Transformational Leadership, Innovator and Outstanding Service Awards Given at CHIME19
11.14.19
By Candace Stuart, Director, Communications & Public Relations
CHIME announced the names of four award winners on Monday, Nov. 4, during CHIME19. Here is a look at the award-winning initiatives and the people behind them.
CHIME-AHA Transformational Leadership Award
Aviv Gladman, MD, CIO and CMIO at Mackenzie Health in Ontario, Canada, and Amanda Hammel, senior vice president and CIO at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Texas, tied for the Transformational Leadership Award, which is given by CHIME in conjunction with the American Hospital Association (AHA).
Mackenzie Health launched its EHR in July 2017 and under Gladman’s leadership implemented several initiatives designed to improve clinical outcomes. They created an electronic pathway for treating patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that reduced the length of stay by more than two days, freeing up beds for other patients in need of care. In addition, streamlining the electronic order set in their stroke program improved the clinical workflow, expedited care and improved outcomes. A third initiative designed to reduce hospital-acquired C. difficile infections reported a drop of 43% one year after the EMR was implemented.
Gladman and his team will continue to look for ways to use technology to simultaneously improve clinical and business outcomes. “We want to build a measurable environment that is seamlessly integrated into the clinicians’ workflow,” he said. “With baseline data, we can identify gaps and develop processes to deliver better care.”
Hammel played a key role in the implementation of Memorial Hermann’s population health strategy. She and her team were responsible for onboarding a massive amount of data, pulling in data from more than 40 disparate sources, leveraging registries within multiple EHRs and validating analytics. They helped develop a Population Health Data Warehouse and tools that give a comprehensive picture of their patients and identify gaps. They also created Everyday Well, a consumer-facing app that facilitates access to care.
“I am honored to receive this award on behalf of all the work we have done at Memorial Hermann,” said Hammel. “While we have laid a solid foundation, we know there is more work to be done. We plan to continue the acceleration of data use to provide actionable insights by enabling more digital tools and ultimately creating exceptional patient journeys.”
The CHIME-AHA Transformational Leadership Award is given in honor of a CEO and CIO whose organization developed and deployed transformational IT that improved the delivery of care and streamlined administrative services.
CHIME Innovator of the Year
Omer Awan, senior vice president and chief information and digital officer at Navicent Health, was named Innovator of the Year for using health IT to tear down barriers across the system, and improve quality and the patient experience, while saving Navicent Health millions of dollars.
Awan partnered with a software development company to develop OrCarestra, an innovation platform that the Navicent Health team can use to integrate applications that coordinate existing systems and streamline the delivery of care. Among their achievements:
- A scheduling platform that allows community physician practices to quickly schedule procedures at a hospital, replacing faxes and phone calls;
- An electronic patient check-in process using airline boarding as a model that makes canceling and rescheduling easy, removes the burden of filling out paper forms and cuts down the wait time;
- An intuitive patient management tool that displays patient case activity on a single page. It includes assessment tools, care plan recommendations, identifies gaps and offers patient education resources; and.
- A physician directory that allows physicians to customize their biographies, photos and search terms, making it faster and easier for patients to find providers who match their needs.
“Innovation is never about one person; it is a team sport and I am fortunate to have such fantastic teammates,” Awan said. “Thanks to their great work, we are well positioned to meet the strategic objectives of the enterprise.”
The Innovator of the Year Award is given annually to a member of CHIME whose creative application of technology has demonstrated value to their healthcare organization with an innovative solution that can be shared widely with the CHIME membership.
CHIME Outstanding Service Award
The CHIME Board of Trustees named Liz Johnson the 2019 CHIME Outstanding Service Award winner in recognition of all that she has done for CHIME and the health IT community. As one of CHIME’s most prominent policy leaders, she gladly pores over 1,000-page-plus proposed rules to help her colleagues assess the policy’s impact and provide a clear and insightful response to then submit to the agency. She jumped at the chance to help try to curb the opioid epidemic by joining the CHIME Opioid Task Force in 2018. As a volunteer on the member-elected Board, a faculty member, a mentor, a policy dynamo and much more, Johnson has shown a passion for serving CHIME and her fellow members over the years.
Johnson recently retired as the chief innovation officer at Tenet Healthcare. Prior to that position, she was the CIO of Acute Care Hospitals and Clinical Informatics at Tenet. She currently serves as the chair of the CHIME Education Foundation, vice chair of the Policy Steering Committee and a CHIME faculty member. Her past contributions include CHIME Foundation Board chair (2018); Policy Steering Committee chair (2018); CHIME Board chair (2017); and a founding member of the CHIME Opioid Task Force. She is a CHIME Fellow and a Lifetime Member. In 2014, she received CHIME’s Federal Public Policy Award for CIO Leadership.
“The members of CHIME are like family to me,” Johnson said. “They have stood beside me throughout my career, offering guidance and advice whenever I needed it. It is a privilege to be able to provide the same to others. To be recognized by my peers for doing something I love is beyond wonderful. Thank you!”