Nebraska HIMSS Happenings - Spring 2015

Nebraska HIMSS at HIMSS15

Chicago welcomed the 2015 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, April 12-16, 2015, at McCormick Place. More than 38,000 healthcare industry professionals attended to discuss health IT issues and view innovative solutions designed to transform healthcare.

Members of the Nebraska HIMSS Chapter aslo met up for a lunch meeting and a photo opp.

 


Awards and Recongnition

HIMSS Chapter Leader of the Year Award. 2014 award recipient was our very own Kevin Conway.

The Chapter Leader of the Year Award recognizes an individual who demonstrates significant leadership, extraordinary contributions to HIMSS Chapters and the Society, and a commitment to the health IT industry

HIMSS Chapter of the year Award. – Nebraska received small chapter of the year award second time in a row.

HIMSS chapters make many noteworthy contributions to the professional lives of their members and to the health IT community in their local areas.

 

Davies Award of Excellence Ambulatory – goes to our very own Fremont Family Care

Since 1994, the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence has recognized outstanding achievement of organizations who have utilized health information technology to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment. The Davies Awards program promotes EHR-enabled improvement in patient outcomes through sharing case studies and lessons learned on implementation strategies, workflow design, best practice adherence, and patient engagement.

Fremont Family Care HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Award winning case studies demonstrate how FFC utilized electronic health record enabled dashboards, clinical decision support, and data to drive a culture change that has significantly improved quality outcomes.


Nebraska HIMSS Spring Meeting Highlights

Well this Nebraska HIMSS Spring Meeting marks our best attendance yet.  We had more wonderful members attend the meeting in North Platte May 14th-15th than any other meetings.  We had a great agenda thanks to our fabulous Program committee.  We appreciate all hose who presented and all those attending.  I hope that you all had as wonderful networking and educational experience as we had.

We had presentations on Security and cyber defense, Broadband, Meaningful Use, Legislative updates, ICD-10, contracts, and Informatics, with representation from across the state.  We managed to hit discussion on all the top trending issues across the country according to Health Care IT News http://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/top-5-health-it-trends-2015-whats-top-mind.  Members also had discussions on what keeps us up at night, which also highlighted previous discussions on topics that were presented.  There were many great discussion on where health care is going and how we are all driving innovation, and solving issues. 


Todd Searls, Wide River for covered innovation and The Power of an Informatics Co-op presentation.  Nebraska is a strong state and its strength is gathered and increased by the pioneering attitude of its members working together is a great theme to keep us all strong when moving forward in health care and Surviving the challenges and expense of Health IT reform and regulations.


Jeromee Tilton, FireEye reminded us of all the monsters under our beds and the nightmares they can give us when we don’t take preventative measures.  Jeromee had insight on understanding, detecting, issues as well as preventing breaches.  Security discussions reiterate what seemed to be the NEHIMSS Spring Meeting theme of networking and work together, communicating and sharing issues and resolutions rises us all up to prevent or improve outcomes. 


Boni Carrell, Rural Nebraska Health Network- Mandi Constantien, Nebraska Medical Center, and David Christensen, Prairie Health Ventures brought together information on how we can better connect our state to provide better access of care to our patients.  At the end of the day that is what it is about providing access to care so that patients receive quality care no matter where they are.  Quote of the day: “Fiber is the new crop in Nebraska”


Marty Fattig, Nemaha County Hospital, who recently received the J.G. Elliot Award for nearly four decades of service to rural Nebraska and for his unceasing dedication to the improvement of health care in Nebraska. Marty began a discussion on Meaningful Use, where it is going, where it should go, and what we can do to facility or even drive change.  Marty who works on the AHA Interoperability Advisory work Group  to strive to Provide input on IT advocacy and policy development; Guide member education activities that involve IT; and Discuss and provide guidance on emerging IT trends in the field.   Meaningful Use and the true meaning of interoperability is top of mind for healthcare everywhere.


Bruce Rieker, NHA gave us a lot of information in a short amount of time with the legislative update.  A very busy plate where we do not want to be the meal but be at the table.  Great things are happening in Nebraska.

•             Members do you want to demonstrating you meet an international standard of professional knowledge and competence in healthcare information and management systems and Increasing your credibility with your employer.  Do you want to show your continued commitment to continuing professional development while enjoying a sense of personal and professional achievements.  Then the CPHIMS and CAHIMS is the Credential for you.  Thank you to members listed below for your continued support of your industry and commitment to your professional development.

Nebraska Member CPHIMS and CAHIMS

CPHIMS:

Joe Bajek

Lori Beeby

Jude Cook M.D.

Allana Cummings

Daniel Engle

Roger Hertz

Michael Keeley

Tim Pugsley

Tamara Stepanek

Lianne Stevens

Brian Sterud

Anna Turman

Phillip Vuchetich

Donna Weis

CAHIMS/CPHIMS:

Rhonda Luetkenhaus


Achieve CPHIMS Certification

Great News for those of you who would like to join your fellow Nebraska Chapter members and gain CPHIMS credentials, your opportunity has arrived.  Nebraska Chapter HIMSS will be having a CPHIMS exam review course taught by National HIMSS brought to you at your back door in Omaha in November.  Mark your calendar and we will keep you posted of the exact date.  Let’s show Nationals how committed to healthcare Nebraska members are.


New Chapter Representation

Nebraska HIMSS Chapter has elected new represenation.  Please meet our new chairs.

Chair of Program

Chris Henkenius

 

Chris Henkenius is the President of H4 Technology, LLC, a healthcare technology product development company located in La Vista, NE.  Chris’ career in healthcare technology dates back to 1996.  Since then he has worked on most major healthcare technology initiatives, including leading HIPAA initiatives at Mutual of Omaha, implementing and directing daily operations at NeHII, founding Stella Technology, a silicon valley technology startup, and implementing software to replace the technology infrastructure for the Division of Behavioral Health within the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.  A project manager by trade, Chris is PMP certified, and holds an MBA from the Heider College of Business at Creighton University. 

 

Secretary

Brian Sterud, M.B.A., C.H.C.I.O.

Chief Information Officer

Brian Sterud received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD in 2001. In 2011, he graduated from CIO Boot Camp at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Sterud is a Certified Healthcare CIO and Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems. He received his Masters of Business Administration degree (MBA) with specialization in Health Services Administration in 2014 from the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, SD.

Since 2001, Sterud has built a strong knowledge of the technology needs and initiatives within the healthcare industry, including the position of Network Analyst, Remote Systems Engineer and Consultant and Data Systems Engineer.  In 2008, Mr. Sterud became the Director of Information Management at Brookings Health Systems. In 2012, Sterud accepted his current role as Vice President of Information Systems at Faith Regional Health Services.

Mr. Sterud is married and has two children.

 

President Elect

Timothy J. Pugsley, MBA, CPHIMS, CHCIO, FACHE

Chief Information Officer, Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital         

Omaha, Nebraska

Tim Pugsley joined the Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital in 2006 and has eighteen years of experience in Information Technology with thirteen of those in Healthcare.  His previous position was Director of Corporate Technologies with Student Resources, a division of UICI, a leading provider of insurance with annual revenues exceeding 2.1 Billion dollars.  Prior to UICI, Mr. Pugsley was Vice President of Information Technology and Client Services for i-Trax LLC, a national telehealth nurse triage and disease management provider. He also has extensive experience in system design, analytics, and operations management.

Mr. Pugsley earned both his Bachelor’s Degree in MIS and Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Bellevue University in Bellevue NE

He is a Fellow with The American College of Healthcare Executives as well as holding certifications with College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHCIO) and  Health Information Management Systems Society (CPHIMS).

Mr. Pugsley’s role at NOH includes oversight for Business Strategy and Development as well as Hospital Support Services including Clinical Informatics, Systems Management, Biomed, Information Systems, Health Information Management, and Analytics.  

Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital is a 24-bed Orthopaedic specialty hospital with over $155 Million in Annual Revenues.  The hospital is a partnership between 28 orthopaedic Surgeons and Nebraska Medicine.  NOH is Joint Commission accredited and the only orthopaedic specialty hospital in the region.