DATE:		August 13, 2004

ATTENDANCE:	See attachment

OPENING REMARKS
Nancy opened the meeting and introduced Marcia Houze as the guest speaker for the meeting.

PRESENTATIONS
o Marcia Houze, Group Leader, Siemens Medical Solutions Health Services provided a presentation on PACS
o CEUs were provided by Baptist Health System Princeton Hospital

SHARING CURRENT ACTIVITIES
All of the hospitals represented at the meeting shared their current activities related to PACS.

OLD BUSINESS:
* Chair of the Education Committee:
o A volunteer is needed from this committee to serve as Chairman
o Tony Ruffino agreed to fill this role 
* Requirements for Affiliation with HIMSS:
o In order to affiliate with AlaHA the group needs a name and by-laws
o The Executive committee met today and developed draft by-laws that will be sent out the membership for review prior to the next meeting

* Name Decision:  
o The Executive Committee developed some recommended names that Nancy reviewed with the group
o The group was solicited to provide additional name suggestions
o The members present voted on the names and the top three choices are highlighted below:
* Alabama Society for Clinical Informatics (ASCI) – 6 Votes
*  Clinical Informatics Group of the Alabama Hospital Association (CIG of AlaHA) – 0 Votes
* Alabama Clinical Informatics Network (ACIN) – 0 Votes
* Clinical Informatics Associates of Alabama (CIAA) – 5 Votes
* Alabama Alliance for Clinical Informatics (AACI) – 1 Vote
o The secretary will ask for an electronic vote of all members to choose one name from the top three above 
o The results of the general membership vote on the group’s name will be presented at the next meeting

* Membership Voting:
o The members present agreed that a simple majority of the members present was sufficient for making most decisions
o The By-laws and other significant decision will be made based on a majority of electronic votes
* By-laws: 
o Nancy noted that the group’s By-laws need to be decided upon in October in order to submit them to AlaHA  for consideration at their November meeting
o Jackie stated that the philosophy of the Executive committee in developing the By-laws was to keep them simple and flexible in order to avoid frequent changes in the future

* Dues:
o Nancy noted that the group’s first dues could be collected in December making the group’s fiscal year starting in January and running until December
* Expansion:
o Nancy discussed methods for expanding the group’s membership
o Jackie will follow up with the CARING & AMIA Listservs to send out an invitation soliciting membership
o Nancy and Jackie have some contacts in other locations (such as Huntsville Hospital and the Georgia College of Nursing) that they will also follow up with 
o It was noted that Nursing students in the state’s schools might be interested in participating as wells as students of the UAB MHIS program
* Members with contacts in these various schools will follow up with them to let them know about the group
o The Web committee will investigate developing a flyer to use for marketing the group 
* Web Committee members include:  Theresa Meadows, Scott Padgett volunteered to help Tamara Trevarthen and Jackie Moss
o Once the group is affiliated with AlaHA that organization might be able to send out a letter notifying the state’s hospitals about the group’s existence
o Other avenues discussed for expanding membership included a link from the web sites of other associations or hospitals

NEW BUSINESS
* Alabama HIMSS Relationship:
o Nancy noted that the Alabama HIMSS association wants to maintain a relationship with the group
o The Alabama HIMSS also has an affiliation with AlaHA
o The Alabama HIMSS is planning an October 15 education session
* Two talks are currently planned that include:
* Closed loop medication systems to be presented by Bill Felkey from Auburn University
* CIO Panel 
* They would like the group’s contact list in order to send notices regarding this education session 
* The members present agreed that the contact list should be provided to the Alabama HIMSS as requested
* Future meetings:
o UAB will present at next month’s meeting
o The members present agreed that the group should join the Alabama HIMSS  October 15 education session and add on a brief business meeting
o Providing site visits at future meetings was discussed 
* St Vincent’s is willing to host a business meeting and site visit in November,  with possible focus demonstrations on the following options:
* CPOE (8 physicians are currently using CPOE)
* ED Tracking board
* Electronic Nursing Documentation
* Closed loop medication administration with Meds Manager (They are using bar coding and scanning of meds by nursing and will be adding physician orders directly into the pharmacy information system in the future)
* East Alabama hospital could potentially host a business meeting and site visit in March or April
* This organization’s ED is fully automated 
* Systems Used in Member’s Health Care Organizations:
o Nancy passed out a list of the organizations represented by the membership that included the information systems and vendors that each organization is using
* Nancy requested that the members update this list and add contacts
* This list will serve as a networking resource for the group’s members
* Nancy will send out a request electronically to all the group’s members requesting review of the list and update as appropriate 
* Next meeting:
o The group agreed that future meetings will be held on the second Friday of each month
o The next meeting will be September 10 in the Bruno Conference Center, Classroom 7 at St Vincent’s hospital from 1:00 to 3:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted:
Becky Favor
Secretary
Clinical Informatics