Stanford Children’s Health CIO Ed Kopetsky Receives Healthcare CIO of the Year Award

ANN ARBOR, MI, Jan. 7, 2019 – Innovator. Collaborator. Mentor. Teacher. Thought leader. Servant leader. Lifelong student. Those are some of the many ways his peers describe Ed Kopetsky, CIO of Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children’s Health.

 

All see him as a pillar in the industry, recognition that has earned him the 2018 John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year award. The award was announced today by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The award is given annually to a CIO who has shown significant leadership and commitment to the healthcare industry during his or her career. The recipient is selected jointly by the boards of CHIME and HIMSS.

 

“I have had the great fortune to work with and learn from many healthcare executives and IT leaders, and to have talented teams working alongside me throughout my career,” Kopetsky said. “I am honored to have been nominated, and to have CHIME and HIMSS select me for this award.”    

 

Kopetsky’s career has spanned the industry, from CIO of three prominent healthcare systems to partner in a consulting firm specializing in healthcare IT and process improvement. He joined Stanford Children’s as CIO in 2009, after working as a partner at the professional services organization Healthlink, which was acquired by IBM in 2005. He was senior vice president and CIO of Centura Health from 1996 to 2000 and CIO of Sharp HealthCare from 1986 to 1996. Under his leadership, Stanford Children’s received the HIMSS Stage 7 Acute Care and Ambulatory Awards, Most Wired recognition from 2015 to the present, honors for having one of the best healthcare IT departments in 2016, and the international HIMSS Davies Award in 2017 for improving patient outcomes and care processes using health IT and analytics. 

 

Over the decades he has helped launch and sustain numerous initiatives that have helped the industry grow. He was among the pioneering CIOs to become founding members of CHIME in 1992 and has been an active member of HIMSS since 1987. He started and chaired a HIMSS chapter in San Diego in 1988 and three decades later joined the HIMSS Executive Institute. His contributions to CHIME include board member (1996-1999) CHIME chair (1998) and CHIME Foundation Board member (2002-2005). After losing his son to an accidental opioid overdose in late 2017, he helped launch the CHIME Opioid Task Force in 2018, which he co-chairs.

 

“Ed is one of the most courageous people I know,” said Russell Branzell, president and CEO of CHIME. “Ed has turned a personal tragedy into a mission for CHIME and our members that already is saving lives. He has a vision of what can be achieved when healthcare IT leaders work together, and with his leadership we are making inroads against this devastating opioid epidemic.” 

 

“Ed Kopetsky epitomizes the values and traits that all in health strive to achieve,” said Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS. “Mission driven, technically innovative and highly respected among his peers. A longtime HIMSS member and contributor, Ed has focused his personal passions into improving the lives of countless individuals. It is a privilege to honor Ed as our CIO of the Year.”

 

As a CIO, Kopetsky has successfully led several large-scale projects and mentored many staff members. At Sharp HealthCare, his team completed implementation of one of the first integrated patient care systems supporting a multi-hospital and physician network. At Stanford Children’s he oversaw the implementation of enterprise systems, including an integrated electronic health record across Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and Stanford Children’s Health. He is credited with developing top-notch IT teams and serving as a role model and mentor throughout his career.

 

Kopetsky will be honored on Feb. 11 at the 2019 CHIME HIMSS CIO Forum in Orlando, Fla. He will officially receive the award at the HIMSS19 conference that runs Feb. 11-15 in Orlando. The award is named for John E. Gall Jr., who pioneered implementation of the first fully integrated medical system in the world in El Camino Hospital in California in the 1960s.

 

Information about the 2019 CHIME HIMSS CIO Forum is available here and information about HIMSS19 is available here.

 

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs) and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 2,800 members in 51 countries and over 150 healthcare IT business partners and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

 

Candace Stuart

Director of Communications and Public Relations, CHIME

734.665.0000