The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Foundation has announced that John Glaser, CEO of Siemens Healthcare, Health Services Business Unit, has been selected as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The announcement and presentation of the award came Oct. 19 at the CHIME 2012 Fall CIO Forum in Indian Wells, Calif.

According to CHIME officials, the award recognizes contributions to the healthcare information technology industry throughout the recipient’s entire career. Glaser is being honored for a 35-year career that includes numerous leadership roles and involvement in many ground-breaking initiatives, CHIME officials said.

[See also: Glaser poised to advise new healthcare IT chief Blumenthal.]

Glaser joined Siemens Healthcare as CEO of the global healthcare IT business in August 2010. He is responsible for overseeing product development, strategy, portfolio management, financial performance and overall customer satisfaction. Prior to joining Siemens, he was vice president and CIO of Boston-based Partners HealthCare, an organization recognized as one of the industry’s leaders in implementing and successfully using IT in a range of settings.

“Glaser is one of the leading spokespersons for the healthcare IT industry," CHIME officials said. He has championed the push to demonstrate how IT capabilities can enhance healthcare delivery."

Glaser also served as the founding chairman of CHIME in 1992, and his long-term involvement was instrumental in helping it grow into an influential professional development and advocacy organization for healthcare IT.

“It is encouraging and professionally rewarding to have been part of CHIME at its inception and to be distinguished now at CHIME’s 20th anniversary meeting.” Glaser said, “The mission of CHIME was always based on the professional development of the CIO and the healthcare IT leadership and leveraging that leadership to improve healthcare through the use of IT.”

“Today’s CIO now faces the increasing complexity of using healthcare IT to address the challenges associated with payment reform initiatives, such as shared savings and bundled payments,” Glaser added. “The revenue that organizations receive will be increasingly based on the organization’s clinical and operational performance. Now more than ever CIOs will need to be leaders in the adoption of technologies such as electronic health records, analytics and health information exchange to help address these challenges.”

Over the past three decades, Glaser has been affiliated with more than 70 industry associations, committees and workgroups. His professional activities span the gamut from serving as an adjunct professor at several universities to serving as senior adviser at the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in 2009.

[See also: Glaser to advise ONC chief on HITECH.]

“There are few individuals who have had as deep and lasting an impact on our industry as John,” said Indranil “Neal” Ganguly, vice president and CIO at CentraState Healthcare System. “His incredible commitment to the professional development of the industry includes many key service roles. In addition to these, he has always found time to communicate with his colleagues in the industry. Few, if any, have given so much of themselves to one industry.”

Throughout the course of his career, Glaser has held numerous industry leadership roles such as president of the HIMSS Board of Directors, founding board member of the National eHealth Collaborative, and board member of the American Medical Informatics Association. He has published more than 200 articles and authored, or contributed to, several books on the strategic application of IT in healthcare. The industry has recognized Glaser’s past efforts through the creation of CHIME’s John P. Glaser Scholarship, by naming him the CHIME-HIMSS John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year in 1994 and through other recognitions.