European IT directors and senior health IT executives gathered in Geneva at the HIMSS Europe CIO Summit Nov. 20-22, to recognize best practices for health IT in Europe.

Organized by Brussels-based HIMSS Europe, the sell-out event attracted 150 leaders of healthcare IT, including Zafar Chaudry, MD, director of information management and technology at Liverpool Women's Hospital in the UK; Henning Schneider, head of medical IT processes at Germany's University Clinic of Hamburg and Professor Bruno Xavier Pastor, MD, CMIO, at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona in Spain.

“The HIMSS CIO Summit is a must-attend event for healthcare IT leaders – a "club" of sorts, for those who want to transform and better their hospitals, and consequently healthcare, through the use of IT,” said Christina Roosen, executive director of HIMSS Europe.

The summit was also the scene for HIMSS Europe’s Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) Awards. The University Hospital of Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, was recognized for being the first in Europe to reach Stage 7 on the scale. Azienda ULSS 18 hospitals in Rovigo, Italy; Hospital Clinic I Provincial de Barcelona, Spain, and Switzerland's Inselspital in Bern were all awarded Stage 6.

The next CIO Summit will take place at eHealth Week in Copenhagen, May 7-9, 2012, with another to follow in Mallorca, Spain, November 18-20, 2012.