VANCOUVER – BCHIMPS believes in the Patients’ Included mission and vision and Charter and is proud to announce that their next conference, on March 2nd 2018 in Vancouver, will be “certified” as Patients Included.
“At the beginning of 2018, we embarked on a shift in our Society’s approach to event planning and participation, to include patients in all aspects of our two annual events, our Fall and Spring Symposia,” said Alain Guez (pictured), BCHIMPS president.

“We strongly believe that this will strengthen the conversations at our events, and help us as professionals to be better at our daily work. It will help us to create better outcomes, better healthcare delivery systems, and more relevant information management and technology solutions for the patients we serve.”

The Spring 2018 Symposium, on March 2nd, 2018, is the first event where we have included patients in the design and planning. We have also sponsored patients to participate in the day as full delegates, and by introducing speakers and participating in Q&A sessions.

For the fall Symposium on September 28th, 2018, and ongoing beyond that, we will be positioning the BCHIMPS events to include patients and caregivers as speakers, as part of panel discussions, and to offer deeper opportunities for patients to partner in designing and delivering the Symposia content.

We are realigning our budget and sponsorship opportunities to increase the number of Scholarships we can provide to cover travel and registration costs, to make it easy for more patients and patient caregivers to fully participate in event design and the day itself. We are also soliciting sponsorship to support virtual participation, and the availability of conference session recordings and materials through our website.

A Patients-Included status signifies that the event has satisfied all five criteria as identified in the Patients Included charter:

• 1. Patients or caregivers with experience relevant to the conference’s central theme actively participate in the design and planning of the event, including the selection of themes, topics and speakers.
• 2. Patients or caregivers with experience of the issues addressed by the event participate in its delivery, and appear in its physical audience.
• 3. Travel and accommodation expenses for patients or caregivers participating in the advertised programme are paid in full, in advance. Scholarships are provided by the conference organizers to allow patients or caregivers affected by the relevant issues to attend as delegates.
• 4. The disability requirements of participants are accommodated. All applicable sessions, breakouts, ancillary meetings, and other programme elements are open to patient delegates.
• 5. Access for virtual participants is facilitated, with free streaming video provided online wherever possible.

As the premier, not-for-profit, BC organization for health informatics and information management technology leaders, managers, vendors and consultants, we maintain that we are committed to adhering to the letter and intent of the criteria set forth in the Patients Included Charter for future conferences.

For any questions or concerns, please contact: rosemary@bchimps.org, director, BCHIMPS Board.