Industry Insight

HIMSS Launches Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship

The Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship, sponsored by the HIMSS Foundation, recognizes the leadership and passion for innovation in digital health technology of its namesake, who was HIMSS president and CEO for more than 17 years.

Applications are now open for this prestigious scholarship, designated for a student pursuing a degree from an accredited collegiate undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral academic program.

“On behalf of the HIMSS Foundation, I am honored to launch the Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship to celebrate Steve’s impact on health IT and confirm his confidence in the innovative spirit of the health IT community,” says Thomas M. Leary, MALA, CAE, FHIMSS, executive director of the HIMSS Foundation.

The call for applications and opening of the donation portal began with the generosity of organizations including Smart City Networks; Mike Zaroukian, MD, PhD, MACP, FHIMSS, current HIMSS Board chair and past HIMSS North America Board chair; and many others who have contributed to the program.

 “I am honored and humbled with the announcement of the Steve Lieber Innovator Scholarship. I believe in the power of change and innovation with resources committed to make change happen. I know that future leaders in digital health who receive this scholarship will present innovative opportunities to advance better health and healthcare with the best use of IT,” Lieber, CAE, says.

The call for applications closes September 25, with award recipients announced in December 2017. Following the award criteria, scholarship applicants must do the following:

• apply or reference frameworks, such as the HIMSS Innovation Pathways Maturity Model or others, to a workflow redesign project that is designed to move beyond the basics;
• identify new tools, articulate tactics, and design roadmaps to simplify the adoption and scalability of new care model innovations by other organizations;
• present relevant, practical, and new innovations that will employ information technology to improve care delivery, the consumer experience, or the usability of health information systems; or
• identify and highlight metrics for success in either an operations or clinical workflow improvement.

Learn more about the scholarship at http://apps.himss.org/foundation/schlr_lieber.asp.

— Source: HIMSS

Regenstrief, IU Offer Public, Population Health Informatics Training Program

The Regenstrief Institute, internationally recognized for its research and training programs in clinical informatics, will now train researchers in the increasingly important fields of public and population health informatics. The unique new program, in collaboration with Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine and IU’s Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, is supported by a five-year, $2.5 million award from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), an institute of the National Institutes of Health.

The Indiana Training Program in Public and Population Health Informatics, which commenced in July 2017, will prepare graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to work in a broad spectrum of entities in the health care industry and academia, as well as for local, state, and federal public health departments. These trainees will fill a need—forecasted to grow over the next decade and beyond—for informaticians who can design, validate, and implement solutions key to the maintenance and improvement of human health.

“There is a pent-up demand for informaticians with new skill sets in both public health and population health, but there has been a lack of educational and training programs to meet this need,” says Regenstrief Institute investigator Brian E. Dixon, PhD, an associate professor of epidemiology in the Fairbanks School of Public Health, who codirects the new program with Regenstrief Institute investigator Titus Schleyer, DMD, PhD, the Clem McDonald Professor of Biomedical Informatics at IU School of Medicine.

“As the health care industry transitions to population health, it will take new scientists who can employ machine learning, big data mining, predictive modeling, as well as other skills and core concepts from informatics at the population level to help health systems manage cohorts of individuals who have a particular disease, providing routine care for individuals with acute or chronic illnesses at a level that is consistent with trends in reimbursement going forward. Similar skills are needed to help public health departments meet the burgeoning demands that they face,” Dixon says.

“The US health care system is trying to learn how to do two things these days: how to take care of populations, not just patients, and how to keep people healthy instead of waiting until they get sick. To achieve both these goals, we need the kind of public and population health informatics researchers and practitioners that our unique program will train,” Schleyer says.

Individuals with bachelor’s or master’s degrees in a quantitative science, such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, or informatics, or in a health science, such as public health, genetics, nursing, or dentistry, will be considered for the PhD program. Doctoral degrees will be awarded by the Fairbanks School of Public Health.

Information for potential applicants can be found at the program website.

— Source: Indiana University

Landmark Sale to M*Modal Closes

Suender M&A Advisors announced the successful closing of the sale of its client, Landmark Transcription, Inc to M*Modal Services, Ltd. Suender M&A initiated the transaction and acted as exclusive financial advisor to Landmark. Terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Founded in 2004 by Chris and Anne Hopkins, Landmark is a premier provider of medical transcription services. Chris Hopkins, chief operating officer of Landmark, says, “The sale of our medical transcription business to M*Modal was the right move for us strategically and in the best interests of our customers and employees. In addition to exceptional service, M*Modal offers state-of-the-art technologies that will meet all of the increasingly complex clinical documentation needs of our customers now and into the future. Anne and I believed that only the largest providers, like M*Modal, are truly capable of handling these evolving needs and, therefore, decided to find an appropriate buyer.

“Suender M&A Advisors was key to the successful outcome of this transaction,” Hopkins adds. “Selling a business is not something you do every day—if only once in a lifetime. John Suender was our trusted advisor every day and each step of the way. He positioned us for sale, handled complex negotiations, introduced creative business solutions that addressed both our needs and the buyer’s needs, and guided us through due diligence and the closing process. His years of transaction, financial, and legal experience, together with his very practical perspective, were critical to the transaction as a whole.”

— Source: Suender M&A Advisors, LLC