CHIME08 Fall CIO Forum

Nearly 500 CHIME and CHIME Foundation members attended the CHIME08 Fall CIO Forum, setting a new attendance record. Held at the beautiful Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, the October 22-25 event gave attendees a lot to think about.

CHIME would like to say a special thank you to Forum planning committee Chair Drex Deford and the rest of planning committee, the CHIME Foundation and everyone who had a hand in making this year’s event a success.

On Wednesday afternoon, nearly 60 members participated in the pre-forum Workshop, Healthcare CIO 2.0: The Evolving Role of the Chief Information Officer A Roadmap from IT Manager to Strategic Visionary, the last offering of the successful LEAD Forum education series this year. That evening, attendees gathered for a welcome reception, meeting new friends and catching up with old pals.

On Thursday morning, CHIME Board of Trustees Chair Rod Dykehouse gave a report on CHIME’s activities for the past year. A video of his presentation can be accessed at the CHIME08 Fall Forum Blog at www.cio-chime.blogspot.com.

Following Mr. Dykehouse, Opening Keynote Speaker Robert Reich spoke on how all the “stars are aligned” for the U.S. to finally tackle healthcare reform. What that reform will look like when it’s done is anyone’s guess, said Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, but he predicted that any reform scenario will address cost containment, as both presidential candidates’ platforms are looking to restrain healthcare expenditures in order to reform the healthcare system.

Morning Keynote Speaker Patrick Lencioni explained why some jobs that may seem horrible are actually quite rewarding, while some people with seemingly good jobs feel miserable. The three signs of a miserable job, he says, are anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement. He discussed how managers can help their employees be better workers by addressing these issues head-on, which is a uniquely “simple but difficult” solution

Following the keynotes, attendees took advantage of focus group activities. These small group sessions, held by CHIME Foundation members, allow vendors to get real, honest opinions about their products from leaders in the field of healthcare IT. The Thursday evening reception enabled members to network and enjoy music and dinner together.

Friday morning was greeted with a Sunrise Advocacy Session with Stuart Hagen, Ph.D, Senior Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and author of a highly debated CBO paper on health IT. He discussed the costs and benefits of health information technology as well as barriers to broader distribution and use of IT in hospitals and clinicians’ offices.

The general session Friday began with the CHIME Awards Ceremony. Chair Rod Dykehouse presided over the ceremony, which included a special raffle drawing. The following awards were presented:

Collaboration Award:
George Carr, CIO at University of Missouri Health Care and Cerner

Innovator of the Year Award:
Rick Schooler, VP/CIO of Orlando Health

CHIME-AHA Transformational Leadership Award:
University Health System, San Antonio, TX William Phillips, Executive Director & CIO, George Hernandez, CEO

CHIME Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award:
Ralph Fargnoli, President and CEO, Beacon Partners, Inc.

Immediately after the Awards Ceremony, attendees were able to attend as many as three peer-reviewed track sessions. There were a total of four tracks to choose from, including Strategy and Leadership, Organizational Performance Improvement, Business and Care Transformation, and the Most Wired Showcase.

That afternoon allowed everyone a bit of a break from work with several recreational activities. Some attendees floated down the Colorado River, some took a tour of the Hoover Dam, while others made a difference in the lives of Las Vegas underprivileged children by packing food for Caring 4 Kids. But many attendees had a chance to show what they were made of during the golf tournament, and many stepped up to the challenge. This year, one team was able to capture a hole-in-one and pull off an Albatross (that’s the rarely ever achieved score of 2 on a par 5). That night everyone celebrated at a dinner and reception.

Saturday morning began with another Sunrise Advocacy Session where HIMSS Government Relations VP Dave Roberts and CHIME Advocacy Programs Director Sharon Canner conducted a roundtable discussion of the legislative landscape for 2009 and what to expect from a federal agency perspective.

The general session began with Morning Keynote Speaker Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He discussed Virginia’s groundbreaking HIT initiatives and discussed technology’s crucial role in the myriad public-private efforts under way to lower costs, increase access, improve patient satisfaction and accelerate the adoption of patient safety measures.

The final session was Closing Keynote Speaker Brent C. James, MD, Executive Director of The Institute for Health Care Delivery Research, Intermountain Health Care, and Vice President of Medical Research and Continuing Medical Education at Intermountain Health Care. He said that while healthcare costs account for 16 percent of GNP, the technology behind it is still flawed. He said the key factor for success in this new environment may be knowledge management: the ability to extract, compile and push out best practices based on evidence, while measuring and managing best practices.

CHIME would like to say a very special thanks, again, to Drex Deford and the Fall Forum Planning Committee, CHIME members in attendance, as well as the CHIME Foundation member firms who participated. Because of them, this event was one of the highest rated Fall Forums in CHIME’s history

For more information, pictures and video of the events, visit www.cio-chime.blogspot.com.