Thankful for…Quality Healthcare

Now that the holidays are upon us and the turkey trot is over…I am reminded to take a moment to be grateful for all that I have in my personal and professional life.

As I reflect upon my journey over the last four-and-one-half years at HIMSS, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with so many bright and talented people in health IT and the healthcare industry.

When I took my position at HIMSS as the Senior Director of Ambulatory Information Systems, the Chairman of our Board of Directors at the time said to me, “Mary, you will literally need a dump truck of resources and tools to get ambulatory physicians to adopt electronic health records.”

Well, what neither of us knew then is that the U.S. economy would have a severe downturn and that the future President Obama and Congress would introduce and pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) legislation and the meaningful use regulations. With the passage of ARRA and meaningful use, someone answered my prayers upstairs and I am now grateful for the following:

 • Codification of the Office of the National Coordinator

• Funding provided as a result of ARRA 

• HIMSS and industry experts and volunteers that work tirelessly to develop education, resources and tools to assist ambulatory physicians in adoption of EHRs and HIT

• The opportunity to really help physician practices adopt EHRs and HIT, including working with my own primary care practice on EHR adoption.

Most of all, I am happy to be healthy and have the opportunity to have access to excellent quality healthcare provided by clinicians who work tirelessly to provide quality care to me and my family.

This month, our Digital Office eNewsletter and Ambulatory Roundtable will highlight HIMSS Patient Safety and Quality initiatives and our accomplishments to date. I ask all of you to participate in supporting our HIMSS members as we continue to educate and support ambulatory clinicians on HIT and EHR adoption.

I thank all of you who have helped me fill up that dump truck with the required resources and tools to help our clinicians provide meaningful and safe care to you and your families.

Please feel free to share with us what you are thankful for and any valuable resources and tools that can be added into the truck.