Alameda Health System’s (AHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO) Mark Amey regards the famous Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” as an inspirational call to action for his team and him.
“At AHS I have the honor and privilege of leading a dedicated and diverse team of Information System (IS) professionals that keep patient care at the center of their work,” said Amey. “Our focus is implementing technology that gives patients, providers and staff a seamless and exceptional user experience.”
Amey, who joined AHS in 2018 shared that using technology to deliver more effective and efficient health care services contributes to overall productivity across the system. In addition, patients are enabled to take a more active role in maintaining their health and wellbeing through accessible online tools. They can make appointments including telehealth visits, view their medical records, fill prescriptions and message their providers among other activities.
Under Amey’s leadership the IS department continues to innovate and implement the best available technology, tools and resources at AHS. A major technology milestone began in 2019 with the implementation of a fully integrated electronic health record (EHR). Today, almost all AHS staff use the EHR daily.
AHS continues to harness technology and has received several accolades as a health care leader including Epic Gold Stars Level 8 (only 14% of Epic customers have received more Gold Stars); Chime Most Wired Level 7 for Acute Care, Ambulatory and Long-Term Care Services; and most recently HIMSS (Health Information and Management System Society) Stage 6 as designated by HIMSS using the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM). It is a model that leverages technology to support optimized patient care, reduce medication errors, and achieve a paperless environment. The model also measures the use of data, security and patient outcomes.
In addition, Amey’s success in driving the delivery of exceptional patient care is recognized across AHS and beyond. He was recently honored as a finalist for the Bay Area CIO of the Year ORBIE Award, the premier technology executive recognition program in the Bay Area. It honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership. Amey is quick to point out however that any recognition is always a team sport as nothing is possible without an exceptional team such as the one at AHS.
As AHS continues to advance technology capabilities Amey shared that he makes sure to surround himself with the best and brightest in their areas of expertise and then weaves their collective ideas into a unified and forward-thinking strategy for high-quality care.
“Technology is the tool that my team and I bring to the organization to support continuous improvements in patient care,” said Amey. “As CIO, I love that when I leave work at the end of each day, I know that we have helped to make health care services at AHS better for our patients and community we serve.”