The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum will work together to enhance the development of the Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study, a leading barometer that annually measures the growth of information technology use and adoption among U.S. hospitals.
The partnership, effective on January 1, 2015, was announced on October 29th, during the 22nd annual CHIME Fall CIO Forum in San Antonio, Texas. CHIME, which has been a sponsor of the Most Wired Survey for over a decade, and the AHA will work collaboratively to further develop the survey, build a program to recognize IT use in hospitals nationwide, and encourage IT adoption and performance improvement with results from survey findings. Health Care’s Most Wired Survey is now in its 16th year and is published annually by Hospitals & Health Networks magazine.
“We’re thrilled to assume a larger, more impactful role in this long-standing benchmarking program that recognizes and supports the critical function of healthcare IT delivery,” said CHIME President and CEO Russell P. Branzell, FHCIME, CHCIO. “Developing and maintaining useful data on health IT integration, as it relates to operational, financial and clinical performance, serves as an invaluable industry resource.”
Health Care’s Most Wired survey will be incorporated into several core CHIME and AHA/Health Forum activities, with the intent of developing key educational programs, as well as providing data and best practices that can be used for industry analysis and performance improvement.
“This deeper collaboration with CHIME is very exciting. Both organizations have been long-time advocates for improving health care through IT integration. We look forward to working together to help our collective members through enhanced support, education and recognition that will advance health care IT adoption and performance improvement efforts,” said Neil Jesuele, Executive Vice President, AHA and President, Health Forum.
“The CHIME Board is delighted to work in partnership with AHA as we focus our combined expertise and resources to ensure the Most Wired Survey remains a valuable tool for our members, their organizations, and the industry at-large,” said CHIME Board Chair Randy McCleese, FCHIME, LCHIME, CHCIO, Vice President of IS and CIO at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Kentucky. “This partnership underscores our commitment to health information technology as a differentiator in improving care coordination, quality and outcomes.”
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.cio-chime.org.
About the American Hospital Association
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is the national organization that represents and serves all types of hospitals, health care networks, and their patients and communities. Nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members come together to form the AHA. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, please visit www.aha.org.