I officially became President of the Tennessee Chapter of HIMSS on July 1, 2018. I’m very thankful for the council of our Past-President, Tommy Lewis, as we move through the transition. I can say, I’m humbled by the opportunity to lead one of the largest, and certainly the best, Chapter among the 57 Chapters of HIMSS (some states have multiple Chapter organizations) and at the same time, excited to participate in the mission of HIMSS – “Better health through information and technology”.
We’re off to a fantastic start to our 2018-2019 fiscal year with a strong showing at the Summit of the Southeast – our annual event – held in conjunction with the Health:Further Festival. Approximately 1,700 individuals attended the event. Our Summit had 10 educational sessions from a total of 28 moderators and panelists, arranged in solo presentations, fireside chats and moderated panels. We discussed leadership, interoperability, data analytics, blockchain, the internet of things, cybersecurity and design thinking in healthcare. A special thanks to our Summit of the Southeast Committee, in addition to our Program, Membership and Marketing Committees for their leadership and hard work on this event.
The HIT Accelerator Program is off and running for the Fall semester. This program, in partnership with Belmont University, provides practical health information technology training through a 14-week certification program, taught by many experts in specific disciplines. This is the largest student group to date with live sessions located on the campus of Belmont and live video streaming at BCBS of TN in Chattanooga as well as a live streaming option for individual students.
We have two outstanding events in the month of October. At OneC1TY on October 9th, we will host the second in our Innovator Series, focusing on successful models of Innovation. This event will feature opening remarks from Dr. Tami Wyatt, Associate Dean of Research, College of Nursing, University of Tennessee and will be moderated by Dr. Eric Louie, Chief Medical Officer of Healthbox. In an effort to boost offerings in innovation and digital health solutions, the National HIMSS organization has acquired the conference assets of Health 2.0 and more recently, acquired Healthbox – a leading healthcare innovation consulting organization.
On October 25th, we will partner with the Nashville Post, our media partner, to host an event titled “Making More of Health Care Data” at the City Winery.
You can register for these events by clicking here (October 9th Event at OneC1TY) and here (October 25th event at the City Winery).
October 8th through October 12th is National HIT Week. Be sure to check out the HIMSS site for daily updates on the many activities, events and stories reflecting on the successful utilization of information and technology to improve the lives of the patients served by our industry.
Finally, I would like to thank our Executive Director, Tiffany Madigan, in leading the day to day operations of the Chapter, including many aspects of our event coordination. In addition, I would like to thank our Board of Directors and Ambassadors for their leadership on committees, events, advocacy and education.
I look forward to seeing you at the upcoming events. Be sure to reach out to me at ethrailkill@amsurg.com if you have any questions or through LinkedIn to connect.
Sincerely,
Eric Thrailkill