Inside CHIME: Start to Finish, 2015 Was an Eventful Year

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12.17.15 by Charles Christian, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, FHIMSS
CHIME Board of Trustees chair; vice president of technology and engagement, Indiana Health Information Exchange

From strong advocacy in Washington, D.C., to ever-improving educational programs, 2015 was an exceptional year for CHIME and the profession.

As you may remember, in October we unveiled CHIME’s new vision statement: Exceptional Leaders Transforming Healthcare, reflecting the changing role that CIOs and other healthcare IT leaders are playing in their organizations. That vision statement also symbolizes the imprint you are leaving on the entire delivery system. As I reflect back on my year as chairman of the board of trustees, I am struck by the tremendous impact CHIME has across the industry.

  • Early in 2015, we put a major stake in the ground when we announced our intention to host the CHIME National Patient ID Challenge. As I said in March when we unveiled the challenge, healthcare IT leaders have a responsibility to ensure that the technology we are implementing leads to better, safer and more efficient patient care. Finding a solution that ensures accurate patient identification is central to achieving those goals. The CHIME National Patient ID Challenge also puts us at the forefront of addressing a major hurdle to creating an interoperable healthcare IT network. Early next year, CHIME will formally launch the $1 million challenge with the hope of encouraging innovators from across the globe to submit viable and scalable solutions.
  • CHIME’s Policy Steering Committee and public policy staff had a busy and successful year advocating for more rational policy decisions in Washington, D.C. We fought for changes to Meaningful Use Stage 2, including the need for a 90-day reporting period and more flexibility on patient engagement measures. In October, albeit a little late, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued rules modifying Stage 2. We made significant inroads in helping legislators understand the importance of a national patient identifier and the need to address cyber threats specific to healthcare. And, we were able to avoid last-ditch attempts to once again delay ICD-10.
  • The AEHIX groups, which offer valuable professional development programming to leaders in security, technology and applications, experienced significant growth. The inaugural AEHIX Fall Forum in Orlando was a tremendous success and set the stage for even continued professional development for our colleagues across health IT.
  • Through College LIVE, LEAD Forums, Boot Camp and the Spring and Fall CIO Forums, professional development and education offerings at CHIME continued to grow both in size and the caliber of offerings. We also embarked on collaborations to bring highly sought after CHIME programming to our peers around the globe.
  • The CHIME Education Foundation awarded 50 scholarships totaling more than $170,000 for health IT leaders to take advantage of a host of professional development opportunities. We’ve also been able to grow a sustainability fund, ensuring that future generations of IT leaders will have the same opporutnities.
  • CHIME Technologies launched in 2015 to support innovative and robust products and services from and for the healthcare industry.

Those are just some of the highlights. There was so much more!

None of this would be possible without the incredible support of the CHIME staff. We were lucky to see the team grow in significant ways in 2015 — Amanda Curran, Carissa Wesson and Matthew Weinstock in communications and marketing; Barb Sivek in business services; Lindsay Brabon joined the Foundation; Mari Savickis joined our federal policy team in D.C.; Leah Wanzie came on board to assist with international membership; and Gretchen Tegethoff became head of CHIME Technologies. It’s a dynamic team.

At the same time, we said farewell to a good friend — Rich Correll. After 23 years with CHIME, Rich retired in June. Rich, who helped found CHIME in 1992, was a passionate champion for our profession. He pioneered many of the programs and strategic imperatives that are now considered the backbone of the organization. CHIME would not be where it is today without Rich’s immense contributions.

So, it has been an incredible year. I am excited to hand the chairmanship over to Marc Probst. I know that Marc will not only build on our strong foundation, but continue to challenge us to reach new heights.

It has been my pleasure to serve you. Have a safe and happy New Year!

More Inside CHIME Volume 1, No. 7: