Senate committee unanimously recommends Dorothea Verbrugge for Health Data Committee

The Senate Health and Human Services Confirmation Committee voted unanimously to forward Dorothea Verbrugge’s nomination to the full Senate for appointment to the Health Data Committee.

Dorothea Verbrugge, a board-certified family physician who said she spent five years in family practice and roughly 20 years in the health insurance industry, told the committee she has “pretty extensive experience with healthcare data, mostly through claims data, but increasingly as interoperability has occurred through integrating that with EMR data as well.” She said she recently stepped away from a role at Aetna and volunteered to represent the Utah Medical Association on the committee.

The nomination matters because the Health Data Committee advises on how health information is collected, shared and used across state systems. Dr. Harper, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Confirmation Committee, asked Verbrugge how she would balance “the need for data transparency with the need to protect individual privacy,” citing past data leaks.

Verbrugge told the panel that HIPAA protections are “non negotiable,” and said officials should follow the principle of disclosing or using “the minimum amount necessary” while maintaining transparency about uses of data. She also raised concerns about how consumer devices and subscription services treat personal health information, noting that contract terms can transfer data control to vendors: “If you sign up for the subscription with Fitbit or, you know, any of those things, we’re that that the data, your personal health data becomes their data and they can do with it what they want.”

Sen. Stratton, who moved to forward a favorable recommendation on behalf of the committee, framed his question in the context of new technologies and rural health, asking for guiding principles as the state increasingly uses AI and digital tools. Verbrugge reiterated HIPAA compliance, minimum-necessary disclosure and transparency as the central safeguards she would advocate on the committee.

The committee recorded a voice vote in favor of the motion; the chair declared the recommendation unanimous and said Verbrugge’s name will be presented to the full Senate on the next floor day. The meeting also approved the minutes from the Sept. 25, 2025 meeting and adjourned.

Background provided by Verbrugge to the committee included that she completed residency in the 1990s, practiced family medicine for five years, and later served in leadership roles in health plans including work at Aetna. She described her data experience as focused on claims data and growing interoperability with electronic medical records.

The Health Data Committee will consider technical and policy questions about health information exchange, privacy safeguards and use of new technologies; the committee’s recommendation sends Verbrugge’s nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.