McCleese is chief information officer of the 192-bed acute care Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky. Methodist also operates a 25-bed critical access hospital and a network of 23 physician practices.
The boards of both CHIME and HIMSS vote to elect a winner of the coveted John E. Gall Jr. every year honoring an IT leader who has demonstrated leadership and commitment to the healthcare industry. Gall pioneered the first fully integrated medical system in the 1960s while working at El Camino Hospital in California.
Past recipients include: Pamela Arora of Children’s Health in Dallas last year, Craig Richardville of Carolinas HealthCare, Sue Schade of the University of Michigan, Ed Marx of Texas Health Resources and James Trumball of the University of Utah Health, to name just the last fistful
As is the case with McCleese, the recipient need not come from a large health system or have a billion-dollar tech budget at their command to be influential.
“When you accentuate the positive, it multiplies itself and people do better,” McCleese said.
HIMSS CEO Hal Wolf said McCleese “represents the highest standards of leadership, working with local, regional and state representatives to advocate and advance the value of digital technologies in improving the health of patients at his hospital and beyond.”
McCleese has successfully advocated in Washington, D.C. for small and rural hospitals, education policymakers about those providers unique constraints and specific needs, according to CHIME CEO Russell Branzell.
“He also helped broaden the perspective of our members and showed us how we can do more with less,” Branzell added. “This award is well-deserved recognition for his dedication and generosity.”
McCleese joined Methodist in 2017 after serving as CIO at St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Kentucky. He joined HIMSS in 1997 and CHIME in 1998, became a HIMSS fellow in 2005, and has held several leadership positions including CHIME board chair and a member of CHIME’s board of trustees.
As an active member of the Kentucky Bluegrass Chapter of HIMSS, McCleese started the chapter’s annual Kentucky Advocacy Day visit to state legislatures — an event that continues to this day.
In 2008 he received the HIMSS Founders Leadership Award and served as the vice chair of the national HIMSS Advocacy Committee.
And that’s not all. McCleese also helped found the Northeast Kentucky Regional Health Information Organization and has served on the Kentucky Health Information Exchange (KHIE). In 2012, he was recognized along with 80 fellow health IT leaders during a White House town hall meeting.
The accolades continued and McCleese won both the CHIME Federal Public Policy Award for CIO Leadership and the Outstanding Service Award in 2016.
“Randy proves that you don’t have to be from a large organization to have a big impact in our industry,” Branzell said.
HIMSS said it will honor McCleese March 5 at the 2018 CHIME-HIMSS CIO Forum in Las Vegas during the HIMSS18 annual conference.
Twitter: SullyHIT
Email the writer: tom.sullivan@himssmedia.com
