Minnesota Chapter of HIMSS Quarterly Newsletter | October 2006
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	Program Slides on the Web! Please visit the members only section of our website for access to presentations from our recent program on Public Health Surveillance. To access the slides, point your browser to www.himss-mn.org, hover on the "Members Only" option and select "Program Slides."
President's Corner By Susan Heichert, President WELCOME AND WELCOME BACK! I’d like to use the first newsletter of the 2006-2007 fiscal year to welcome all of our new members and welcome back to our re-newing members! MN-HIMSS exists to provide our members with educational programs and Health Information Technology insights that assist you with your professional development. Interest in MN-HIMSS continues to grow, as evidenced by the continued interest in our board and, as you’ll notice, several new board members. Your board for 2006 – 2007: President- Susan Heichert, Allina Hospitals & Clinics President-Elect - Pam Graves, Children’s Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota Treasurer – Dan Davenport, Healthia Consulting Secretary – Andy Galbus, Mayo Clinic Communications – Sandeep Methi, Xansa Past-President – Jeff Huxley, United Health Network Program Chair - Margaret Senn, Mayo Clinic Program Chair-Elect – Pete Palmer, Wells Fargo Scholarship Chair – Joanne Valerius, St. Catherine’s Scholarship Co-Chair – Ken Stensvold, Mayo Clinic Sponsorship Chair - Indi Watts, Siemens Advocacy Chair –Shawna Schueller, Healthia Consulting Outreach Chair - Dave Mann, Virtelligence RHIO Liaison – Dr. Christina Stephan, University of Minnesota Professional Development Chair - Dr. Ray Gensinger, HCMC Member Relations Chair – Mark Rubin, eDocument Resources Twin Cities Coordinator – Liza Ingvalson, Virtelligence North Regional Coordinator - Clark Averill, St. Luke’s South Regional Coordinator – Lonna Stork, Mayo Clinic At Large Member - Dana Kimmel, Healthia Consulting At Large Member - Bobbie Carroll, Children’s Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota At Large Member – Mike Leuthner, Virtelligence If you have any questions about HIMSS-MN, please feel free to contact any of the board members via our web site at www.himss-mn.org We have many exciting events coming up this year. Some of the program topics we are developing include Medication Reconciliation, ITIL, Advocacy and project management. Remember, we take every member who attends our educational programs and enter their name into a drawing for a free registration for the National meeting – so remember to register for the programs! We are continuing to hold our quarterly CIO Forums, and had a great turnout at our August meeting. Upcoming topics include the role of the CMIO, as well as more information on Health IT legislation. The HIMSS National Meeting is also coming up quickly – Feb 25th to Mar 1^st in New Orleans. Minnesota will again hold our extremely popular chapter reception, so please stop by if you are attending the National meeting. We look forward to seeing everyone at National and at our upcoming programs.
Programs Update By Margaret Senn, Program Chair The program for Monday September 25, 2006 was, “Data Representation and Public Health Surveillance: Standards, State of the Art, and Future Directions”, presented by Dr. Christopher Chute, MD, DrPH. Dr. Chute became Head of the Section of Medical Information Resources at Mayo Foundation in 1988 and is now Professor and Chair of Biomedical Informatics.As a career scientist at Mayo, Dr. Chute’s NIH and AHCPR/AHRQ funded research in medical concept representation, clinical information retrieval, and patient data repositories have been widely published. The primary site for the program was Mayo Clinic Rochester with video conference to St. Kate’s in St. Paul. Dr. Chute’s presented a complex topic very well, he was able to hold the audiences attention while he articulated on the topics of standards, security and patient confidentiality.He emphasized the role of IT in the development of systems to help retrieve data for surveillance. Registration will be open soon for the November program on Medication Reconciliation.The program will be a panel discussion with representation from areas currently doing medication reconciliation with a focus on what’s working and what isn’t including lessons learned. Plans are being discussed for the Spring program as well as the May full day conference.Feel free to give us your ideas for program topics or other feedback on our programs via our website at www.himss-mn.org. We wish to continuously improve and we can not do this without your feedback.
Sponsorship Update By Indi Watts, Sponsorship Chair The Minnesota HIMSS Chapter wishes to thank our 2006-2007 sponsors.  Our sponsors not only allow us the capability of providing educational sessions with nationally acclaimed presenters but also to provide scholarships each year for candidates in the industry.  Without corporate support, an organization such as ours could not exist.  Thank you for your support! PLATINUM Onvoy Sprint Healthia Consulting GOLD HealthPartners University of Minnesota CSOM Citrix SILVER Siemens EMC MN-HIMSS now offers a variety of sponsorship levels with exciting benefits - Silver, Gold and Platinum. Depending on the level selected, some of the benefits include things such as a logo and link on the MN-HIMSS web site, complimentary MN-HIMSS memberships and even exclusive sponsorship opportunities for our chapter socials. For more information, please contact go to our link at http://www.himss-mn.org/links/sponsorship_program.pdf
Advocacy Update ByShawna Schueller, Advocacy Chair As you may know, HIMSS has put a concerted effort toward advocacy at the National level and has asked each chapter to do the same.In Minnesota, we have created an Advocacy Liaison position with the goal of connecting with National HIMSS on their priorities and communicating those priorities / positions with the federal and state legislators. And, as you might have noticed in the last HIMSS eNews, we just were awarded Ambassador Level certification for our activities since Advocacy Day. Ambassador Level status requires chapters to demonstrate a significant commitment to HIMSS-related advocacy activity. This year’s advocacy efforts were kicked off at the HIMSS Advocacy Day in Washington,DC in June. There, a team of 5 Minnesotans met with 9 of the 10 federal Senators and Representatives to share the importance of HIT in improving patient care and reducing unnecessary administrative costs in the healthcare system.We also advocated the importance of supporting federal legislation that funds and advances HIT adoption, standards, etc.The time these Congressional staff members spent with us ranged from 5 minutes in an impromptu meeting to 20 minutes in a pre-scheduled meeting.We learned through this process, the importance of advocacy and the access that is possible to our legislators and that the knowledge of HIT ranged significantly among the Congress members’ and their staff. Since Advocacy Day in June, the House passed bill H.R.4157, and now the House and Senate are working through conference committees to come to an agreeable compromise between H.R.4157 and Senate bill S.1418. However, Congress went home at the end of September before agreeing on language that would reconcile House bill 4157, the Health Information Technology Promotion Act, and Senate bill 1418, the Wired for Healthcare Quality Act. The bill still could pass during a lame duck session before the end of the year, say sources close to the issue. As advocacy can be very effective from grass roots efforts, you may be wondering what you can do. Lots! A) Host a facility tour Facility tours are great ways for legislators to see firsthand how HIT can improve the operations of a healthcare environment. In fact, in September, we hosted Marye Knudson, the Minnesota office healthcare constituent advocate for Senator Mark Dayton, at HCMC. Dr. Ray Gensinger graciously hosted the event and shared with Marye how automation has positively impacted the hospital’s operations and patient care. If you’re interested in hosting a facility tour, please let me know. I have consistent communication with the legislator’s healthcare staff members and would be more than happy to coordinate a visit. B) Write to your Congress member. HIMSS has purchased a tool called CapWiz that automates the process of authoring a letter and sending it to Congress members.All you need to do is logon to http://capwiz.com/himss/home/ and enter your home zip code, and it will determine who your House Representative and Senators are, offer pre-written text selections or enable you to craft your own message and automatically send it to those contacts.We do recommend that you add some personalization to the letter such as your home address to reinforce your constituency and the organization you work at as it makes a larger impact on the message. Current issues you could mention in your letter are 1)Encouraging their support of coming to an agreement in conference committee of H.R.4157 (in the House) and S.1418 (in the Senate) and to supporting the resulting legislation before the end of this 109^th Congressional term. 2)Underscoring the importance of HIT funding If you do craft a letter to your Representative or Senators, please let me know.The chapter actually gets points toward certification in Advocacy from National HIMSS for each letter sent to Congress members. And, we have one additional level we can achieve: the Presidential Level. All of these points count toward the certification levels, so please do keep us informed of any advocacy events you participate in. Stay tuned for additional advocacy updates as the chapter’s fiscal year continues!
Scholarship Update By Joanne Valerius, Scholarship Chair If you are a full- or part-time student taking courses toward a degree in healthcare or information services, you could be awarded $1000 by the MN Chapter of HIMSS scholarship program! The MN Chapter of HIMSS annually awards a $1000 scholarship to undergraduates, graduates and PhD students studying in the healthcare information or management systems field. Scholarships are awarded for academic excellence and the potential for future leadership in the healthcare information and management systems industry. Completed applications must be postmarked no later than April 1, 2007. Winners will be notified by May 1, 2007. You can access a copy of the application by visiting http://www.himss-mn.org/scholarship/scholarship.html. For more information, e-mail Joanne Valerius at jdvalerius@stkate.edu
Membership Update By Mark Rubin, Member Relations Chair As of May 2006, the Minnesota Chapter of HIMSS has 410 members! Below are the total number of members by membership type.  Total Minnesota HIMSS Members: 410 Twin Cities: 71% Outstate: 29% Just a reminder to renew your membership, if you haven’t already done so. If you know anyone that would be interested in joining the chapter, they can easily join by visiting http://himss.org/ASP/membershipHome.asp. They can join at the national level for $140 or the chapter level for $30.
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