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 1,400 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 provide your staff members valuable research tools.

More than 1,400 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 are not required to carry that specific title. To qualify for Full or Online-Only CHIME membership, you must be the CIO and/or the highest-ranking IS/IT executive at a healthcare provider or payer. We have members that hold a variety of titles, including Director of IS and Director of IT. To review our membership criteria, click here (link to: http://cio-chime.org/JoinCHIME/criteria.asp).

CHIME also has various levels of membership and an Affiliate Program for non-CIOs:

CMIO/CNIO Membership:
Chief Medical Information Officers and Chief Nursing Informatics Officers who work at a healthcare provider or payer with a CHIME member CIO are eligible for full CHIME membership. Please click here for more details.

Corporate IS/IT Executives:
Additionally, persons 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. Please click here for more details.

Affiliate Program:
The CHIME Affiliate Program is open to IT professionals who are on the path to becoming a CIO. Please click here for more details.

Q: How do I join?

To join, all you need to do is complete the appropriate online application form and send in your dues.

When you submit your application for Full or Online-Only CHIME membership, you will be required to submit the following documents:

• Your current job description;
• A current organizational chart of your IT 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.

• CMIOs/CNIOs must submit a letter of recommendation from their CIO in addition to the documents mentioned above
• Corporate IS/IT executives must fill out an additional form, the Corporate IS/IT Executive Form, and submit a letter of recommendation from their CIO, in addition to the documents mentioned above

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?

Membership dues vary, depending on the level of membership or Affiliate Program participation:

Full CHIME Membership, CMIO/CNIO Membership and Corporate IS/IT Membership: $350 per year ($400 for international members). You may also select a joint CHIME-HIMSS membership for $490 per year ($540 for international members).

Online-Only CHIME Membership: $150 per year. You may also select a joint CHIME-HIMSS membership for $290 per year.

Affiliate Program: $125 per year. A joint membership with HIMSS is not available.

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. Affiliate Program participants are not eligible to join HIMSS through CHIME.

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 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. The same applies to the CHIME Affiliate Program.

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, e-News broadcast, the monthly CIO Connection newsletter featuring Gartner research, and a variety of benchmarking data)
• Publications (members can subscribe to a variety of healthcare and IT industry periodicals)
• Optional joint membership in HIMSS

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 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, M.D., 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, M.D., Ph.D., National Health Information Technology Coordinator for The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; Craig R. Barrett, Ph.D., 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 Full CHIME membership and Online-Only membership?

Online-Only members have access only to those benefits and services available online. CHIME offers the Online-Only membership to enable more CIOs from small hospitals and international locations to participate in our organization.

To qualify for Online-Only membership, candidates must meet one or more of the following requirements:

• Work at an organization located outside of the United States
• Work at an organization with less than 125 beds
• Work at an organization with less than $75 million in annual revenue

Q: What is the CHIME Affiliate Program?

The CHIME Affiliate Program is open to IT professionals who are on the path to becoming a CIO but have not yet reached that level. The Affiliate Program was created to support the professional development needs of future healthcare CIOs.

To qualify for Affiliate Program participation, candidates must be a direct report to a CIO who is a current CHIME member.

To apply for Affiliate Program participation, you may fill out the application online or download it from our website at: www.cio-chime.org. You will be required to submit a letter of recommendation from your CHIME member CIO and a written statement that details your career history and commitment to obtaining a CIO position in the future.

The benefits available to CHIME Affiliate Program participants differ from those of Full CHIME members, click here for a list of Affiliate Program benefits and services.

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

CHIME was created to support the professional needs of CIOs in healthcare. A hallmark of CHIME’s success has been a close collaborative relationship with the HIS vendor and consulting community. In response to the situation, the CHIME Foundation was established in 1994 to enable this community to support CHIME’s programs and services, while developing a mutually beneficial relationship with our member CIOs. The CHIME Foundation is comprised of over 69 vendor and consulting firms. For more information about the CHIME Foundation, please visit the Foundation website at: www.chime-foundation.org