Continuing IT education is a passion for Stettheimer, who is a fellow with professional organizations such as The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME). He is also being certified through the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

Stettheimer refers to CHIME as the "scalpel" of healthcare executive organizations because it focused on specific skill sets for healthcare CIOs. CHIME offers training in 13 key skill sets developed by 50 CIOs.

"Healthcare is the most information-intense and complex industry that I know of. I've worked in manufacturing ... but in terms of complexity and the impact of information ... I don't know anything that compares with healthcare," he said.

Stettheimer helped develop CHIME's CIO certification program and is also a teacher with the professional organization's , an intensive two and a half-day leadership course that has sold out for the past two years. The camp involves presentations, small group discussions, case studies and interactive problem solving.

Healthcare IT certification programs have two types of value, according to Stettheimer: They allow IT workers to benchmark where they are in terms of technology advancements and they let CIOs, CTOs and other IT managers know that they're likely hiring a good employee.