CHIME FAQs

Q: What is CHIME?

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is the premier professional association for healthcare CIOs. CHIME was formed in 1992 with the dual objective of serving the professional development needs of healthcare CIOs, and advocating the more effective use of information management within healthcare. CHIME currently has more than 950 healthcare CIOs from across North America as members.

Q: Why should I join CHIME?

CHIME is a professional association created specifically for CIOs in healthcare. We know what your challenges are and we’re here to help you with them. Joining CHIME is the best way for you to share knowledge and experiences, and exchange solutions with your peers in the healthcare industry. Your membership can help you save valuable time, get up to speed on hot industry topics, refine your leadership skills, and even offers your staff members valuable research tools.

More than 950 healthcare CIOs across the country have already joined to take advantage of the networking opportunities, educational programs, and online resources that CHIME offers. Joining CHIME and connecting with your peers will be one of the best decisions you’ll make.

Q: I don’t hold the title of CIO. Can I still join?

While those who qualify will generally hold the title of CIO, members aren’t required to carry that specific title. We have members who are Directors of IS or Directors of IT; as long as you are the highest-ranking IS/IT executive at a healthcare provider or payer, you are qualified to join.

Additionally, those in charge of IS for major divisions and/or regions of large corporate or integrated delivery systems are also eligible to join. Regional, market area, or facility level IS executives, normally responsible for overall service delivery and budget accountability, or IS executives who have regional or facility-level CIOs reporting directly to them will also be considered for membership.

Q: How do I join?

To join, all you need to do is complete the application form and send in your dues. An electronic application form is located on our website (www.cio-chime.org). You may also download a copy of the application from our website.

When you submit your application, we require that the following documents accompany your application:

• Your current job description;
• A current organizational chart of your I.T. department that shows your position and those who report to you; and
• A current organizational chart showing where you fit into the organization as a whole and to whom you report.

Q: Why do I need to send a job description and organization charts with my application?

CHIME is an organization that was created specifically for CIOs in healthcare. Since our members must be the highest-ranking IT or IS staff member within their organization, all membership applications must go through a review and approval process by a Membership Committee prior to acceptance. The committee uses the job descriptions and organizational charts to verify that applicants meet our current membership criteria.

Q: How much are annual membership dues?

If you choose the membership option that includes joint membership in HIMSS, dues are $475 annually ($525 for international members). If you select CHIME-only membership, annual dues are $335 ($385 for international members).

Q: When I join CHIME, is HIMSS membership included?

When you join CHIME, you will have the option to choose joint CHIME-HIMSS membership. If you select this option, your CHIME membership will also include membership in HIMSS, and all future dues invoices for both memberships will be sent by CHIME as long as you are eligible for CHIME membership, unless you notify us otherwise. If you choose CHIME-only membership, you will NOT receive membership in HIMSS.

Q: What if I’m already a HIMSS member?

If you have already paid your HIMSS membership dues and choose the joint CHIME-HIMSS membership option, HIMSS will contact you to arrange for an appropriate refund once your CHIME membership application is approved.

Q: Can I participate in CHIME events and programs if I’m not a member?

Non-members cannot participate in any of our educational programs, networking events, or use any of our online services. To take advantage of these great resources, you will need to join CHIME.

Q: Is CHIME membership an individual membership or an organizational membership?

CHIME membership is assigned to the individual at a healthcare provider or payer organization who applies and is approved. Membership is not for the organization itself and is not transferable from one individual to another.

Q: What are the programs and services that CHIME offers its members?

Membership in CHIME gives you access to a full suite of programs and services specifically tailored for healthcare CIOs. The benefits we offer are designed to allow members to use as many or as few of them as they need; all of them are included in your membership dues and you can use whichever programs and services that you find valuable.

We offer programs and services include the following areas:

• Networking (at our CIO Forums, via our email Member Discussion list, in the Member infoXchange, and through our online membership directory)
• Education (including our CIO Forums, LEAD Forums, CIO Boot Camp and College Live online sessions)
• Information Resources (members can access our IT Warehouse, member to member surveys, bi-weekly email news broadcast, the CIO Connection monthly newsletter with Gartner research, and a variety of benchmarking data)
• Publications (members can subsribe to a variety of healthcare and IT industry periodicals)
• Optional joint membership in HIMSS

Q: Does CHIME have any online resources for its members?

CHIME offers its members an extensive array of online resources, including free online education, benchmarking data, our searchable IT Warehouse (which is full of resource documents, white papers, sample documents, etc.), an online membership directory, active discussion lists, online member-to-member surveys, and more.

Q: What is a CHIME CIO Forum and why should I attend?

Networking with peers has always been the most highly valued component of CHIME membership for our members. The Fall CIO Forum is our premier networking event and not only provides many peer-to-peer interaction opportunities, but also offers significant amounts of educational programming tailored to meet the professional growth needs of our CIOs.

CHIME members have enjoyed a number of prominent speakers at the CIO Forums, including C. Everett Koop, MD, former U.S. Surgeon General; Warren MacFarlan, Ph.D., of Harvard University,; James Clark, Ph.D., Chairman of Netscape; Michael Dell of Dell Computer; Tom Peters, author of Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age and In Search of Excellence; David Brailer, MD, PhD, National Health Information Technology Coordinator for The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Craig R. Barrett, PhD, CEO of Intel Corporation; and Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations – Tools for Talking When Stakes are High.

Future CIO Forums will continue to address critical challenges facing CIOs and provide the necessary education and networking for our members to effectively navigate the difficult waters ahead.

Q: What is the difference between CHIME and the CHIME Foundation?

CHIME was created especially to support the professional needs of CIOs in healthcare. A hallmark of CHIME’s success has been a close collaborative relationship with the H.I.S. vendor and consulting community. In response to that, the CHIME Foundation was formed in 1994 and is comprised of more than 50 vendor and consulting firms. The Foundation was structured to support CHIME's programs and activities, and both the CHIME members and the Foundation firms have discovered mutual benefit in this relationship.