Highlights From CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum 2014

On February 23, CHIME assembled the nation’s top health IT leaders in Orlando for a day-long education program designed to reveal and define the challenges, opportunities and transformations facing the industry.

The 2014 CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum, held in conjunction with the HIMSS14 Conference and Exhibition, drew over 600 attendees, including CIOs, Foundation Firm partners, and several other key stakeholders.

The Forum began with opening remarks by CHIME President and CEO Russ Branzell and Board Chairman Randy McCleese, who discussed the future direction of the organization and highlighted several new initiatives this year designed to increase the value and level of engagement for CHIME members and CHIME Foundation firm representatives.

2014 Expansion Initiatives Announced

In the area of education, McCleese outlined several enhancements to CHIME’s offerings in 2014, including the return of LEAD Forums – one-day regional programs – as well as increased online educational opportunities and partnerships with both the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) to offer two specialized programs based on CHIME’s Healthcare CIO Boot Camp.

Also new this year; the introduction of CIO advisory boards – a new service for CHIME Foundation firms to provide consultative assistance and guidance from CHIME members in relation to industry products and services.

Additionally, to advance CHIME’s position as the voice of the industry and to leverage members’ extensive knowledge and experience in transforming healthcare, CHIME is developing a speakers bureau. The speakers bureau will help connect CHIME member HIT experts to industry conferences, media events, vendor meetings and other engagements.

CHIME is also planning to provide professional support and education in the form of new organizations to those healthcare executives working closely with CIOs. Its first efforts in this area will be to provide resources for chief security officers, followed by chief technology officers and chief application officers. “High-level education and development opportunities for key members of the CIO’s executive team are seriously lacking,” McCleese said. “With hundreds of health data breaches being reported, and a shortage of security professionals with a background in healthcare, it has become increasing clear that this group could greatly benefit from the kind of opportunities that CHIME provides CIOs.”

“We are extremely excited about our prospects,” said McCleese. “We know that for CHIME to remain successful we need to assure our legacy; and the creation of a better future can only be realized if we build upon our strengths and explore new opportunities.”

Announced last fall, McCleese gave members an update on the new partnership with Next Wave Connect, which will transform the way CHIME members and CHIME Foundation firm representatives collaborate and problem solve using the tools of social media.

Attendees were also introduced to a re-designed stage configuration, featuring a new theater-in-the-round set up to provide a more engaging and intimate environment.

Keynotes

New York Times best-selling author Chip Heath delivered the opening keynote address, focusing on four decisive approaches to smarter decision-making. Heath advised attendees to widen their options, reality test assumptions, attain distance, and prepare to be wrong. When it comes to the “go with your gut” approach to decision-making, Heath said, “Trust your intuition when you have about a decade of experience, or about 10,000 hours.” Trusting you gut can often lead to bad decisions, Heath said, so finding a better process, can often lead to better decisions. Heath noted that short-term emotion and overconfidence can also lead to poor decisions, concluding his discussion with, “We can never be perfect, but we can better.”

“Take back control of technology from the government,” was the message to CIOs from Dr. Saum Sutaria, Director of Healthcare Systems and Services at McKinsey, who followed Heath as the CIO Forum’s second keynote speaker. By doing so, CIOs in healthcare can change the perception associated with IT as an expense versus a driver of productivity and transformative change. “IT is still viewed as a cost by most Chief Executives and Chief Financial Officers,” he said. “You have got to take control of technology from what has been government regulated, or you’ll find it very hard to change those views.” Dr. Sutaria added that too much attention has been paid to chasing meaningful use dollars rather than thinking about how technology is used to deliver transformative change. “This coming era may be when this group of individuals has to take more action based alternatives,” he said.

In an afternoon session, Dr. Jacob Reider, CMIO at ONC, and Robert Tagalicod, Director of the Office of e-Health Standards and Services with CMS, joined CHIME President and CEO for a policy chat on aspects of achieving Stage 2 Meaningful Use, patient matching, audits, and the challenges associated with patient privacy and security. During the discussion, Branzell pointed out that CHIME has been asking the agencies “nicely” for greater MU flexibility in light of a multitude of converging initiatives. “We understand the B word – the burden that’s out there,” Tagalicod said. “We’re looking at things in order to align them better – to see where there is latitude.” Tagalicod even hinted that some type of relief would be announced later in the week, which created quite a buzz. Also discussed was the confirmation by officials that HHS would be moving forward as planned with ICD-10, and that in terms of federal HIT initiatives, e-Health and delivery reform would be major areas of focus.

In a deeply emotional and inspiring story that drew a standing ovation from Forum attendees, closing keynote speaker Allison Massari delivered her personal story of tragedy and triumph as a burn victim survivor. Massari’s long journey through human suffering and recovery focused on inner strength and determination, but more so by the kindness and compassion of family, hospital staff and strangers. “Compassion heals the places that medicine can’t touch,” she said.

In the three days following the Forum, the CHIME Foundation conducted a total of 77 focus groups for foundation member organizations and the CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) examination drew six test-takers on February 24.

In addition, several organizational meetings took place in Orlando, providing a busy schedule for CHIME’s CEO and Board, who met with federal officials and associations including the AHA, AHIMA, AMDIS, CMS, and ONC.