Highlights From CHIME13 Fall CIO Forum

October 8-11, 2013

Just over 750 hospital CIOs and health IT professionals convened in Scottsdale, Ariz. October 8-11 for the 21st annual CHIME Fall CIO Forum. With a captivating speaker line-up, abundance of education sessions, and numerous networking opportunities, CHIME13 brought a wealth of encouragement and insight to this year’s attendees.

Held at the Westin Kierland Resort, CHIME13 opened with a serenade by Board Chairman George “Buddy” Hickman who wowed the crowd, performing “Who Am I?” from the musical Les Miserables. Wednesday morning’s opening keynote speaker Jim Collins, best-selling author of “Good to Great” and teacher of enduring great companies, discussed humility as a key differentiator between executives who are somewhat successful and those at the very top — what Collins described as “Level 5” leaders. Collins said not all leaders are born into greatness but strongly believes that good leaders can be built and become great leaders.

Later that day, CHIME welcomed a candid Dr. Farzad Mostashari, who made his first public speaking appearance after stepping down as ONC’s National Coordinator for Health IT. Dr. Mostashari discussed everything from budget constraints to the unlikelihood of meaningful use stage 2 extensions, saying “I think folks should assume that the timelines will stick.” Hopes to change Stage 2, he said, would require a complex rulemaking process that would lead to “total chaos” thus, jeopardizing the stability of the program. The newly appointed visiting fellow of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings Institute even initiated discussion surrounding an insufficient yearly federal budget of $60 million and its effect on ONC’s ability to meet the mounting responsibilities and needs of the industry. Dr. Mostarshari was also frank about his assessment on the sluggish performance of health information exchange, interoperability, and EHR market, saying that “those of us in healthcare know too well that the systems are sometimes lacking.”

On Thursday, following a state of CHIME address from President and CEO Russ Branzell, keynote Jane McGonigal, author and alternate reality game designer took the stage to discuss the powerful impact video games are playing in modern medicine. McGonigal said games like “Re-Mission, developed for children with leukemia and other illnesses in which the player zaps cancer cells with chemotherapy, are helping to improve medical conditions, medication compliance and pain management. “The kids see chemo as a superpower,” she remarked.

After enjoying a James Bond-inspired reception the evening before; attendees began their morning on Friday with an awards and recognition ceremony, honoring several CHIME members for their work and dedication to the organization and industry.

The closing keynote address came from Jamie Heywood, co-founder and chairman of the online patient-centered social network PatientsLikeMe, who emphatically stated that CIOs should be running healthcare organizations. “You’re kind of more qualified to run your hospitals than anyone with an M.D. because you understand the importance of information,” he said. Heywood cited the alarming number of preventable deaths that occur each year due to medical errors, and that the key to transforming healthcare lies in real-time data and the ability to gather, analyze and share that data with patients. Technology, he said, is the force to enable change in an industry that is in desperate need of an overhaul.

CHIME members met with Foundation Firms to collaborate and provide important feedback during the 100 focus groups held on Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, members packed 16 peer-led educational track sessions to exchange best practices on various healthcare IT topics; from strategy and leadership to organizational performance improvement. The top four rated sessions were asked backed on Friday to give an encore presentation. They were: One Patient, One Record: A Journey, presented by Praveen Chopra; Navigating the Quality Measure Landscape: What CIOs Need to Know, presented by Randy McCleese and Melissa Swanfeldt; R UR DOCS TXTING?, presented by Edward Ricks; and Building a Scalable and Automated Population Health Infrastructure for Clinical Integration and care Management Under Value-Based Care, presented by Rick Schooler.

Before the Forum officially kicked-off, CHIME held its recreational events with golf and a museum tour. Winners of the golf outing sponsored by Beacon Partners and VMware, were: Gary Paxson, Evan Jackson, David Briden and Danny Kelley. Closet to the Pin honors went to Donna Roach and Mark Bakken and taking home Longest Drive were Charlie Cook and Molly Lagermeier. As part of CHIME’s “Giving Back” program, Forum attendees took part in packing 4,000 pounds of bread and 1,500 pounds of apples for the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. The Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) examination drew 41 test-takers on Tuesday afternoon and 44 participants in the CHIME13 Fun Run raised nearly $3,500 for the Arizona Special Olympics.

CHIME also welcomed 50 attendees to its 21st offering of the Healthcare CIO Boot Camp. The program’s unique mix of lecture, interactivity, coaching, mentoring and networking opportunities, offered a tremendously valuable and rewarding learning experience. This year the faculty welcomed three new members; Geoff Brown, Liz Johnson and Gretchen Tegethoff.