President's Message - October 2007

Greetings,

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining McKesson professionals from country-wide facilities at the InSight 2007 Annual Conference, held in the George World Congress Center in Atlanta.  Thousands of customers like myself, supporting solution-providers, and McKesson representatives all gathered in one location to exchange on the issues of most importance to us and our teams. 

Topics crossed over McKesson systems—both current and future. Those customers with a need for business-focused or technical education were afforded the opportunity to tailor their curriculum based on their area of interest. 

Not only did the event draw customers for exchange on leading practices around the McKesson products they’re using, this year we additionally welcomed new members to the McKesson family.  Through recent McKesson acquisitions, RelayHealth, ANSOS One-Staff and ORSOS One-Call customers joined our circle at this year’s conference.  We warmly welcomed this group with focused programming, and in turn drew value from their participation and fresh perspectives.

For the second year in a row, we welcomed the more than 50 CIOs who joined this year’s enhanced CIO Forum.  Designed by CIOs, for CIOs, the forum combined true best practices from peers that have applied, or are about to apply, strategies within their own environments, and brought McKesson top leaders into the fold so our CIOs could stay current and tapped into the direction of McKesson.  Through McKesson executive-led sessions, the forum provided updates and roadmaps from McKesson, and customer roundtables focused on critical strategic business issues.

I’d like to once again thank the CIO Task Force for their hard work in creating this forum.  I’d also like to thank InSight V3 partners: Cisco, Dell, Intel and Oracle whose support has made this unique event possible.  As a CIO for my own facility, I personally walked away with valuable information to take back to my organization and look forward to 2008 where I’ll have the opportunity to draw from this type of c-level programming on a year-round basis.
The main event kicked off with Pam Pure, President of McKesson Provider Technologies, who provided an overview of McKesson, along with plans for the future.  In a memorable closing, Pam ended with a promise to the healthcare community that McKesson Provider Technologies, in partnership with InSight, will continue providing products that support hospitals’ and facilities’ ongoing efforts to improve patient care through improved efficiencies.
Following Pam’s address, Sunny Sanyal, COO of McKesson Provider Technologies, shared customer success stories, capped with a video on this year’s McKesson Award Winners. 
InSight’s own Member Achievement Award, defined as outstanding members of InSight, was announced by InSight Vice President of Education, Amy Thorpe who presented the Award to Jenna Bowser, Senior Application Analyst of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, Milwaukee. 
Finally, Lisa [Utley] Lavallee presented the Tom Utley Award, an award created to forever recognize the memory of Tom Utley and his many contributions to InSight, to a very well deserved Lou Hermans, Vice President and CIO for Solaris Health System.

Other event highlights included Pre-Conference Workshops, which took place prior to the main event and gave attendees more hands-on education on business-relevant topics, the Product Solution Center which showcased McKesson-supporting products and experts, the Friday Night Event appropriately themed “Oktoberfest,” networking receptions organized by areas of interest, product line updates, volunteer meetings and a number of other opportunities for networking and relaxation with old and new friends. 

For those who missed this year’s event, I encourage you to earmark your training dollars now for next year’s conference taking place September 24-27 at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas.  To all who attended, thanks again for making this another spectacular event.

Deborah Gash,
2007 InSight President