blog and as a comment to "A very troubling post about CCHIT" here at Healthcare Renewal.

Ms. Reber had written that "CCHIT was founded originally as a LLC but has subsequently transitioned to a private, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization. That is its current status."

I asked:

To: sreber@cchit.org
Date: 02/16/2009 07:55AM
Subject: Question: Involuntary dissolution of 4/11/08

Dear Ms. Reber,

I am am medical informaticist and blogger at multiauthor blog "Healthcare Renewal."

With regard to your posted response to the WSJ health blog comment here about CHHIT, am still curious as to the involuntary dissolution of 4/11/08 -- what was that about? - and the absence of an "active" entry in the Illinois' online corporation/LLC search utility.

I have not received a response, but did receive this automated return receipt from my emailer:

Your message
To: Sue Reber
Subject: Question: Involuntary dissolution of 4/11/08
Sent: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:55:43 -0600
was read on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 10:43:20 -0600

I await a reply.

-- SS


Addendum:

At the original WSJ blog comments site where the first Feb. 13 comment from "CJ" and the response from Mr. Reber appeared, there is a new Feb. 17 comment by "Calvin Jablonski" (link).

The new comment makes, among others, claims that Mark Leavitt was employed by HIMSS for some period of time, that CCHIT jury observed testing is not independent 3rd party testing and validation because of who performs it, that there are numerous conflicts of interest with HIMSS and other organizations, that taxes have not been paid, and that CCHIT is a shell of some type.

I do not know if these are true and do not vouch for their accuracy.

However, the comment concludes with "the public has a right to know the truth from outside independent sources."

I tend to agree, considering that bad informatics can kill.

-- SS