Jose Valenzuela, M.D.

What does it take for IT leaders to be successful in an environment where so much depends on others embracing what they've implemented? For starters, it takes a passionate belief in what can be achieved with that IT, savvy communication skills to get a convincing message across, and a view that objections are merely speed bumps on the road to one's goal.

For all our 2008 Innovator Awards winners, keeping the end goal in mind is key — better patient care. They get up every morning thinking about the sick mother in the bed or the weak child sitting in a quiet hospital room, knowing that a CPOE solution they've put into place will get test results back to the clinician faster than a paper system ever would. They know that an e-prescribing system will alert a tired doc to a drug/drug interaction before it's too late. They know that a speedy image management system they've implemented will mean a tumor gets identified faster than if a radiologist waits for film.

The applications and workflows all healthcare IT executives put in place make a difference in real-world patient encounters. That's why they are so passionate about their work, overcoming obstacles that IT executives in other industries might succumb to. For this reason, HCI salutes not only the nine Innovators we've recognized in this issue, but all our readers who devote every day to ensuring technology does its part in promoting wellness and healing the sick. — Anthony Guerra