Roundtables

Three CMIOs on Their New and Changing Role Written by Helen Gregg About 40 percent of hospitals and health systems employ a CMIO, according to HIMSS' 2014 Leadership Survey. While a definite increase from the one-third of organizations that reported having a CMIO on the payroll in 2013, CMIOs are still a relative newcomer to the C-suite. CMIOs are becoming increasingly necessary as hospi- tals and health systems struggle not only with the adoption and use of electronic health records and other IT systems but then with using the trove of data IT systems provide to improve care delivery. Usually physicians, CMIOs fill a unique niche of being a tech-focused executive with a deep knowledge of patient care processes, allowing them to bridge the gap that oen exists between clinical and IT depart- ments. Here, three CMIOs share their thoughts on how the new role is already changing, their biggest challenges and proudest moments and advice for other CMIOs. Question: From your point of view, how has your job or the role of a CMIO changed over the past few years? How do you expect it to change in the next few years? Mary Dallas, MD. CMIO of St. Charles Health System (Bend, Ore.): e role of the CMIO con- tinues to evolve, but in different ways across different organiza- tions. For me, it originally felt like an advisory role in a way, acting as a translator between physicians and IT staff. e goals were to help configure systems to fit into clinical work-flows, drive consen- sus on content and build across colleagues and work on technical projects as a clinical representative member of a team. Today, the role feels more strate- gic in nature, such as managing an informatics department with resources focused on using tech- nology to achieve adoption and desired outcomes. is includes a deeper functional understanding of the technology environment and planning alongside clinical and technology leadership to optimize existing systems as well as invest in development of new ones. e need for managing information to both drive better clinical practices and for mea- surement and reporting has put a big focus on analytics as well as clinical decision support. Neil R. Kudler, MD. Vice Pres- ident and CMIO of Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.): At Baystate Health, the role of CMIO was first created in March 2012 aer successful execution of mean- ingful use stage 1. While meaningful use had been the key focus of the medical informatics team, so too was the deployment and cultivation of the organiza- tion's enterprise EHR. Over the last 2-plus years, the role of CMIO has become defined by participation in and leadership of a variety of strategic objectives, many, though not exclusively, IT-related. Design, development and deployment of various health IT tools is an essential component of the CMIO role. Over the next few years, the role of CMIO is sure to become more strategic as new tools make their way into healthcare delivery. De- fining the IT/informatics three- year roadmap, in collaboration with my partner CIO, will be criti- cal in order to scout and anticipate the necessary resources for popu- lation health, predictive analytics, soware as a service to provider end users, leveraging health IT for clinical research and more. Mark Wess, MD, MSc. CMIO of Greenville (S.C.) Health System: e role of CMIO has been in- creasingly recognized as facilitat- ing transformation of healthcare processes and improving data management. In addition, it has been heavily relied upon to ad- dress needs for incentive programs (e.g., meaningful use), payment reform (e.g., accountable care ini- tiatives) and improved outcomes. Three CMIOs on Their New and Changing Role 2

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