The first national HIMSS conference took place on April 1, 1962, at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore.  It is appropriate the event began in those Camelot days, when people asked themselves not what can be done for them but what they can do for others.  The seed from which today’s HIMSS conference grew started with the thesis that “an organized exchange of experience among members and other interested parties could promote a better understanding of the principles underlying hospital management systems”.  Consider the thousands of insights, shared struggles, shared advice given and received over that half century of “organized exchanges of experience” that is the HIMSS Conference. Welcome to STEPS to Value, a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.  In today’s episode, we will explore the global trends in healthcare & health information technology, progress made and challenges ahead with Steve Lieber, President & CEO of HIMSS.  Steve also shares with us his insights on what is on top of everyone’s HIT to-do list.  This Episode’s Guest:H. Stephen Lieber, CAEPresident and CEOHIMSSLearn more about SteveFollow HIMSS on Twitter: @HIMSSLearn more about HIMSS  This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s Audience Ask:So what is on your health IT to-do list?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]

Morris F. Collen always said he was “born with an interest in data”, his birthday being November 12th, 1913, or 11/12/13.  This interest in data followed Morris through medical school, through recruitment from Dr. Sidney Garfield to become a member of the medical practice that would eventually become Kaiser Permanente, through his conviction that computers could support the clinical process.   Morris F. Collen lived to see hard data confirm the success of the revolution he helped start.   When he and his team were feeding thousands of punch cards with patient data into those early IBM computers, literally 0% of physicians nationwide utilized electronic health records in their practice.  By 2013, around Morris’s 99th birthday, 78% of physicians utilized them.  At the heart of any data set lies mystery.  What patterns in the data lurk not yet noticed?  Will all this data yield us any insights?   About our patients?  About ourselves?  How do we turn data into actionable clinical and operational intelligence? Welcome to STEPS to Value, a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.  In today’s episode, we will explore the impact of clinical and business intelligence in the delivery of care with Kyle Johnson, System Vice President & CIO at Eastern Maine HealthCare. Kyle also shares with us her experiences at the HIMSS Annual Conference and how it has supported her professional life.   This Episode’s Guest:Kyle Johnson, MMI, CHCIOSystem Vice President & CIOEastern Maine Health SystemLearn more about LeslieFollow Eastern Maine Health System on Twitter: @EMHSofMaineLearn more about Eastern Maine Healthcare System This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s STEPS Categories:   This Episode’s Audience Ask:So what are the data mysteries you and your organization are trying to solve?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]

Enjoy some HIMSS17 networking tidbits from Vice President, Government Relations Tom Leary to have at the ready when you bump into the thought leader on the elevator who’ve you've always wanted to talk with.

Enjoy some HIMSS17 networking tidbits from Sr. Director of Congressional Affairs Samantha Burch to have at the ready when you bump into the thought leader on the elevator who’ve you've always wanted to talk with.

Enjoy some HIMSS17 networking tidbits from Sr. Director of Federal & State Affairs Jeff Coughlin to have at the ready when you bump into the thought leader on the elevator who’ve you’ve always wanted to talk with.

Gain insights on the new application process for the 2017 HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence from Jonathan French, Senior Director, Health Information Systems at HIMSS.Click here for more on the Davies Award of Excellence.

Fredrick Douglass once said “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.  Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”  Those strands of struggle braid themselves together and tie this vast nation together.  Sometimes chaffing against those in contact with it, sometime supporting them like a tightrope held taut by equal parts dream and deed.   There are many histories of struggle within the healthcare industry as well. Histories of the struggle of new scientific breakthroughs, first reviled and ridiculed and then finally embraced.  Other histories that follow a struggle over access, over who received care and the quality of the care they received.   What ties these stories of struggle together is the activists surrendering their seconds and their spirit in pursuit of a new and different tomorrow.         Welcome to STEPS to Value, a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.  As the healthcare industry prepares itself for new leadership at the federal, state, and local level, STEPS to Value is taking an in-depth look at the always evolving relationship between healthcare and public policy.  In today’s episode and the final part of our three-part series on healthcare and public policy, we will study the impact advocacy can have on the policy-making process with Leslie Bruce, Director, Healthcare Leadership and Community Outreach at UC San Diego Extension. Leslie also shares about her experiences mentoring future Health IT leaders as part of our Women in HIT series.   This Episode’s Guest:Leslie Bruce, JDDirector, Healthcare Leadership and Community OutreachUC San Diego ExtensionLearn more about LeslieFollow Leslie on Twitter: @LeslieKBruceLearn more about UC San Diego Extension This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s STEPS Categories: This Episode’s Audience Ask:So what are the most important areas for healthcare stakeholders to advocate for in the year ahead?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]

Much like our nation, our US public health infrastructure grew in fits and starts, with help from patriots across the political spectrum.  In 1798, President John Adams, a federalist, created the first public health institutions in America when he signed into law the “Act for the Relief of Sick & Disabled Seaman”, leading to the establishment of a network of hospitals along coastal waterways in our then decades-old country.  In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, signed into law the “National Quarantine Act” in response to smallpox and yellow fever outbreaks happening across the globe at the time.  In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, established what would soon become the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Today, there are hundreds of federal, state and local agencies as part of the nation’s public health infrastructure.  Thousands of people working each day towards the safety and health of those they share the nation with.   Welcome to STEPS to Value, a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.  As the healthcare industry prepares itself for new leadership at the federal, state, and local level, STEPS to Value continues to take an in-depth look at the always evolving relationship between healthcare and public policy.  In today’s episode, part two of this three-part series, we will gain an insider’s view on the give-and-take between policy and public health with Nedra Garrett, Senior Advisor for Informatics at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Nedra also shares her experiences as an Informaticist as part of our Women in HIT series.   This Episode’s Guests:Nedra GarrettSenior Advisor for InformaticsCenters for Disease Control and PreventionLearn more about NedraFollow Nedra on Twitter: @nedragarrett Learn more about the CDC This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s STEPS Categories:This Episode’s Audience Ask:So how does informatic impact your experience of public health?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]

Perhaps Otto von Bismark was on to something when he said “laws are like sausages; it’s better not to see them being made.” So what is it about the two, laws and sausages, that metaphorically link them together?  Both are produced from a messy process, one that works to balance different, sometimes contradictory, flavors into a palatable blend and form.Welcome to STEPS to Value, not one usually about sausage making, but actually a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.As this election year comes to an end and the healthcare industry prepares itself for new leadership at the federal, state, and local level, HIMSS is taking an in-depth look at the always evolving relationship between healthcare and public policy.  In this episode, we will discuss the impact of the final rule of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 with Virginia Commonwealth University Health Chief Financial Officer and 2016 HFMA Board of Directors’ Chair, Melinda Hancock.  In part two of this series, we will gain an insider’s view on the give-and-take between policy and public health with Nedra Garrett, Senior Advisor for Informatics at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In part three, we will study the impact advocacy can have on the policy-making process with Leslie Bruce, Director, Healthcare Leadership and Community Outreach at UC San Diego Extension.  So join us in the health IT policy kitchen.  Roll up your sleeves, we’re making sausage. This Episode’s Guests:Melinda HancockChief Financial Officer & Sr. Executive Vice PresidentVCU HealthLearn more about MelindaFollow Ferdiand on Twitter: @MelindaHancock9 Learn more about VCU Health This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s STEPS Categories:This Episode’s Audience Ask:So how does MACRA impact your organization and how are you dealing with the changes within the law?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.  Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” At the time when the 13th century Persian poet Rumi wrote those words, the world and human consciousness was rapidly changing.  When Rumi was 8, King John signed the Magna Carta.  When he was 21, Fibonacci printed the Liber abaci and our algorithmic age took breath.  When he was 34, Koreans began to use metal type.  Europeans began to use rockets.  When Rumi was 61, eye glasses were invented.  When he was 62, the astronomical compass.  Yet amongst his rapidly transforming world, Rumi already knew a key tenet of effective change management.  True lasting change always begins with the self.Maybe there has never been a time in our history when change didn’t feel rapid and unstoppable.  It certainly is true for us today.  In healthcare alone, changes over the past decade have impacted providers, politicians and patients in equally bewitching and beleaguering ways, all of us wondering. What. Comes. Next.Welcome to STEPS to Value, a podcast that explores the intersection of people, processes & technology in healthcare as the industry moves towards a value-focused model.  In today’s episode, we are going to discuss how technological, regulatory and operational changes over the past ten years has affected the healthcare industry with Dr. Ferdinand Velasco, HIMSS North America Board member and Chief Health Information Officer at the Davies award-winning Texas Health Resources.  We also hear from Dr. Velasco on how his Annual Conference experience has changed over the 15 years he’s attended the event. This Episode’s Guests:Ferdinand Velasco, MDCheif Health Information OfficerTexas Health ResourcesLearn more about FerdinandFollow Ferdiand on Twitter: @ftvelasco   Learn more about Texas Health Resources This Episode's Promo:HIMSS17 is the meeting place for all things health IT. Experience over 300 education programs, more than 1,200 vendors, hundreds of special programs, and limitless networking opportunities. Collaborate with HIMSS and thousands of colleagues worldwide as you work to positively transform health and lives through IT.Register Today This Episode’s STEPS Categories:  This Episode’s Audience Ask:So how does your organization deal with change and its impact?  Send us your thoughts as a voice memo or email and we will play them on the air at the end of our next episode.   You can send your comments to [email protected]