Highlights from the College’s 2002 Fall CIO Forum
"Built To Last: Essential Leadership Strategies for Healthcare CIOs"

CHIME celebrated its 10th anniversary Fall CIO Forum in style from October 8 – 11th at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, FL. The resort provided an ideal setting for the more than 360 attendees to enjoy both education and relaxation! Special thanks to planning chair Eric Yablonka, his entire planning committee, the CHIME Foundation, and everyone involved for making this a fitting event to celebrate our 10th year serving the healthcare CIO profession. For those of you unable to attend, a summary of highlights follows.

Activities on Tuesday included several Pre-Forum Workshops. Popular sessions included topics on next generation clinical systems, HIPAA, vendor performance, and managing turnaround in an IS department. In addition to the indoor educational opportunities, members who wanted an extra edge for Thursday’s golf tournament had the opportunity to participate in afternoon golf clinics at the Doral’s renowned Jim McLean golf school. A welcoming reception closed out the day, giving attendees the opportunity to greet old friends and make new connections.

On Wednesday morning, Peter Strombom welcomed attendees and honored CHIME’s founding Board and charter members in a special presentation. CHIME President Rich Correll also presented individual honors on Wednesday morning: CHIME’s Innovator of the Year Award and the John Glaser Scholarships. CHIME member Carole Cotter, Senior Vice President & CIO at Lifespan in Providence, RI, was the inaugural recipient of the annual Innovator of the Year Award. Presented in recognition of her role in deploying Lifespan’s innovative enterprise-wide patient results browser, the award provides peer recognition to CIOs who have demonstrated value to their organization through the creative application of technology in support of their organization's key and strategic business objectives.

Two CHIME members’ staffers became the recipients of the first John Glaser Scholarships in recognition of outstanding dedication to professional development and commitment to improving their IT organization: Michelle Edwards from Palmetto Health (CHIME member Tim Thompson’s staff member) and Denise Williams from Southern Regional Health System (CHIME member Terry Wilk’s staff member). Congratulations to all award winners!

Following Peter’s welcome, Dr. Don Detmer of Cambridge University’s Health Judge Institute of Management gave a thought-provoking keynote address entitled “Achieving the National Health Information Infrastructure: Prime Time for CIOs.” Dr. Detmer presented his position that a National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) is a critical step in ensuring that the various and competing forces in today’s healthcare landscape can come together in a way that benefits healthcare providers, payers, and consumers alike. He said that information technology will be a predominant force in dealing with the rapid advancements in medical treatments, the demands for improved patient safety and the drive for patient privacy. The only way to achieve an NHII, he said, is collaboration among all healthcare participants (CIOs, patients, clinicians, politicians, etc.) and the eradication of the fear of change.

Dr. Warren McFarlan, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University, followed with an eye-opening presentation on “The Role of the IT CEO: Critical Skills for Effective Leaders.” He began his presentation by discussing the factors that have stayed the same in the field of IT, including change and the resistance to change, the introduction of new technologies, efficiency issues, obsolete technical skills, and the need for a CIO. These issues are complimented, he said, by the issues and situations that have changed, including digital convergence, bandwidth explosion, and the global availability of the Internet. All of these changes are considered disruptive technologies - but he charged CIOs and other senior leadership to take the reins and lead their organizations to success by adapting to them. Dr. McFarlan discussed several corporations that dealt with disruptive technologies both successfully and unsuccessfully in terms of boundary transformation, business to business e-commerce, and business to consumer e-commerce. These illustrations drove home the point that senior leadership’s vision and willingness to change are critical to surviving in today’s IT-driven business and consumer culture.

Wednesday’s general session wrapped up with a very special guest speaker – Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corporation. CHIME’s Founding Chairman John Glaser moderated the conversational format of the presentation entitled “Leadership, Innovation and IT – a Conversation with Michael Dell.” The conversation covered Mr. Dell’s thoughts on leadership, success, emerging technologies, and trends in the industry. Echoing Dr. McFarlan’s presentation, he pointed out that the willingness to change in response to changing technology is one of the most important keys to success - but that making small, incremental changes is often more beneficial than doing “big bang” implementations. To be a good leader, he said, you need to have a good understanding of your market, be metrics driven and results oriented, set clear priorities, and be able to inspire people by doing things that are unique and valuable with a clear direction and strategy.

Wednesday evening’s outdoor pool reception closed out the day and provided members with an opportunity to network with colleagues while enjoying the sounds of waterfalls and calypso music. A fun, relaxing time was had by all!

Thursday began bright and early with CHIME Foundation Focus Groups. These small group sessions gave CHIME members and their vendor/consultant partners the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with each other on current healthcare and technology issues. Many attendees spent the afternoon participating in their choice of recreational activity – the annual golf tournament, tall ship sailing, a fishing tournament, or a tour of the historical Villa Vizcaya. Members continued networking at Thursday evening’s reception, which featured a special presentation by none other than Pulitzer Prize-winning author and humorist Dave Barry. Barry provided one belly-laugh after the next as he covered such topics as Miami drivers and surviving teenaged children.

Friday’s lineup included speakers Bruce Tulgan, founder of Rainmaker Thinking, and Ian Morrison, consultant at the Institute for the Future. Tulgan’s presentation, “Becoming a Coaching Syle Leader,” dealt with the importance of managers developing true leadership skills based on today’s changing workforce and business atmosphere. According to Tulgan, big changes in the larger economy are affecting the relationship between managers and their direct reports, and the “free agent mindset” is becoming pervasive across generations of workers. To counter these forces, he stressed that leaders must act more like personal coaches and avoid one-size fits all management techniques. Instead, he encouraged flexibility. Listening to your employees and tailoring your management style to each individual can return dramatic gains in productivity and accountability.

In the final session of the day, Ian Morrison shared is vision on “Inventing the Future: The Twenty Year Redesign of Healthcare.” Morrison believes that a variety of forces will converge making it impossible for healthcare to maintain its current status quo. He said that public discontent, healthcare cost increases, quality struggles, empowered consumers, and information technology will all force the current healthcare system to undergo a dramatic change, moving to more consumer contributions to health insurance and implementing a tiered approach to spending. The main components of what he sees as the ideal twenty-year redesign of the current system include an IT infrastructure, elimination of disparities and errors, mass customization, and the increased use of technology. This compelling (and humorous!) session was the perfect way to wrap up an outstanding Forum!

The 2002 Fall CIO Forum concluded with an extra-special 10th anniversary prize drawing. Congratulations to the lucky winners: A Doral golf getaway vacation package – Pat McGuire
10-inch portable DVD players – Linda Barrett, Dave Gawaluck, and Tom Griffiths
Fuji digital camera – Jay Raman
Thumb drive – Mike Balassone
Lexmark 3 in 1 printer – Rod Dykehouse
Nintendo Gamecube – Chris Vrooman
$50 Amazon.com gift certificates – Zed Day and Tim Hearing

Very special thanks again to Eric Yablonka and his planning committee as well as the members of the CHIME Foundation, without whom we could not have produced this first-class event. Thank you all for making this Forum one of the best ever and for helping us to celebrate CHIME’s 10th anniversary!

TOP