Digital Health, BCS and CHIME partner on CIO qualification

Digital Health is in discussions with BCS Health and CHIME UK to offer NHS chief information officers the US-developed certified health CIO qualification.

NHS CIOs and IT directors currently lack a common qualification, making it difficult to follow a career path. 

To help overcome this problem of fragmentation and uncertainty, Digital Health, BCS Health and CHIME UK have begun negotiations on a new collaboration to bring a well-proven CHCIO to the NHS.  

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives is the US professional membership organisation for CIOs and other senior healthcare IT leaders. Founded in 1992, CHIME has over 1,700 members.

The three-way collaboration focuses on making immediately available CHIME's proven qualification and high quality CPD (continuing professional development) for Health CIOs in the UK. 

Subject to agreement, both BCS Health and CHIME will also participate in the Health CIO Network’s prestigious annual Health CIO Summer School and Autumn Annual Conference. 

The Health CIO Network, hosted by Digital Health, is the national best-practice leadership network of NHS CIOs.  The Health CIO Network, which is run alongside the CCIO Network, is delivered through a combination of national and local events and online collaboration community.   

CHIME UK will offer the well established CHCIO programme, for NHS CIOs. The CHCIO qualification is available now, and work is also underway to anglicise it for the UK.

Digital Health will potentially partner to provide quality CPD through its Health CIO leadership events. CPD is a key requirement of CHIME accreditation.

“A partnership would forge closer bonds between members of the Health CIO Network to the BCS, provide immediate access to a valuable qualification and connect them to a vibrant community of health CIO peers in the US,” said Jon Hoeksma, editor of Digital Health Intelligence.

“The partnership between CHIME, BCS and Digital Health Media will provide the much needed structured career path and professional development for current and emerging healthcare CIOs,” said Rachel Dunscombe, CHIME CIO ambassador for the UK.

“This partnership between BCS, CHIME and Digital Health Media signals a step change in the professionalisation of health and care CIOs. It will provide a vast range of opportunities for health and care CIOs and aspiring CIOs, allowing them to benefit from accreditation, learning products and CIO leadership community,” said Andy Kinnear, chair of BCS Health.

BCS Health, CHIME and Digital Health aim to be in a position to jointly launch at the Health CIO Summer School, 2016, 13-14 July, in Leeds.