As I hear recaps of the HLTH 2021 conference in Boston last week and see colleagues posting about the upcoming CHIME Fall Forum, I admit I have a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). The HLTH conference was never on my radar given my work and moving schedule though it was nearby. I had looked forward to attending the CHIME Fall Forum in San Diego this coming week and seeing colleagues in person after all this time with only virtual events. But for several reasons, I won’t be attending.

John Lynn with Healthcare IT Today and Bill Russell with Today in Health IT provided highlights of the HLTH conference for those of us not attending. I expect Bill will do the same during the CHIME Fall Forum between daily recaps and live interviews while there.

There will be the usual excellent keynote speakers and track sessions with members presenting at CHIME. One of the highlights I am sorry to be missing will be Wednesday’s pre-forum session – “CHIME’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Retreat”. It will include speakers on “Unpacking Identity and Bias” and a panel session with CHIME members titled “Sharing DE&I Successes, Challenges and Next Steps”.  As a member of the CHIME DE&I committee, I value the connections made and candid conversations we’ve had in the planning of these sessions. We are continually learning from one another on this journey. It was after watching/listening to the DE&I session at the virtual CHIME Fall Forum a year ago that I decided to join this committee and help with this important work finding yet another way to get involved and give back.

Virtual events have been abundant and gotten better over the past 20 months as organizers adapted to the tools and speakers got used to monitoring online chats and Q&A vs interacting with live audiences. Continue reading →