HIMSS introduces Organizational Affiliate program to share knowledge and build synergy

The comprehensive enterprise-wide program lets employees at all levels enjoy the complete benefits of HIMSS membership.

Published: 07/31

CHICAGO, IL ,USA - (HealthTech Wire) - Healthcare organizations are looking for new ways to bridge the knowledge gap and build consensus among all their disparate stakeholders in health information technology. HIMSS has designed a new membership program specifically for healthcare providers called Organizational Affiliate or “OA.” Besides the initial cost-savings advantage, every employee has access to HIMSS high-quality educational content, professional development resources and networking for IT stakeholders.

Organizational Affiliate at McLaren Regional Medical Center: Through its Organizational Affiliate membership, McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint, Mich., has 12 staffers signed on as HIMSS’ individual members. “The individual members are mostly director and VP-level people who are not IT professionals but want access to reports and information about IT and to learn what is happening in the IT world,” said CEO Don Kooy, FACHE.

With HIMSS as a shared resource and “go-to” authority for industry knowledge, McLaren is empowering its decision-makers with vital business intelligence while helping to foster a collaborative culture at the same time. And that same synergy is being felt throughout the organization.

“OA gives our staff a context for what we are doing, why we are doing it and what the end goal is,” said Mr. Kooy.

The Organizational Affiliate Program offers five membership levels: Associate Level; Pioneer Level; Principal Level, Executive Level and Premier Level. HIMSS works with organizations to identify the program level that best meets their needs.

Educating Staffers and Improving IT Adoption: Participants in the Organizational Affiliate Program receive complimentary registrations (the number depends on the level of membership) and discounts to various HIMSS events, including the Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition. Additional registrations can be purchased at the individual member discount rate.

Organizational Affiliates also receive exclusive access to the HIMSS eLearning Academy, which provides 24/7 access to content-rich online education. Refreshed regularly, the Academy provides best practices, case studies, certification and content-rich education that can be shared by employees throughout an organization, thus serving as a cost-efficient, flexible education tool for Organizational Affiliates.

Mr. Kooy sees the education offered through the Organizational Affiliate Program as a source not only for increasing staffers’ IT knowledge, but also for improving his organization’s IT adoption. McLaren Regional Medical Center is a subsidiary of McLaren Health Care, an integrated healthcare system that includes 8 hospitals, 108 ambulatory facilities, 4 home health care facilities and 1 free-standing Data Center.

“In an organization as large as ours, everybody is asking for everything all the time,” Mr. Kooy said. “Every year, we have probably three times as many requests for funding as dollars we are going to spend on new IT tools and technologies. “[The Organizational Affiliate Program] helps to focus people on how they can be successful with what they want to put in from an implementation standpoint as well as the specific deliverables they should be looking for.”