CHIME Update With President & CEO Russ Branzell, Part 2

Since being named CEO of CHIME three years ago, Russell Branzell has been focused on advancing the organization’s role in the industry — and not just by providing education for members, but by taking the lead with issues that are hindering the journey to digitization. Case in point? The lack of a consistent patient identifier. Last month, CHIME launched a challenge designed to leverage the top minds in the world to come up with a better solution. In this interview, Branzell discusses the game-changing question that Peter Diamandis posed CHIME’s board, his thoughts on the Cybersecurity Act, and the stratospheric rise of the CISO role. He also reflects on Chuck Christian’s term as CHIME Board of Trustees, and talks about why he is exciting about working with Marc Probst, and what attendees can expect at the upcoming CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum.

Part 1

Part 2



* Chuck Christian’s term — “He was truly a catalyst for change.”

* Need for benchmarking & collaboration

* “It’s not a matter of if you’re going to get hacked.”

* Leveraging military experience to improve security

* CHIME/HIMSS Forum — “We have one day to make a big impact.”

* The vision: “Exceptional leaders transforming healthcare”



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Bold Statements

He was a challenger for us. He often asked, how does this is benefit the membership? How does this benefit the industry? And he was constantly asking if the efforts we’re putting in place are the best we’ve got to create the kind of change and support we need to truly transform this industry.

If we treat security the same way we treat a lot of other things in healthcare technology, many will get left behind, many will be inadequate at best, and some will thrive beyond belief because of resources. What we want to do is try to bring everybody along as quickly as we can to a reasonable and risk-based level.

You don’t want it to become prominent because you got hacked and you’re in the paper everyday — you want it to be prominent because it’s an integral part of providing great patient care.

It’s a great time for people to not only connect professionally, but also reconnect personally. This is a very small industry; we all lean on each other every single day to try to get through this crazy world that we work in.

It’s really focusing around our new effort and focus from a vision directed by our board, which is to really build up our leaders to be those exceptional leaders — not just leaders within their organizations but also transforming healthcare as a whole.

Gamble:  Chuck Christian just wrapped up what was a really busy year and represented CHIME well.

Branzell:  Chuck — just like Marc [Probst] and all those before him, Randy [McCleese], Buddy [Hickman], and you can just keep going back and back and back to all the different individuals that have volunteered in that role — was truly a catalyst for change. He was a challenger for us. He often asked, how does this is benefit the membership? How does this benefit the industry? And he was constantly asking if the efforts we’re putting in place are the best we’ve got to create the kind of change and support we need to truly transform this industry.

That’s what I love about where the board is directing us to go right now. Chuck was an amazing leader in helping guide the board in that direction, and that was we have only limited capacity in all of our roles with our organizations and at a national stage level to make a big impact. Let’s continue to focus and do everything we can to impact patient care, to help our members be successful — both those who are new and those who have been around a...