Winter 2018 Newsletter


Message from the Board

Happy holidays HIMSS NorCal members!

What an incredible fall quarter! This was such an eventful time of the year for our chapter, from the CxO Summit to Meetups, to Advocacy wins and Education outreach.

The CxO Summit was our first education program of the year, at which our event committee co-chaired by Nick Steinbach and Jason Johnson brought an incredible speaker lineup who discussed how unprecedented advances in digital technology are transforming how healthcare is delivered. This was our third event for the fiscal year, and we are happy to report that it was a sold out success just like the first two!

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CxO Wrap Up

By Jason Johnson, Programs Committee Chair

The rainy weather didn’t dampen our great time at Citrix HQ for our 5th Annual CxO Summit in November! Those who attended heard about the industry outlook from Gartner’s perspective during Vi Shaffer’s engaging keynote.

We also hosted Todd Dunn, Director of Innovation for Intermountain Health, for his take on how innovation isn’t the only path to transformation. He discussed design-thinking and offered some simple tools that can be used to quickly put together a business model or vet the value proposition of a new idea. From there, policy experts debated on which comes first: innovation, transformation, or policy, and the jury is still out!

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HIMSS NorCal is now on LinkedIn!

By Maital S. Rasmussen, Marketing Committee Chair

Please follow HIMSS NorCal on LinkedIn to stay informed of the latest updates from the chapter. You can access our profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/norcalhimss

Don’t forget to join our HIMSS NorCal group, which is a discussion forum for our Chapter community members on healthcare topics such as Digital Health and Health IT. You can join the conversation here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1837211


ICYMI: HIMSS Sacramento Meetup

“The Mindset of a Hacker: Tackling Digital Security Together”

By Serena Kouklis, HIMSS NorCal Meetups Team

What: “The Mindset of a Hacker: Tackling Digital Security Together”
When: 11/9/2017, 6-8pm
Where: Sutter Health’s Patrick Hayes Learning Center

Julian Garcia, Sr. Security Engineer at SecureWorks gave a presentation on cybercrime on November 9 to a crowd of healthcare and IT professionals. Below is a short summary of what he had to say:

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CPHIMS Comes to HIMSS NorCal

By Jessica RayMarco Lopez, and Deborah Kohn, Education Committee

The HIMSS Northern California chapter is pleased to announce new developments to assist its members in obtaining the CPHIMS (Certified Professional in Health Information & Management Systems) distinction. As with any professional certification, the process may seem daunting and out of reach. But fear not! Our chapter will be offering two, in-person, day-long, CPHIMS examination review classes per year, one in the spring and one in the fall. We are also pleased to announce that members who have provided at least one year of volunteer service to our chapter will be eligible for reimbursement of the cost of the certification exam.

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State Official of the Year

Western Regional HIMSS Advocacy Vice Chair and Northern California Advocacy Chair, Shanti Wilson, along with Southern California Advocacy Chair, John Conklin, presented California Senator Ed Hernandez the “HIMSS State Legislator of the Year Award” on behalf of the National HIMSS Board of Directors. Senator Hernandez received this honor for his efforts that demonstrate a significant contribution to the positive transformation of healthcare through the use of information technology (IT). We thank Senator Hernandez for his leadership and dedication to Health IT demonstrated by his support of HIMSS California State HIT Events and for championing Health IT legislation.

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Want change? Get involved with HIMSS Advocacy

By Shanti Wilson, Vice Chair, Western Region Advocacy, HIMSS NorCal Advocacy Chair

HIMSS North America represents 70,000 individual members, 630 corporate members, and over 450 non-profit organizations and has over 5,000 right here in California. HIMSS supports connecting its members with state, regional, and national decision-makers on key health IT issues. With our political landscape being more divisive than most can remember, advocacy is a bi-partisan effort focused on improving the lives of all through health IT. There are many ways you can impact your community through advocacy. Below are 10-ways to get involved:

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Sponsorship Update

By Stevie Ryan, Past President and Sponsorship Committee

On behalf of the Sponsorship committee for the Northern California Chapter of HIMSS, we would like to take a moment to thank all the contributing sponsors that give our chapter the ability to put on meaningful and impactful programs, year after year. We have just recently wrapped up our annual CxO Forum on November 16, 2017 with amazing feedback! The following sponsors made this event possible: 

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Registration Now Open! 2018 Innovation Conference & Showcase - February 1, 2018

Be with us at the forefront of healthcare innovation and learn how topics such as Artificial Intelligence and Precision Medicine are maturing and their impact on patient care. Explore the advancements made by technology leaders in non-healthcare industries and how they can positively impact the healthcare ecosystem. Your HIMSS NorCal team is looking forward to having you bring your thirst for knowledge and desire to network with both like-minded and divergent-minded colleagues. Mark your calendars today and register below to receive reduced early bird pricing through January 5, 2018!

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