The work that lies ahead for healthcare IT professionals will require more than managing technology. The very culture in which care will be delivered is changing, and the rate of change will not slow down any time soon.
To realize the ambitious goals for transformation in healthcare, HIT professionals will need to develop good leadership skills.
Recognizing the need for training, the HIMSS Leadership Institute will present a one-day educational program on February 20 that will examine the challenges and provide guidance on how managers can lead the charge.
"IT transformation is critical," said Jason Bickford, a HIMSS Amabassador and Department Applications Director at Banner Health. "There is a lot of interoperability work that is ahead and it is important to promote and develop HIT skills."
Bickford worked with the HIMSS Professional Development staff to bring together a full day's worth of educational sessions that will be hosted by Banner Health at its Mesa, Ariz., facility.
Presenters will include the highly rated speaker Edward Marx, senior VP and CIO, Texas Health Resources, who will talk about how cultural change is essential in order to transform care. Marx recognizes the difficult work that leaders face in improving care while optimizing processes, but will explain the rewards that will flow to organizations that are successful.
In describing the planning that went into the one-day program, Bickford said he became involved to help emerging professionals develop their careers.
"I was approached by a number of people directly about developing their HIT skills and I thought, why don't I take this to a bigger forum?" he said. Bickford, who has been a HIMSS volunteer for the past 3 years, brought his ideas to HIIMSS Professional Development and found an enthusiastic partner.
Bickford has been deeply involved in healthcare transformation as part of the Banner Health team which achieved Stage 7 certification in 2011.
Banner's VP for Patient Care Innovation, Deb Dahl, will present a talk titled "Embracing Telehealth: Technology Perspectives from a Clinical Lens."
Banner is providing telehealth programs in its centralized eICU program, which allows clinicians to monitor and communicate with patients from a command center.
In addition to hearing expert speakers discuss the leading challenges, Bickford hopes attendees will gain an aware of the skills they will need to lead the transformation, such as change management skills, mindfulness, awareness of the big picture and working with multi-disciplinary teams.
For more information and registration, visit the HIMSS Leadership Essentials website.
