In This Issue:
 Message from the GCC HIMSS Board
GCCHIMSS Board
President's Welcome
Chapter Program - RHIOs
HIMSS News Related to GCC Program
HFMA Program
Nursing Informatics Program
Sponsorship Information
Welcome to our first issue for the year!
GCC HIMSS Chapter Board
Welcome to the Greater Chicago Chapter of HIMSS! With over 700 members, we are one of the largest chapters in the United States. Our goal is to provide current and future leaders with beneficial information. This includes educating our members on the latest health care trends and policies, providing information that will improve manangement skills, and fostering an environment of network resources as a forum for members to exchange ideas in dealing with emerging issues. We hope you enjoy the information and programs being offered by our Chicago Chapter, and please forward any question or thoughts to us through the Contact Us link from our web site. Enjoy!
http://www.gcchimss.net/index.html
President's Welcome to GCC HIMSS Members
Frank Scafidi
Dear Greater Chicago Chapter of HIMSS Members,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to our chapter for another year. I am also pleased to announce the new Chapter Board members:
• PAST-PRESIDENT: Susan Wozniak - Clinical Projects Manager - Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare
• PRESIDENT: Frank Scafidi - VP/CIO - Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare
• PRESIDENT-ELECT: Dawn Mitchell - Chicago/Milwaukee Branch Director, StoneBridge Group
• TREASURER: Robert Milfajt - Manager, IS, Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation
• SECRETARY: Rose Ann Laureto - CIO/University of Illinois @ Chicago Medical Center
• COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR: Joel Splan - Manager, Clinical Information Systems, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
• EDUCATION CHAIR: Beth Assif – Sales Manager – Siemens Corporation
• AT-LARGE:
o Lisa Nemec - IS Project Manager/Resurrection Health Care
o Corey Gaarde - Technical Project Manager, Clinical Information Systems, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
o Lydia Lindholm - Manager, Ambulatory Clinical Information Systems, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
• ADVOCACY LIAISON: Vince S. Vitali - President, Vitali-FC, Inc.
We have three programs planned for the year:
1. The first, RHIOs — Theory, Progress & Practice, will be held on November 10th at the Elmhurst Memorial Center for Health in Elmhurst, IL.
2. We have begun to plan our second program, Insights into the Hospital of the Future, to be held on January 12th. We are looking for a location in downtown Chicago for this program.
3. Our last program will be held sometime in April. We are considering topics for that program as I write this.
We hope you can make it to all three. We are applying for CEU eligibility for all programs.
Other events to put on your calendar are:
• The Annual Chapter Social will take place at National HIMSS on February 14th. More details will be available soon.
• Our Annual Chapter Meeting is planned for July 13th. This will be a mixture of business and a social event at which a summary of the past years activities and financial position will be presented, any items requiring a membership vote will be brought forward, scholarship awardees announced and the newly elected Board members introduced.
I want to thank last year’s board members who worked so hard to manage the chapter and make our programs successful. They are Susan Wozniak – President, Bob Milfajt – Programs, Ruby Blaszak – Secretary, Don Larson – Publicity, Diane Conrath - Treasure, Stan Jaworski and Kevin Trovini – Members at Large.
Best regards, peace and prosperity to all,
Frank Scafidi
President, GCC HIMSS
RHIOs (Regional Health Information Organizations) - Theory, Progress & Practice
Frank Scafidi
Greetings GCC HIMSS Members:
I am pleased to announce the first of our educational programs for this year. In conjunction with physician practice EMRs, the concept of Regional Health Information Organizations or RHIOs is being promoted by the federal government as a way to improve patient care and reduce cost. The goal of this program is to share with you where some organizations are with respect to this initiative.
Our program is comprised of three expert speakers. David Clark, HIMSS Director of Integration & Interoperability, will give us a solid understanding of National HIMSS position on the promotion of community health information; Pat Becker, VP, Technology Development, University Healthsystem Consortium will provide an update on where the academic medical centers are on this initiative; Our last speaker, Kevin Carr, MD, Program Director, Waterbury Health Access Program, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine will introduce us to the work he and his team are doing to create a state wide RHIO in Connecticut.
PROGRAM TITLE: RHIOs – Theory, Progress & Practice
DATE: November 10, 2005
TIME: 3:30 – 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Elmhurst Memorial Center for Health Conference Center
1200 South York Rd.
Elmhurst, IL 60126
PARKING: Free
Cost: Preregister: Members & Students/$10; Non-Members or at the Door: $30
Agenda
3:30 p.m. Registration/check-in
4:00 - 4:45 p.m. Dave Clark
4:45 - 5:30 p.m. Pat Becker
5:30 - 6:00 p.m. Networking, Light fair
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Kevin Carr, M.D.
In addition to our speakers some time has been set aside for light refreshments and networking with your colleagues.
Please join us for what I am sure will be a great learning opportunity.
Frank Scafidi
President, GCCHIMSS
HIMSS creates group to support RHIO initiatives
October 31, 2005
Fred Bazzoli, Senior Editor, Healthcare IT News
CHICAGO — A national healthcare IT organization is hoping to coordinate efforts in the budding arena for regional IT networks by creating an organization for regional health information networks.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society announced last week that it was creating the HIMSS RHIO Federation.
Response has been strong, said David Clark, the Chicago-based organization’s director of integration and interoperability.
“Honestly, I can’t keep up with the e-mails,” he said late last week. “Our goal was to get five to eight RHIOs interested in participating the first year. I’ve already been contacted by 15 or 20 asking for information. We’re trying to figure out the best way to engage them.”
HIMSS saw a need in the area because it has identified more than 200 initiatives throughout the country, including efforts in Puerto Rico and Alaska, Clark said.
“They will need representation and an industry support mechanism,” he said.
HIMSS members are helping to create the development of the federation, and the organization will continue to do so through its RHIO Federation Task Force, chaired by C. Martin Harris, MD, CIO of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
RHIOs can participate at no charge in the new federation, Clark said.
“A lot of them are struggling with funding issues right now,” he said. “We’re just building this; we’re going to work with them to figure out the common challenges and what are the big things coming down the road.”
Clark said the federation will focus on three issues that are vexing for any RHIO at any stage of its development – how to build and codify trust between participants, how to develop business rules to ensure the organizations survive, and how to implement standards so participants can easily share data.
“For most organizations, they’re having problems with the data sharing agreement,” he said. “The problem is helping the members come to a consensus – how will they know that they can trust each other?”
HIMSS envisions using its advocacy wing to provide lobbying support for the federation, Clark said. Getting state laws adapted to enable the exchange of data over state lines also will be a big issue for the group, he said.
GCC HIMSS co-sponsors "Achieving Bottom Line Results Through IT" with HFMA
The theme of this year's conference is "Achieving Bottom Line Results through IT."
The goal of squeezing and measuring value from the investment in healthcare information technology is a critical, albeit elusive one. This program will illustrate how several hospitals are successfully using IT to improve their bottom line. Additionally, a panel of CIOs and CFOs will share their experience in grappling with IT capital allocations, measuring value and developing strong working parternships. We are pleased to have as our keynote speaker Alden Solovy, Executive Editor of Hospital & Health Networks to present his findings from the Most Wired Hospital survey.
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2005
Location: ARAMARK
2300 Warrenville Road
Downers Grove, IL 60515
(630) 271-2993
For more information:
IT Committee Chairmen
John Roquena (312 996-0922) or
Eric Tate (630 291-1392)
For a pdf file of program: www.firstillinoishfma.org
May Nursing Informatics Program with GCC HIMSS
The May 2006 program will focus on Nursing Informatics. This will be a one day program targeting both clinical and non-clinical IT audiences. The morning sessions will provide general information about what nursing informatics is and how it supports IT projects. It will also have panel presenters who have implemented clinical systems and how that technology impacted obtaining Magnet status for nursing departments. The panel will include nursing and IT representatives. The afternoon sessions will offer two tracks: one track that will focus on technology needed to implement eMARS’s; the second track will focus on Evidenced Based Nursing Practice and how technology supports that. Date and location will be determined soon.
GCC HIMSS 2005 Sponsorship Program
The Greater Chicago Chapter of HIMSS implemented a Sponsorship Program in 2005, which provides vendors the opportunity to pay one fee for the year and be listed as a sponsor on our Website and on the thank you board at every GCC-HIMSS program throughout the calendar year. Gold and platinum levels also provide the benefit of complimentary memberships and admissions to programs. We also welcome sponsorships for specific programs if vendors are not interested in the yearly sponsorship.
There are a lot of benefits to the GCC HIMSS chapter in implementing a sponsorship program, including:
To get funding to secure more national level speakers, who can add additional value to members on key hot topics
To offer more programs to members at a lower cost
To help fund additional programs through Web Conferencing, which allows more members in Illinois to participate
To give members exposure to the latest technologies and services so that members stay abreast of advancements in the industry
The GCC HIMSS Chapter already has six vendors who have shown interest in becoming a sponsor and look forward to adding more to the list as the year progresses.
For more information on the GCC HIMSS Sponsorship Program, please contact Susan Wozniak, GCCHIMSS Past President, at 630.993.5796 or swoznia@emhc.org
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PRESIDENT
Frank Scafidi
PAST PRESIDENT
Susan Wozniak
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Dawn Mitchell
TREASURER
Robert Milfajt
SECRETARY
Rose Ann Laureto
EDUCATION PROGRAM CHAIR
Beth Assif
COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
Joel Splan
MEMBER-AT-LARGE
Lydia Lindholm
ADVOCACY LIAISON
Vince S. Vitali
Web Site:
http://www.gcchimss.net
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