CHIME Certification Gives HIT Leaders a Boost

If there's one thing I've learned in writing about healthcare and technology, it's that the learning never stops.

The pace of medicine, technology, regulation and business is non-stop. Watershed developments can occur weekly.

For instance, last week I learned that doctors at Orlando Health are now using software on iPads to remotely control Polycom video cameras (with startling clarity) to zoom in on the eyes of potential stroke victims.  The doctors can be anywhere on the planet..

The very next day, I learned of the Leap Motion, a $70 gadget due out in December that will let anyone control a PC by waving their hands, freeing us from the limitations of mice or touch screens, and ushering in a new wave of software applications for more easily sifting through data (or, before long,  scrutinizing patients' eyes).

Meanwhile, the summer of 2012 progresses, and we wonder when we will see the final rule on Meaningful Use Stage 2. It's coming soon, but how soon?

With such breakthroughs and developments leaping from every corner, the challenge is to keep your organization's information technology governance and expertise in tip-top condition. How does a healthcare organization keep up?

One place you could turn is to the world's only program for certifying healthcare CIOs, the Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) Program.

First offered three years ago for healthcare CIOs, and developed by healthcare CIOs at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), CHCIO is starting to show up in postings for healthcare CIO positions.

CHIME offers the exam to achieve CHCIO status three times a year at its own events, and is looking at offering it at various test centers around the United States, says Gary Barnes, chief information officer at Medical Center Health System.

I interviewed Barnes recently for my HealthLeaders magazine article on ICD-10, in the July issue. He was one of three CIOs who spoke with me by phone last week about the CHCIO program.

Another was Tim Stettheimer, CIO at St. Vincent's Health System in Birmingham, Alabama, and also a senior vice president and regional CIO of Ascension Health Information Services.

Stettheimer revealed that the CHIME board last month decided that CIOs who may choose to serve in a COO capacity, or some other executive function, will now be able to retain their CHCIO status. "We were seeing a greater movement between executive roles," Stettheimer says.

As I think about the disruptive nature of IT in healthcare, this makes sense. An innovation like the remote-control Polycom camera can alter the nature of healthcare work. Suddenly, on-site providers can pull in primary care physicians or specialists from anywhere. And  they are more than mere voices on the other end of the line. They are hands-on participants in the care team, even though they may be geographically dispersed.

It isn't enough to have a top-notch CIO on the team. Your COO, CMO, and CMIO need to be aware of the capabilities of the new technology to assemble care teams on-the-fly from an ever-wider pool of talent. Some doctors heading for the exits may find that these new technologies provide them with the freedom to continue to practice without being physically present, on their own schedules.

It might not fit the high-touch Marcus Welby, MD, mold of doctoring, but more and more physicians are now part of a healthcare team, and may not necessarily be willing or able rush to the office as in olden days.

Perhaps you're already up to speed on this accelerating technological pace. But if not, I strongly recommend checking out certification such as CHIME's. Just don't expect a cake walk. CHIME officials say not everybody passes.

"When we started writing [test questions] in one of our sessions, we had to go back and take the exam," says the third CIO I spoke with, Randy McCleese, vice president of IS and CIO of St. Claire Regional Medical Center. "I didn't do very well, and I helped write it," McCleese says with a laugh.

Exam questions that everyone or no one gets right are tossed out and replaced by other questions. Twice a year, a group of CHIME CIOs sits down to review and update the questions. For example, even though those Meaningful Use Stage 2 rules haven't been finalized, questions about the general concepts embodied in Stage 2 are now on the exam, as well as questions about accountable care organizations.

"From the technical aspect, we don't dig into questions that you would not expect an executive to have to deal with," Stettheimer says. "For example, you wouldn't ask them what settings would you use on a server."

But the exam does cover the kinds of things I talk to CIOs about regularly. "Some of the questions may relate to laws and regulations," McCleese says. "Some of those may relate to technical aspects of computer systems. Some of them may relate to governance within an organization. It's the things that we see day in and day out being a CIO."

Once the CIO receives the CHCIO certification, he or she must complete 45 Continuing Education Units in the following three years in order to be eligible for renewal at that time. Half the courses must be taken at CHIME events, but participants can fulfill the other half in various ways, including courses offered at HIMSS or even through your own public speaking.

For those just starting out on the healthcare CIO career path, CHIME also offers 2-1/2-day Healthcare CIO Boot Camp. The next one will be at CHIME's annual conference, October 13-16, 2012 in Indian Wells, California.

Even CHIME can't provide all the technology education required for healthcare leadership. I've been fortunate now to attend two other meccas of insight and inspiration.

The first was HIMSS, last spring in Las Vegas. The second was the 21st Annual Physician-Computer Connection in Ojai, California, sponsored by the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems (AMDIS).

The AMDIS event was an astounding gathering primarily of CMIOs from around the country. Critical healthcare IT issues, such as EMR usability and clinical decision support, were placed under a microscope and scrutinized for three days. CHIME also had a speaker there to delve into the intricacies of business intelligence.

Chances are you're already taking advantage of some or all of these learning resources. They're just a few of the opportunities available. Many more are online, or may be offered closer to your town. Check them out.