With daily highs hovering in the mid-90’s, the weather in Tennessee certainly doesn’t have the appearance of the onset of Fall.  However, with college football, pro football and yes, Nashville Predator hockey cranking up, I know it’s just a matter of time until crisp mornings and beautiful colors are a part of or daily rituals.

Eric Thrailkill - President Elect TNHIMSS
TN HIMSS President Eric Thrailkill

The TN HIMSS Board of Directors, Ambassadors and Leadership Team have been hard at work preparing for a busy event schedule.  We’re extremely proud of our latest Workforce Accelerator cohort, 24 individuals participating in the Fall Semester session.  We look forward to hearing from these leaders throughout this process and know they will continue to contribute their learnings in the industry.

Tod Fetherling, President-Elect and Guice Smith, Collaboration Chair, will be participating in the National HIMSS Chapter Leader workshops at the Health 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, CA.  We’re positive Tod and Guice will make a meaningful contribution to the Global HIMSS organization and learn/share best practices to enable all HIMSS Chapters to move forward.

We’re excited to introduce a highly recognized panel of experts discussing the latest challenges and solutions to team-based approaches to behavioral health with an event on October 10th at AMSURG.  Registration for this event can be found here.  Please make sure you register early as we expect another full house for our Innovation Series programs. 

The Chapter will be hosting our latest “CIO Dinner” series events also on October 10th, featuring Envision Healthcare CIO Kristin Darby and SVP of Revenue Cycle, Guy Miceli.  Utilizing RPA (robotic process automation) within a complex physician services organization will be the theme of this event.  These sessions allow smaller groups to engage in discussions of the most pressing challenges and solutions – further providing evidence of the thought leadership generated by your Chapter.

Our award-winning Chapter continues to contribute to advocacy efforts at the state and federal level with upcoming participation with Nashville Health and HIT Week publications.  Thanks to our Advocacy Committee, chaired by Caleb Graves, for continued efforts on positions important to our industry.

It’s not too early to make sure you block out April 14, 2020 for the annual Summit of the Southeast.  This event, to be held at the Marriott Cool Springs, will feature some of the leading authorities on innovation, use of advanced analytics and the incorporation of empathy in emerging models of care.  We’re very excited to preview a short list of speakers and panelists, as follows:

  • Senator Bill Frist will be conducting a live podcast, with a special guest – be sure to check out the very popular “A Second Opinion” podcast here
  • IBM Watson Health and VUMC will present on the $50m AI research alliance partnered by IBM, Vanderbilt and Brigham and Women’s
  • Applied Health Analytics will be sharing a converged model, featuring Atrium Health, utilizing data to build primary care services for the employer community
  • Don Rucker, MD, Director of the ONC (Office of National Coordinator) will be providing an update on 21stCentury Cures, TEFCA and interoperability
  • Paul Keckley, of the Keckley Report, will provide an election overview, addressing critical similarities and differences between election candidates

Needless to say, we’re overwhelmed with the positive response from our sponsors and speakers and look forward to updating you on additional speakers/panelists as this date gets closer.

We’re thankful of our annual sponsors – we do not take lightly your financial contributions and of equal value, your contributions to service and thought leadership.  Without you, our ability to execute strategy would be significantly limited.

Finally, a big thanks to all of our Tennessee Chapter of HIMSS members – this Chapter is for you – for networking, professional growth, insights and collaboration.  Take advantage of these Chapter resources, contact us at any time (ethrailkill@amsurg.com) and participate in our many events.  Your leadership is important, necessary and beneficial to the industry as we use information and technology to improve health.  Our mission is important and now, more than ever, impactful for the patients of the communities we serve.

Have a great Fall – watch some football, enjoy the leaves and reach out to our Chapter resources for updates on the industry!