Population and Public Health
HIMSS26 Policy Influencer Changemaker Award recipient Gayle Harrell, Florida state senator, emphasizes that regulations on AI and other digital technology need to ensure that decision-making power remains with clinicians.
Dr. Christopher R. Cogle, director of the Florida Health Policy Leadership Academy, says designing systems for the most complex and vulnerable populations has created advances for healthcare information technology.
Brenda Hood, client experience analyst at HealtHIE Nevada, stresses that education and guidance can help ensure that tribal clinic staff understand and use digital health resources and EHRs effectively.
University of Iowa Health Care's Josh Wilda says that TEFCA may be useful not only for providers, but to unify fragmented patient portals and give patients a single access point to retrieve their health data across systems.
Still active in the HIMSS Michigan chapter she started in 2002, SEMHIE VP and CIO Helen Hill, who is a HIMSS26 Founder Changemaker awardee, says the chapter actively recruits university students to advance advocacy work.
Colorado Lt. Governor and Policy Influencer Changemaker Award recipient Dianne Primavera says belonging to the Colorado HIMSS chapter has enabled her to work closely with other state healthcare and policy leaders.
Through work on AI literacy, governance and data management, Northern Ohio HIMSS' AI Center of Excellence seeks to enhance patient experiences and outcomes, says John Paganini, Global Patient Innovator Changemaker Award recipient.
Health Equity Changemaker Awardee and Shift Collective co-founder Dr. Hannah Galvin says the collective is developing terminology value sets to allow patient data to be easily shared across the U.S., and, eventually, globally.
Across more than two decades, HIMSS has guided her work as a nurse informaticist through its thought leadership and its influence in advancing digital health, says Susan Hull of the MITRE Center for Transforming Health.
Department of Veterans Affairs CMIO Dr. Jonathan Nebeker says the VA is replacing its legacy custom EHR and looks forward to accessing interoperability solutions that can integrate more digital tools into its new system.