President's Message

Dear Maryland Chapter of HIMSS Members, Colleagues and Friends,

Hope you all are staying warm in this cold weather although we have been spared for the most part by heavy snow (fingers crossed). Thanks to everyone who joined us at the MDHIMSS social as well as our education session at the University of Maryland Medical System in January. We had over 170 members register for the education event and the day was a big success with discussions focused on mobile technologies, the impact of leadership change in Annapolis on healthcare to what the top region CIO’s are planning for Health IT 2015.

We hope that you will join us for all of our upcoming events including our Annual Advocacy Day in Annapolis on February 5^th, Education session on March 12^th, and our annual Golf event on May 18^th. Please get all the details at www.md.himsschapter.org.

MDHIMSS will be at the national HIMSS conference in Chicago from April 13 – 16, 2015 and we hope that you will join us there as well. If you have not already registered, please do so at www.himss.org.

Our committees are looking for volunteers from provider/healthcare organizations. Send us your information at info@md.himsschapter.org .

We welcome any suggestions or comments so don’t hesitate to contact me at president@md.himsschapter.org or any of our board members. Check us out at our new website www.md.himsschapter.org, Facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn for the upcoming events.

Special thanks to all the committee members for their hard work in making our events so successful. Hope to see you at one of our upcoming events.

Ravi Singh

President, Maryland Chapter of HIMSS

Maryland HIMSS Advocacy Efforts in Maryland and on Capitol Hill

Health IT in Action! Enabling Maryland to Achieve the Triple Aim

By Kathryn A. Whitmore, Maryland HIMSS Board Member and Advocacy Committee Co-Chair

On February 19^th over one hundred members of the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS spent the day in Annapolis visiting Senators and Delegates to discuss how Health IT in use today aids in improving population health, enhancing patient quality and experience, and reducing the overall cost of care.  Delegate Susan Krebs, Maryland House of Delegates, provided opening remarks for the 8th Annual Health IT Day. During Delegate Krebs’ remarks she presented a proclamation undersigned by Governor Larry Hogan declaring February 19, 2015 Maryland Chapter of HIMSS Health IT Day. 

The Health IT Day program began with a welcome from Ravi Singh (left of Delegate Krebs), President of the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS.  The day was moderated by Kathryn Whitmore (far right) and Chris Panagiotopoulos (far left), Advocacy Committee Co-Chairs for the Maryland Chapter.

The keynote address delivered by David Horrocks, President, CRISP, focused on Maryland's population health roadmap to the triple aim.  Then a panel took the stage to explore Maryland's triple aim goals and accomplishments. The following experts explored varying perspectives on how Health IT is helping Maryland achieve the triple aim balance of enhanced patient experience and a healthier population while improving cost:

• David Horrocks, President, CRISP
• Colin Ward, Vice President, Population Health and Clinical Integration, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health
• Dr. Jonathan Ringo, Chief Medical Information Officer, LifeBridge Health
• Pam Hinshaw, MSN, RN, CCM, Clinical Director of Care Management, Anne Arundel Medical System

Thank you to MoreDirect, Inc. for supplying the 50 inch TV door prize which went to Michelle Williamson, RN of the CDC.

We thank you for your continued interest in Health IT advocacy in Maryland.  If you would like to volunteer your time to help our advocacy efforts, please contact us:

Kathryn Whitmore (KathrynWhitmore@STSConsultingGroup.com) at 443-742-4643 or

Chris Panagiotopoulos (CPanagio@lifebridgehealth.org) at 410-601-9429.

Maryland HIMSS Program Planning Committee

On Thursday, January 28^th, the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS held their Winter Educational event at the University of Maryland’s Campus.  With over 180 registrants, this was yet another well attended event in the series of events for this educational season.

The morning started out with a continental breakfast followed by an update on the upcoming activities of the Maryland Chapter provided by Ravi Singh, President of the Maryland HIMSS Chapter.  This was followed by an invite from the Advocacy Committee for the upcoming Health Information Technology (HIT) Day in Annapolis on February 19^th. 

Brian Cassel, Vice President of IT Services at UMMS, welcomed the audience to his facility.  He provided a history and overview of UMMS as they continue their Information Systems transformation across their system.

Jim Leonard presented how through the implementation of an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system a hospital can realize cost savings through multiple departments. 

Stuart Hochron demonstrated how the investment in mobile technologies can reduce patient time at the hospital and improve patient care.  This is achieved through reducing response times for physician consults, decreasing bed turnover time, and an overall increase in communications between clinicians.

After a break for lunch and networking, Ashlie Bagwell provided an overview of the change in the political landscape in Annapolis and how those changes and issues will affect Healthcare in Maryland.

One of the highlights of the day was our CXO Panel discussion, with members including Barbara Baldwin (CIO Anne Arundel Health), Ed Grogan (CIO Calvert Memorial Health), David Quirk (CIO Trivergent Health), Ray Adkins (CIO Peninsula Health), and Brian Cassel (VP IT Services UMMS).  The group was presented with a series of questions ranging from describing their organizations and goals for 2015, to relaying their issues and concerns.  The discussion ended with questions from the audience.

The day ended with the raffling of prizes to our participants, which included a 48 inch flat panel HDTV to Ed Grogan.

As a reminder, we have several more activities coming up in the year, they include:

February 19, 2015 – Maryland Health IT Day 2015: "Health IT in Action! Enabling Maryland to Achieve the Triple Aim" (Annapolis, MD)

• February 25, 2015 – Maryland HIMSS February 2015 Hump Day Social Event
• March 12, 2015 – Maryland HIMSS Spring 2015 Educational Session
• May 18, 2015 – Maryland HIMSS 5^th Annual Golf Tournament

Come out and join us, you will be glad that you did!

Bob Hooper, Program Planning Committee Member-HIMSS Maryland Chapter

 Maryland HIMSS 2015 Scholarships

The Maryland Chapter of HIMSS is accepting applications for two $2500 scholarships that can be used to support undergraduate and graduate study in Healthcare Information Technology or Informatics. This is a wonderful opportunity to get support for your studies and to become involved with the Maryland Chapter of HIMSS as a student member.  Please see the Maryland HIMSS website at http://md.himsschapter.org for the application form.  Applications for the scholarship are due to MD HIMSS on May 31, 2015.  The scholarship checks will be awarded during the Networking event in the fall.