From October 16- 19, the 20^th Fall CIO Forum for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) was held in Palm Springs, CA.  It was my first event with CHIME, and I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it.  The events, speakers, education, facilities and people were great.  My hat is off to the CHIME folks who did a wonderful job.  Happy 20 years!  I’ve recapped my week below:

The conference began with a very rewarding experience.  Our group attended a local food bank where we helped box over seven thousand pounds of food for the local community.  Other attendees participated in the annual golf outing and/or a Living Desert tour which showcased the local wildlife.

After the opening reception Tuesday night, Wednesday brought an energetic welcome from Board Chair Drex DeFord, FCHIME, CHCIO.  Following the welcome was a keynote address from the legendary journalist and anchorman Ted Koppel.  He told stories of travelling with the many presidents whom he has followed abroad and domestically.  Koppel also shared some of his thoughts on press in the country today, commenting that journalists are sometimes trapped into giving the news that we want instead of giving the news that we need. Just from hearing his experiences through his stories, I can’t imagine what he has seen and heard firsthand over the years.

Wednesday continued to be full of energy when National Health IT Coordinator Farzad Mostashari, MD took the stage in late afternoon.  Dr. Mostashari energized the crowd as he shared personal stories and commented about using meaningful use as a tool.  According to Dr. Mostashari, by using meaningful use as a tool, we can help improve three main things: population health, sharing of information through HIEs and increasing patient engagement.  Dr. Mostashari called the audience heroes for leading this great revolution in healthcare IT, and I could not agree more.  All members of CHIME are at the forefront of these important changes in the U.S.

Education was a cornerstone of CHIME with rewarding breakout sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.   experiences and industry knowledge were shared by CHIME members in their respective Track sessions.   I truly believe hearing from real life experiences is the best education, and the sessions did not disappoint.  Although I couldn’t see all the sessions, one session that was very helpful for me was “Meaningful Use Stage 2 – Delayed, but Not to Be Forgotten.”  Speakers were Pam McNutt FCHIME, SVP & CIO of Methodist Health System; Chuck Christian FCHIME CHCIO, CIO, Good Samaritan Hospital; Bill Spooner FCHIME, SVP & CIO, Sharp Healthcare.  Their expertise in Stage 2 objectives/requirements helped me wrapped my head around it more.  It was a beneficial precursor to the afternoon’s Plenary Session with Travis Broome from CMS and Steve Posnack from the ONC.  Broome and Posnack took questions directly from the audience.  Some questions were tough, while others were fun, like How many stages will there be?

Thursday’s keynote speaker was Eric Topol, MD.  Dr. Topol, a wireless medicine and genomics innovator who has been a huge proponent of mobile devices to improve patient care, highlighted some revolutionary mobile devices and gave a sneak peek into what is to come with mobile technology and patient care in the future.  He also spoke about genomics, the study of genomes within people and/or organisms, and how it will help save lives by zoning in on specific patients’ information.  Overall, I walked away with a solid sense of how the powerful new devices and research in genomics will help everyone be able revolutionize medicine at a more individual level. Savage, star on the television series Mythbusters, finished CHIME off with the closing keynote on Friday morning.  He spoke about how he came to be where he is today through exploring the unknown.  His skepticism and curiosity have led him down an interesting path.  He urged us to continue our curiosity and skepticism within our field and continue to answer questions that haven’t been answered before.

While CHIME has now been around for an impressive 20 years, this was my first trip to the meeting.  It was an awesome experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet the CHIME members in attendance and our fellow CHIME Foundation members.  I’m looking forward to the next meeting.  Thank you, CHIME and Palm Springs.

See you all next time,

– Mike