After more than a decade working for the state of Georgia, Perry Sims, chief information officer for the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), is leaving the department.

 

Sims has accepted a position with Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, implementing and overseeing an electronic medical records system for the Athens-based company.

 

Sims said he was proud to have been a part of the team that established DPH as a department in 2011.

 

"I am also proud to have served with some of the most dedicated health care professionals in the state, along with a host of skilled scientists," he said. "I can honestly say that state government in Georgia works because of the daily sacrifices of our wonderful state employees."

 

DPH Commissioner Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald expressed appreciation for Sims' service to DPH.

 

"You have brought order to what was a very chaotic IT environment," she said. "We're very sorry to see you go."

 

Sims began his information technology career with 24 years of active-duty service in the U.S. Air Force, retiring with the top enlisted grade of chief master sergeant. In March 2002, he started working with the state of Georgia as the information systems director in what is now the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. There he upgraded admission, discharge and transfer procedures for seven state psychiatric hospitals with the implementation of a statewide in-patient hospital practice management information system.

 

In October 2007, Sims joined the Department of Community Health as its director of the Medicaid Management Information System, managing the day-to-day operations and support of Georgia's Medicaid claims processing system that supported more 1.6 million Georgia Medicaid and Peachcare for Kids members. He also served as deputy chief information officer and, briefly, as chief information officer.

 

When DPH formed in 2011, Sims was chosen as the department's first chief information officer. Since then, he has led the development of the new statewide WIC Information System and the new Vital Records Information System. Sims also was integral in efforts that led the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services for Georgia to award DPH $3.5 million for the development of a single front-end WIC computer system.
 
-Story by Carrie Gann, DPH Communications