Northern Ohio HIMSS Recap!

Last week, I had a great time at the Northern Ohio HIMSS conference! While AI was (obviously) a topic of conversation throughout the day, SDoH received some much needed attention: in Cleveland, 30% of our region is living in poverty — that's 3 times the national average of 10%.

Other top highlights and learnings include:

• Showing Jason Taylor and Mike Mosquito, CHCIO, MBA, PMP, CDH-E downtown Cleveland and the Flats with Christina Lepri, RDCS, CDH-P. The event was held at the Cleveland Clinic Administrative Campus on the east side, and I'm glad we had an afternoon to have enjoy a beautiful summer day. Also, I consistently got 5 stars for being Jason and Mike's "Uber" driver! ??????????

• Having the honor to share the Northern Ohio HIMSS chapter's advocacy committee update on stage with Jennifer Owens . I just got involved with this committee earlier this year, and Jenny and I channeled our best Lawrence Voyten ... especially when sharing that our chapter received the Changemaker status for the 4th consecutive year! ??

• My conversation with Dr. John Lee . His clinical and informaticist skillset brings a unique perspective to all things healthcare. I really enjoyed hearing his thoughts on the Walmart Health closing… he posed the question, why couldn’t Walmart use their health offering to treat their own employees?
• The keynote by Peter Pronovost MD, PhD, FCCM was inspiring about living and leading with love. What a testament of the University Hospitals ' leadership team modeling this from the top down. And I loved his story about buying donuts for a down-on-their-luck couple. That same couple eventually paid it forward, and left a note for Dr. Pronovost at the donut shop to let him know they paid it forward. ??

• Population health discussions. Seems like everyone understands that we need to move away from care being transactional and reactive… but are still figuring out how to transition to relationship-based care and have value based care really stick.
• Listening to Mike and Jason's fireside chat. I get to talk to these VERY smart guys regularly, and I enjoyed their convo as an attendee. They shared how it's imperative to short cut the time to value of better patient care. And, while this may seem obvious, it was a good reminder: when technology fails, someone could literally die.

• SDoH in the Cleveland area are real, and income (more specifically, lack of income) is a HUGE barrier to care — 80% of health outcomes are based on income alone. And, about 75% of Americans between the ages of 20-75 spend at least one year in or near poverty. Talk about staggering statistics. It's up to all of us to do better to ensure equitable access to healthcare.
• The Center for Health Affairs ' Endrit Meta had a great session on the correlation the found based on SDoH data (500 sources!) between firearm deaths by suicide and social vulnerabilities — specifically unemployment, lack of transportation, and housing insecurity. They now have a pilot in place for Cleveland neighborhoods disproportionally impacted by firearm suicides that includes job training, affordable housing and transportation options, and behavioral health and wellness resources. The primary objective is to prevent suicides, and I'm excited at the possibility of the positive impact (hopefully lives saved) this program will have.

• The last panel of the day featured John Shanahan , Piyush Mathur MD,FCCM,FASA,FAMIA , Yasir Tarabichi, MD, MSCR, FAMIA , and Alex Price . Their perspectives on AI in practice were VERY interesting. This was my second time seeing Dr. Mathur present (I love his sense of humor!) and he said that AI is like legos: get started and just keep building. There's no right way or wrong way, it's most important that is A way. "AI is math, not magic" was another line that stuck with me. ?????

• Dinner at Giovanni's: as a west sider, I had never been... but I'd 100% make the trip east to go again! Thanks to Christina Lepri, RDCS, CDH-P , Rohit M. , Stacy Chai for letting us co-host the evening. The fun facts were a hit. Jawad Khan — the US national team winning the cricket match definitely made me think of you!

• Working from home means I fill my social work cup with these types of events, and meeting industry leaders is a big part of that! Loved connecting with Kelsey Mangin , Keith Duemling, MBA, CHCIO, CHISL , Joyce Duemling BSN, RN , Jawad Khan , John Doan, CISSP, ISSAP and Ryan Jaskolka... and reconnecting with former colleagues and connections like Jeff Appel , Stephen T. Pepin , Beth Alvord , TJ Murphy , Ashish Masih, FACHE,FHIMSS, CHCIO , Michael Hsu, PMP, CHCIO, CDH-E , Kevin Tambascio , and John Paganini, MBA . Until next time! ????????????