Bill Spooner Named CIO of the Year by Health Care Industry's Leading IT Organizations

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Jan 13, 2010, 02:41 ET

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Bill Spooner, CIO of Sharp HealthCare, a seven-hospital system in San Diego County, has been named CIO of the Year by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) for his lifetime achievements in the health care IT industry. Most recently, Spooner spearheaded the implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) at Sharp, which is among the largest integrated health care systems in California.

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CHIME and HIMSS are regarded as the industry's leading IT professional organizations. The award, officially known as the 2009 CHIME-HIMSS John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year Award, is presented to individuals who "demonstrate innovative leadership through effective use of technology in support of the strategic initiatives of his/her organization," according to the award criteria. The award is named in honor of the late John E. Gall Jr., who pioneered implementation of the first fully integrated medical information system in the world at California's El Camino Hospital in the 1960s. Spooner will receive the award at the annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Atlanta on March 2.

"Bill has been Sharp's CIO for nearly 15 years, and he has continuously demonstrated innovative IT leadership," said Mike Murphy, President and CEO of Sharp HealthCare. "Most recently, in addition to overseeing Sharp's EMR efforts, Bill and his team also successfully integrated a host of IT projects at the new Stephen Birch Healthcare Center at Sharp Memorial Hospital, making it our first paper-light facility."

According to Murphy, the many IT initiatives under Spooner's direction have contributed significantly to improvements and efficiencies that have helped Sharp realize gains in patient and physician satisfaction, clinical quality and growth in market share.

"IT initiatives, especially electronic medical records, have been a hot topic in the current debate over health care reform," said Spooner. "While I'm honored to be recognized by my peers with this award, I'm even more excited by the role IT will continue to play in the years ahead as the health care industry seeks to lower costs and improve patient care."

In addition to the CIO of the Year award, Sharp's IT efforts have been recognized by various industry organizations. Sharp has been named to Hospitals & Health Networks' "100 Most Wired" list for 11 years in a row. InformationWeek selected Sharp as one of the nation's 250 leading users of business technology for its 2009 InformationWeek 500 list. And, Sharp's IT operations were also a major factor in Sharp earning the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and consistently receiving high rankings on the Modern Healthcare list of most integrated delivery networks.

About Sharp HealthCare

A 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient, Sharp HealthCare is San Diego's most comprehensive health care delivery system. It is recognized for clinical excellence for services in cardiac, cancer and multiorgan transplantation, as well as orthopedics, rehabilitation, behavioral health and women's health. Sharp HealthCare has been widely acclaimed for its commitment to transform the health care experience for patients, physicians and staff through an organization-wide performance improvement initiative called The Sharp Experience. The Sharp system includes four acute-care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, two affiliated medical groups and a health plan. To learn more about Sharp, visit www.sharp.com.

Learn more about the CHIME-HIMSS John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year Award online.