Meet the Changemakers: Jonathan French

HIMSS serves the global health information and technology communities with focused operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Our members include more than 80,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners and 650 health services organizations. The HIMSS staff is made up of changemakers who collaborate with members to reform the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology.

Jonathan French is Senior Director, Thought Advisory, at HIMSS.

How long have you been at HIMSS?

I have worked with HIMSS for 14 years, starting with Government Relations and currently with the Thought Advisory team.

How do you support our mission statement?

I serve as HIMSS subject matter expert on model practices for how information and technology are leveraged to improve clinical care delivery and how quality data is most effectively leveraged to drive change in care processes. I direct the Davies Award of Excellence Program. Since 2011, the Davies Award program has showcased more than 100 peer-reviewed case studies demonstrating how the thoughtful alignment of people, process and technology drives sustainable and replicable improvement in patient outcomes.

How do you know your work at HIMSS makes a difference?

I am devoted to the Davies process not just being an avenue for recognition, but also serving as a resource to guide healthcare organizations on how to effectively leverage their information and technology infrastructure to improve patient outcomes. Several members of my family suffered adverse events due to a lack of compliance with best medical practice. I passionately believe that templated care plans help ensure that the standard of care is met much more often than in a paper environment. Nothing swells my heart more than to hear a Davies applicant point to a Davies-recognized case study as an inspiration and guide for their quality improvement work. Someday, that could be a family member, a friend or me in that hospital bed. I want to know that technology is helping the clinical staff to adhere to best practice, and creating accountability if they don’t.

In addition, as the subject matter expert on quality measurement, I work hand in hand with a committed group of volunteers to develop recommendations for electronic clinical quality measurement-driven policy. Our letters and public comments are reflected in many of the quality measurement provisions found in various inpatient and outpatient Medicare programs. I am committed to developing recommendations that ensure quality measures are accurate and meaningful measures of the quality of care being delivered; can be captured with as little burden as possible as part of a normal clinical workflow and are actionable to drive care redesign and address gaps in care. Also, the lessons learned in the United States can be carried to other nations looking to instill meaningful value-based care models.

What’s one thing you wish everyone knew about the work you do at HIMSS?

I want to be an information resource for my colleagues and our members. The Davies case study archive is a wealth of robust, evidence-based information on both the best practices for aligning people, process and technology to improve care. The archive also shares countless stories of resiliency and lessons learned. Almost no organization gets it right the first time, and those case studies reflect countless opportunities to learn from the trials of innovators.