The HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award is a joint award sponsored by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the Alliance for Nursing Informatics (ANI). Dana Alexander, MSN, MBA, RN, FAAN, FHIMSS, has been named the recipient of the 2016 HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award. Dana is a recognized industry thought leader, with concentrated expertise in value-based care, patient engagement, strategic planning, and clinical transformation.
The 2016 Nursing Informatics Leadership Award is being cosponsored jointly by both HIMSS and ANI. In the past, this award was sponsored only by HIMSS. ANI has joined to add more organizational support to the award, as ANI represents thousands of nursing informatics specialists and brings together 29 nursing informatics groups that function at local, regional, national, and international levels.
While Dana's background is founded in nursing, she works collaboratively with interprofessional colleagues to advance the healthcare transformation enabled by health information technology. In the nursing informatics community, she has been a thought leader in working with three partner groups: the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform initiative, and the National Quality Forum quality measure work. She is an exemplary clinical leader and a strategic thinker. She consistently serves as a positive advocate and role model for HIMSS and ANI endeavors.
Dana has contributed to nursing and healthcare through previous leadership roles as an advanced practice nurse, chief nursing officer, and chief executive officer, with responsibilities spanning the care continuum. For more than 15 years, she has held roles in advising how technology can transform healthcare through innovation and other enabling technologies. She is the immediate past chair of the North America HIMSS Board of Directors. Dana has served as a great role model for HIMSS nursing community, demonstrating exceptional leadership skills and consistently emphasizing the importance of collaboration in achieving common goals.
Dana has a solid history as a respected clinical leader and patient advocate. She is an accomplished speaker and author and willingly provides her expertise to advance policy, patient safety, and quality to improve health and healthcare. In her current role as executive director, health advisory at Ernst &Young, LLP (E&Y), she works collaboratively with a wide range of organizations, from governmental departments of health and public sector service providers and payers, to health insurers and private sector providers to create sustainable healthcare systems that deliver high-quality care while being efficient and cost-effective. In this position, she brings together professionals from multiple sectors including health, life sciences, technology, telecommunications, consumer products, and more to develop cross-sector perspectives and solutions for transformation and new business models.
Prior to joining E&Y, Dana served as vice president, clinical advisory at Divergent Solutions, LLC. She also served as the vice president of integrated care delivery and chief nursing officer at Caradigm (GE Healthcare & Microsoft Joint Venture), as well as vice president and chief nursing officer for GE Healthcare. She is an active and past participant in government and industry initiatives.
With all this experience and expertise, it is easy to see why Dana was selected for the HIMSS-ANI Nursing Informatics Leadership Award this year. Please join the nursing informatics and health information technology community in congratulating her on this wonderful achievement!