2018 Proves to be Year of Many ‘Firsts’ for CHIME

 

12.20.2018
Cletis Earle – Chair, CHIME Board; SVP & CIO Information Technology, Kaleida Health

It is hard to believe that my year as board chair is almost over. It has been a pleasure and privilege to represent our members and help establish a path for CHIME’s future growth. I am especially honored to have had the opportunity to work with my fellow board members and bring in new programs.

This year CHIME launched our first Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C. The program reflected CHIME’s commitment to be a collaborative partner and advocate for our members. The presenters included policy makers in Congress and federal agencies who are involved in heath IT-related initiatives. We also had members from CHIME’s Policy Steering Committee and the Association for Executives in Healthcare Information Security (AEHIS) serve as panelists and moderators. The summit solidified CHIME as the preeminent source for policy thought leadership on topics like cybersecurity, telehealth, interoperability and IT-related approaches to address the opioid epidemic.

This was also CHIME’s first year to oversee the HealthCare’s Most Wired survey and recognition program. CHIME revised and updated the survey to better align questions with current practice and relevant outcomes, and then set a high bar to qualify for the Most Wired title. The survey will be reviewed and revised again in 2019 to capture advancements in the industry, and the threshold for recognition may be recalibrated as well. The goal is to drive excellence across our industry globally.

We also launched the CHIME Diversity Committee and held a Sunrise Session at the 2018 CHIME Fall CIO Forum in San Diego to discuss initiatives to create a broadly inclusive workforce by encouraging people from all races, ethnicities and belief systems to pursue careers in healthcare IT. As chair, I look forward to working with CHIME members and CHIME Foundation firm members to help build a diverse pipeline of talented heath IT employees who can serve as the next generation of CIOs and senior healthcare IT executives. We also will explore workplace strategies to attract and retain diverse teams in our IT departments and C-suites.

As part of our diversity initiative, we created the myCHIME Diversity Community on CHIME’s website as a social platform and resource for members. You can participate in discussion groups, engage members, access informational white papers and other resources through the myCHIME Diversity Community. Click here to join the conversation.

Thank you for your support throughout the year. We made great strides in 2018 but we face many challenges as our jobs continue to evolve. I encourage you to get involved in any of the activities that CHIME offers in 2019 and take advantage of this great community we have created through CHIME. In the meantime, I hope you have joyous holidays and a wonderful New Year.

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