Q2 2018 Newsletter
HIMSS State HIT Day 2018
by Shanti Wilson, HIMSS NorCal Vice-President of Advocacy
The HIMSS Advocacy team representing Northern and Southern California had a great State HIT day on May 16, 2018. The day was filled with education, advocacy and meaningful conversations. Shanti Wilson, HIMSS Vice Chair, Western Region Advocacy and Chair for Northern CA Advocacy kicked off the day with a discussion about advocacy and what it means to HIMSS. In short, advocacy is being passionate about a cause and wanting to make a difference. HIMSS focuses their passion on improving health through IT.
Do We Really Need APIs in Healthcare?
by Mo Alkady, President at Hart
When I talk to CIOs, often the first question I get is “what are APIs?” This is usually followed immediately by, “why do I need them?” Perhaps, as I have come to learn, these questions stem from the concern of necessity. After all, we already possess the power of HL7, so how are APIs different and why do they deserve preferential treatment?
A Dialogue Regarding Health Literacy
With Thao Tran (HIMSS SoCal Marketing and Communications Committee Member) and Tim Jones (HIMSS SoCal Chapter Past President and CEO of Health Nuts Media)
Thao: Patients have access to mobile devices, tablets, and computers yet the national health literacy is still low. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 9 out of 10 do not have the skills to manage their health and practice prevention. What do you think is wrong and how can we improve the national health literacy level?
Tim: There is a "long" answer to this, but I don't think we have space in our newsletter. So I'll give you my condensed version:
Subscribe to the SoCal HIMSS Podcast Channel on iTunes!
We now have eight published podcasts including topics on Interoperability, Artificial Intelligence Blockchain, The Role of the CIO in Healthcare Transformation.
Our iTunes Podcast channel link is:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/himss-socal-podcast/id1314101896
Subscribe today to ensure you have access to all of our upcoming content including:
- Gamification and Improving Teammate Productivity with Gerilynn Sevenikar
- Current State of Healthcare Cybersecurity - Threats, Breaches, Challenges and how you can be Prepared with Sri Bharadwaj
Interested in hearing about a topic or being featured on our podcast? Please submit your ideas at: himsssocal@gmail.com.
Member Profiles Featuring Stephen Lee & William W. Feaster, MD
by Krystal Di Stefano, Chair, Membership Committee
Stephen Lee, Senior Consultant at Kaiser Permanente
Stephen is an emerging leader, bringing strategic and information systems expertise in biotech and healthcare as a senior business consultant for Kaiser Permanente since 2013. He attended UCLA where he obtained his M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management in 2014. During this time, he received the UCLA Fielding Department of Health Policy and Management Leadership Grant and the distinction of the California Wellness Foundation Fellow. In his most recent work, Stephen has developed and led the implementation of the California End of Life Option Act for the Kaiser Permanente Southern California region. He has also led multiple initiatives in end stage renal disease, hospice, surgical specialties, and hematologic malignancies as lead analyst for the Regional Tertiary and Specialty Services Committee.
William W. Feaster, MD, MBA, CHCIO-eligible, CHIO at Children’s Hospital of Orange County
Dr. Feaster is Chief Health Information Officer at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC). He came to CHOC in 2012 as CMIO. In this role, he has guided the implementation of a fully integrated EMR for both the inpatient and outpatient clinics at CHOC. As a result, CHOC is both MU Stage 2 and 3 ready and the organization was recently recertified as a HIMSS Stage 7 EMRAM hospital. CHOC additionally was awarded the Nicholas E Davies Award of Excellence in 2016 for utilizing health information technology to improve healthcare outcomes.
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