Summer 2018 Newsletter

End of the Year Recap

By Nick Steinbach, President, HIMSS NorCal Chapter

As your President, I would like to take this opportunity thank our membership base for their support. What a year we have had! With the summer season upon us and the finish of our 2017/2018 program year -- this is a great time for reflection and planning.

We wrapped up the year with an incredibly engaging annual ePatient Summit at UCSF Mission Bay, visiting our legislators at the Capitol for HIT Advocacy Day, and celebrating this year at our end of the year social at Rosenblum Winery in Jack London Square. I encourage you to read about their highlights in the articles below!

Read More


Recapping the (dis)Connected Patient

By Jenni Bendfeldt, Secretary, HIMSS NorCal

On May 3, the HIMSS NorCal Chapter hosted its annual ePatient Summit conference at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco. Approximately 165 healthcare professionals gathered to share ideas and discuss the operational, technical, and regulatory challenges that plague healthcare and create the (dis)connected patient.

At the event, attendees learned how Shannon Wright, Executive Director of the ESRD Network of the South Atlantic, overcame interoperability and resource challenges to maintain patient care during Hurricanes Maria and Irma, how Dr. Sara Murray and Dr. Russ Cucina, VP, Chief Health Information Officer at UCSF Health System, improved the accuracy and efficiency of ordering medications through the UCSF EHR, and the latest regulatory and technical developments around FHIR from Chris Fierer, Director of Innovation at MedFusion.

Read More


HIMSS State HIT Day 2018

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

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 HIMSS NorCal Advocacy Chair, 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 its passion on improving health through IT.

Jeff Coughlin, HIMSS Senior Director of Federal & State Affairs, provided insight on what is happening in Washington D.C. and at the federal level with regard to HIT. He discussed interoperability, information blocking, the work to reduce opioid dependence, telehealth, and precision medicine. If you are interested in joining a new venture to support precision medicine research, you can sign up here: https://allofus.nih.gov/

Read More


Sacramento Meetup: Information Security in Healthcare

By Evelyn Milani, Education Committee, Sacramento MeetUp Chair

The Sacramento Information Security MeetUp had over 60 people in attendance, and consisted of executives, service providers to the industry, innovators, and clinicians. We met at a beautiful venue at Shriners Hospital for Children, and Experis provided a lovely catered experience.

The high performance panel was moderated by Kevin Spease, Managing Partner at ISSE Services, and featured the following panelists:

  • Monte Ratzlaff, Cyber Risk Program Manager, UC Office of the President
  • Jason Elrod, Chief Information Security Architect, Executive Director, Privacy and Information Security, Sutter Health
  • John Hainaut, Vice President, Information Security, Experis

Attendees were treated to a lively panel who discusses the impact of security for improved patient outcomes and what the biggest current threats are. The takeaways include:

Read More


Reflecting on the Clinical Advisory Council

By Margit Chapman, Education Committee, CAC Chair

I had the pleasure and honor this year to chair the newly formed HIMSS NorCal Clinical Advisory Council (CAC), comprised of physicians, pharmacists, RNs, and informaticists. This was a pilot project sponsored by the HIMSS NorCal Education Committee. Our goal was to ensure that topics of interest for clinicians were included at various HIMSS NorCal Chapter events to better serve our membership and boost event participation from physicians, pharmacists, and RNs.

The CAC had a very active year, contributing ideas, critiques, and helpful advisory in the planning for the ePatient Summit, which resulted in a rich agenda of speakers and panelists. In addition, the CAC compiled topics that would be of interest to clinicians to pursue through our Regional Program Directors for HIMSS NorCal MeetUps.

Read More