Computerworld Names Kaiser Permanente's Lisa Caplan and Mike Brady to Premier 100

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- International Data Group's (IDG) Computerworld announces Kaiser Permanente's Lisa Caplan, vice president and business information officer, care delivery, and Mike Brady, senior vice president, infrastructure management group, as 2011 Premier 100 IT Leader honorees. This year's Premier 100 spotlights IT leaders from both the technology and business sides of companies for their exceptional technology leadership, innovative ideas and well-executed IT strategies.

"The Premier 100 awards program honors an elite group of IT executives," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief of Computerworld. "Despite the economic downturn, these 100 men and women continue to innovate and deliver measurable business value to their organizations. We're pleased to honor the achievements of these IT leaders for consistently delivering strategic vision and technology leadership."

"Both Lisa and Mike provide leadership that benefits Kaiser Permanente members, patients, physicians and employees," said Phil Fasano, executive vice president and chief information officer, Kaiser Permanente. "The work they lead at Kaiser Permanente has a profound effect on the entire health care industry. I am proud of their leadership and the contributions of our entire IT team to improve health care."

Caplan leads the national team that delivers technology support for health care delivery at Kaiser Permanente. This includes Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, the largest and most advanced non-governmental electronic health record in the world. Additionally, Caplan and her team, working with business and clinical partners, have led advancements in the integration of automated systems that manage medical imaging, laboratory services, radiology, population care, health information exchange, biomedical device integration and clinical call center capabilities. Through this work, Kaiser Permanente is improving health care and health outcomes.

Supporting high-quality patient care, Caplan and her team continue to develop and execute solutions that support the organization's goal to make electronic medical records interoperable. Caplan's team, working with clinical leadership, played a critical role in Kaiser Permanente's pilot program with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which enables the exchange of electronic health record information using the Nationwide Health Information Network created by the Department of Health and Human Services. She and her team made it possible for Kaiser Permanente to donate and provide access to its Convergent Medical Terminology to help other health care providers meet meaningful use standards set forth by the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Brady presides over Kaiser Permanente's IT infrastructure, which powers the rapidly expanding technology services the organization provides to members, patients, physicians and employees. Brady and his team focus on supporting and propelling the pace of innovation, and ensuring the continuous availability of systems and information. As a result, Kaiser Permanente has received the prestigious Continuous Availability award from the Uptime Institute for data center availability six times, and is the first health care provider to receive the award.

As the demand for health IT services continues to grow, Brady has seized opportunities to find efficiencies and offset growth, achieving millions in savings. At the same time, he fosters the adoption of new technologies, such as private cloud computing, to provide Kaiser Permanente with the speed and agility necessary to support health care technology advances, while moving toward an infrastructure as a service model. Brady has a sharp focus on developing career paths for both the technologists and the leaders in his organization to ensure his team has the bench strength to meet future demands to support real-time, personalized health care.

The Premier 100 awards ceremony will be one of the highlights of Computerworld's annual Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference, being held March 6-8, 2011, at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, California. The conference, to be attended by more than 375 influential senior IT managers, will showcase honorees and other IT innovators as they discuss how to create competitive IT organizations. (More information available at http://www.premier100.com)

About the Premier 100:

The Premier 100 was first created in 2000 to spotlight individuals who have had a positive impact on their organization through technology. These are individuals who manage internal IT organizations, mentor and motivate their IT teams and business colleagues, create a positive work environment, envision innovative solutions to business challenges and effectively manage and execute IT strategies. Each year nominees are invited to complete a survey that addresses a number of topics, including their background and experience and their attitude toward risk and innovation. Using Computerworld's IT Leader Index and using the data from the index, which is a measurement of how closely an individual matches our definition of the IT Leader, we analyze the data. Each year, 100 honorees are selected to receive this life-time recognition award. Information on previous honorees can be viewed at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9120281/Premier_100_Alumni

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.7 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

About Computerworld

Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information for IT influencers worldwide, providing peer perspective, IT leadership and business results.  Computerworld's award-winning Web site (http://www.computerworld.com), bi-weekly publication, focused conference series and custom research forms the hub of the world's largest (40+ edition) global IT media network. In the past five years alone, Computerworld has won more than 100 awards, including Magazine of the Year by American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) awards in 2010, the 2009 Best Blog from the Neal awards, and 2006 Best Overall Web Publication from ASBPE. Computerworld leads the industry with an online audience of over 3.5 million unique, monthly visitors (comScore Media Metrix, August 2010). Computerworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group, the world's leading media, events, and research company. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente