SEATTLE: August 13, 2012 – Seattle Children's today announced the appointment of Wes Wright to senior vice president, chief information officer. In this new role, Wright is responsible for developing and implementing multiple information systems essential to the clinical and business operations of Seattle Children's. Wright will also lead Children's Privacy Program which safeguards patient health information in compliance with HIPAA and other regulations. In addition, Wright will provide leadership and strategic direction for Children's Information Services and Knowledge Management Departments.
Wright leaves his previous role at Children's as vice president, chief technology officer, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations delivering innovative information services to the organization. Since joining the hospital four years ago, Wright spearheaded the development and rollout of the hospital's desktop virtualization initiative. This implementation accelerated systems' logins from several minutes to just 20 seconds, saving staff time, improving patient interactions, and virtually eliminated desktop technical issues which helped enhance patient service.
While his new role will encompass many of Wright's previous responsibilities, he will now play a more crucial role in determining high-level strategy for the Information Services Department and the overall organization.
"Wes has been the driving force behind improving the way Seattle Children's shares and handles patient data and making technology more transparent to our clinicians," said Thomas N. Hansen, MD, CEO at Seattle Children's. "With information technology becoming more critical in the way hospitals are run, Children's is fortunate to have someone so dedicated to improving patient care through efficient data management."
Prior to joining Children's, Wright was the executive director of information services for Scripps Health. Before Scripps Health, he served for 20 years in the United States Air Force where he was a health services administrator and a cryptologic linguist, specializing in Korean.
"In my new role as CIO, I will get the chance to become more directly involved with Children's clinicians as I work to translate their needs and specific requirements into better defined IT capabilities," said Wright. "From a mission perspective, it doesn't get any better than working every day to provide information to clinicians so that they can take better care of children."
Wright will report to Dr. Hansen.
About Seattle Children's
Seattle Children's delivers superior patient care, advances new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research, and serves as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical referral center for the largest landmass of any children's hospital in the country (Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho). Consistently ranked as one of the best children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Seattle Children's is comprised of Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle Children's Research Institute and Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation. We are internationally recognized for advancing discoveries in cancer, genetics, immunology, pathology, infectious disease, injury prevention and bioethics. Children's also serves as the primary clinical, research and teaching site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. For more information visithttp://www.seattlechildrens.
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