CHIME Launches Innovation Initiative to Spur Advancements in HIT

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) recently launched CHIME Innovation to facilitate the creation and adoption of health care technology innovation and to improve health and care globally. The launch marks the completion of the buildout of the Intermountain and CHIME Innovation Center powered by Sirius Healthcare within the Kem C. Gardner Intermountain Transformation Center in Murray, Utah.

CHIME Innovation is a resource for CIOs, innovation executives, senior HIT executives, and others to promote innovative and disruptive technologies designed to transform health and care. CHIME Innovation will serve as an educational hub and an innovation facilitator for the HIT and innovation community.

“CHIME is ideally suited to take on the role as a leader in the advancement of health care IT,” says Jonathan Fritz, JD, MS, executive director of CHIME Innovation. “CHIME’s members have embraced the potential of IT to improve patient care, and they are the linchpin for innovation in many of their health care organizations. CHIME Innovation will give them the tools, knowledge, and confidence to drive change in health care.”

CHIME Innovation will offer workshops, summits, events focused on the intersection between CIOs and chief innovation officers, and opportunities for CHIME members to share their innovation success stories. The first workshop, “Developing an Innovation Framework,” will be March 17-18 at the Intermountain and CHIME Innovation Center. Taught by faculty from CHIME Innovation and Intermountain Healthcare, the workshop will introduce concepts that establish a common language and toolset for innovation. The event, which is part of the CHIME Executive Education Series, will include networking, small group exercises, and case studies. More information about the workshop is available at https://chimecentral.org/innovation.

“Health care technology has been evolving at an unprecedented pace,” says Shafiq Rab, MD, chair of the CHIME Board of Trustees and CIO at Rush Medical Center. “As CIOs, we have no other option but to innovate. CHIME Innovation will be an educational resource for CHIME members and others in our community, and also a catalyst for advancing promising technologies and impactful innovation. This is a win for everyone, especially for the patients who will benefit from these advancements.”

Fritz, who joined CHIME on January 1, has worked as a health care executive, an entrepreneur, and a patent attorney for many years. His previous positions include chief strategy officer and director of new ventures at Symphony Corporation, cofounder of a fit-tech software company, and a partner at various large law firms focused on patent, venture capital, and startup law. Fritz also serves on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Technology Council and the investment committee of BrightStar Foundation, a seed stage fund with more than 40 portfolio companies. He will serve as a CHIME faculty member and the executive director of CHIME Innovation.

The high-tech Intermountain and CHIME Innovation Center facility is housed in the Transformation Center on Intermountain’s Murray-based medical campus. Intermountain opened the state-of-the-art Transformation Center in September to support research, innovation, and best practices as well as numerous institutes. Intermountain, a leader in health care innovation, is partnering with CHIME on the initiative. 

— Source: The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives