David Garets, Healthcare IT Visionary, Passes Away at 73; CHIME and HIMSS Pay Tribute

ANN ARBOR, MI, March 29, 2022 – The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) join together in mourning the passing of a great healthcare leader with the news of the death of Dave Garets on March 28 at the age of 73. Garets had battled Parkinson’s disease for several years.

“Dave’s wellspring of kindness and integrity was the foundation of his passion for improving healthcare,” said Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME. “He led the whole industry in revolutionary ways of thinking and drove major innovations with his teams along the way. He is irreplaceable, and he will be greatly missed by CHIME and throughout the industry.”

“Dave was an incredible leader, pioneer and advocate for the power of information and technology to transform healthcare,” said Hal Wolf, President and CEO of HIMSS. “As we work to reimagine health and health equity for all, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Dave. He often said, ‘We’re always better together than separate in the battle of care.’ The global health ecosystem has lost a great visionary in Dave, but we will continue to benefit from his tremendous contributions for years to come.”

Garets believed that if technology could be uniformly adopted in healthcare, caring for patients would be greatly enhanced and outcomes would improve for all. Two guiding principles formed from his healthcare IT experience. The first was that technology had to meet high standards, because people’s lives depended on the quality of healthcare IT. The second principle was that healthcare IT had to be universally adopted to realize maximum benefit to society. By championing these principles, Garets left his enduring mark on an industry that has now become almost entirely dependent on technology.

Garets’s career in IT began at AT&T, and he then became CIO for Magic Valley Hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho. He moved on to management consulting with Arthur D. Little before joining Gartner as a VP for healthcare research and analytics. The research and advisory team he built at Gartner is considered one of the best in healthcare. Garets was an important voice in emerging healthcare technologies and regulations. He promoted his vision for healthcare IT across the U.S. and at international venues.

After a move to HealthLink to help drive consulting services for providers, Garets led his team to build one of the leading strategy practices in the healthcare IT industry.  

Garets also chaired the largest association in the healthcare industry, HIMSS, as a byproduct of a merger between CHIM (healthcare IT vendors) and HIMSS (healthcare IT provider members).

Garets was instrumental during his HIMSS leadership tenure in gaining widespread acceptance of the corporate community as full-fledged members of HIMSS. As both a former CIO and vendor, Garets was able to speak to both provider and corporate audiences. Upon the creation of HIMSS Analytics, Garets resigned as HIMSS board chair in order to lead this new initiative. He again demonstrated his executive management skills by creating an empowered and progressive culture that generated a highly respected provider IT market database solution.

Garets helped develop the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM) that provided a simple and accurate assessment of provider EMR capabilities for supporting healthcare delivery.

Garet’s relentless promotion of the EMRAM in the US and internationally was the key factor in its market adoption, success, and transformative impact on the EMR market and federal health policy.

After achieving success with HIMSS Analytics, Garets was recruited by the Advisory Board Company to create a research and advisory service. Garets also helped promote new consulting services for the company related to Meaningful Use regulations and the emerging ICD-10 coding system.

Garets participated in CHIME’s CIO Boot Camp training curriculum for several years, generously mentoring new leaders to find their own successes in the industry.

About CHIME

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers (CIOs), chief medical information officers (CMIOs), chief nursing information officers (CNIOs), chief innovation officers (CIOs), chief digital officers (CDOs) and other senior digital health leaders. CHIME includes more than 5,000 members in 56 countries and two U.S. territories and partners with over 160 healthcare IT businesses and professional services firms. CHIME and its three associations provide a highly interactive, trusted environment that enables senior industry leaders to collaborate, exchange best practices, address professional development needs and advocate for effective use of information management to improve health and care in their communities. For more information, please visit chimecentral.org.

About HIMSS

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) is a global advisor, thought leader and member-based society committed to reforming the global health ecosystem through the power of information and technology. As a mission-driven non-profit, HIMSS offers a unique depth and breadth of expertise in health innovation, public policy, workforce development, research and digital health transformation to advise leaders, stakeholders and influencers across the global health ecosystem on best practices. With a community-centric approach, our innovation engine delivers key insights, education and engaging events to healthcare providers, payers, governments, startups, life sciences and other health services organizations, ensuring they have the right information at the point of decision. HIMSS has served the global health community for more than 60 years, with focused operations across North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.For more information, visit himss.org.

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