The CHIME/HIMSS John E. Gall, Jr. CIO of the Year, James Turnbull, who oversees all things IT at University of Utah Health Care, is informed by experience he gained at several other healthcare systems before coming to Utah five years ago. His stints, including one in Canada, exposed him to a number of ways healthcare systems  -  and health IT teams  -  can be effective. 

Turnbull's career spans 37 years. Prior to joining UUHC, Turnbull served as senior vice president and CIO at the Children's Hospital in Denver from 2000 to 2007, and senior vice president and CIO at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida from 1993 to 2000.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and HIMSS gives the award each year to recognize healthcare IT executives who have made "significant contributions to their organization and demonstrated innovative leadership through effective use of technology," The award is named after 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. 

University of Utah Health Care is a billion dollar business. It tallies a million ambulatory visits and 27,000 inpatient admissions a year. It has 1,200 faculty members in the school of medicine. Of that group, probably 500 are clinically active, says Turnbull, who notes that the system has "a small army" of researchers and educators. There are 11 community clinics scattered up and down the Salt Lake valley area, and there are about 100 family practitioners, all faculty members. It's typical size for an academic medical center, Turnbull says. 

Turnbull spoke with Healthcare IT News about his approach to his work, some of his successes and the challenges ahead.

Q: What do you see as your primary mission as CIO?

A: When I think of a single word for it, I think of enablement or enabling. That has several aspects to it. First and foremost is enabling the organization to fulfill its mission and achieve its long-term vision. So that's a big piece  -  ensuring that I bring the resources and the expertise to the table and the solutions that are needed to support the mission of the organization. And there's hardly anything we do anymore that doesn't have a foundation on information technology. The second piece is more directly related to my own division  -  and that's to enable my own staff to fulfill their roles and to do that without too many roadblocks: sort of taking the reins off them and removing the barriers so we can really execute to the maximum of their abilities. 

Q: How has your job changed over the past five years?