I hope that you are having a wonderful 2017! While the calendar year 2017 is just underway, the 2017 fiscal year for the Louisiana HIMSS chapter has reached its halfway point, and what a first half of the year it was! In September, we held “Connect Louisiana” at the Old State Capital in Baton Rouge during National HIT Week. This half day event, presented in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Health, marked our first State HIT Day. Speakers included Dr. Rebekah Gee, MD Secretary of LDH (below), Dr. Jon White, MD, Deputy National Coordinator, ONC, Dr. SreyRam Kuy, MD, Chief Clinical Officer, Louisiana Medicaid, and many other local and national thought leaders.
October saw another first for the chapter as we hosted our first Nursing Informatics Boot Camp at UMMC in New Orleans. This two-day course for Registered Nurses interested in becoming American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) board certified Informatics Nurses filled up early and was a great success. Multiple attendees have already reported back to us that they have successfully completed the certification exam and are now certified Nursing Informaticists!
In November we once again joined with our friends from the Alabama and Mississippi chapters for the fourth annual Gulf Coast Chapters conference (GC3) at Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, MS. We thank everyone who attended this 2 day event and look forward to seeing all of you again next year when the GC3 returns to New Orleans on November, 16-17 at the New Orleans Marriott on Canal.
Capping off the year, we held our first Christmas Charity Social benefitting St. Vincent De Paul here in Baton Rouge. It was a wonderful way to wrap up 2016.
Now we turn our attention to the largest event of the year, HIMSS17. We will join over 40,000 of our HIT colleagues in Orlando for the start of the conference on Sunday, February 19th. Please see this article for a listing of the LAHIMSS activities that we have scheduled during the conference, including the GC3 Reception and Communities Open House. We will also include a listing of sessions being presented by speakers from Louisiana.
The Awards Gala at HIMSS17 this year will include presentations to two of our own. Dr. Karen DeSalvo has been selected as one of the inaugural winners of the Most Influential Women in Healthcare IT Award. Mr. Alan Thriffiley, former President and current Treasurer for the LAHIMSS, has been selected as the HIMSS Fellow of the year. Please join me in congratulating them both on receiving the recognition that they deserve for their outstanding achievements!
To all of our fellow HIMSS members who have chosen to be a part of our chapter, thank you for your support! There are quite a few more of you now than we had at the beginning of the year as membership has grown 20% over the last 6 months and continues to grow. If you are not yet a member of the chapter, there has never been a better time to become involved.
Thank you!
Chad Cothern, RN, BSN, CPHIMSS, FHIMSS
Chapter President