Chief Medical Informatics Officer
Encyclopedia
A chief medical informatics officer (CMIO, also sometimes referred to as a chief medical information officer) is a healthcare executive generally responsible for the health informatics platform required to work with clinical IT staff to support the efficient design, implementation, and use of health technology within a healthcare organization.
Typically the CMIO is a physician with some degree of formal health informatics
training or a working equivalent thereof, who often works in conjunction with, or helps to manage other physician, nurse, pharmacy, and general informaticists
within the organization.
While historically there have been physicians and others filling this role, the more formal CMIO position started around 1992 to help hospitals support the adoption and implementation of health technologies such as electronic medical records (EMRs), electronic health records (EHRs), computerized physician order entry (CPOE), electronic documentation, health information exchanges (HIEs), and other technologies used in the clinical setting. The trend for healthcare organizations to have a CMIO has continued to grow, and accelerated as technology use in the clinical setting has been stimulated by programs such as the 2009 HITECH
(Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act.
CMIOs generally report to either the chief medical officer
(CMO), chief information officer
(CIO), chief operations officer (COO), or chief executive officer
(CEO). The exact roles and responsibilities vary widely , from organization to organization, often depending on the reporting structure , but they typically include at least one of the following:
1. Strategic planning
2. Policy development
3. Systems development and implementation
4. Stakeholder engagement
5. Capacity Building
6. Informatics education and platform development
7. Data mining and quality reporting
8. Education, Training and curriculum design
Some CMIOs continue to practice clinical medicine, to some degree, to help maintain credibility with other physicians, but this is not essential, just as most CIO's no longer perform programming or other low level non-executive functions.
Typically the CMIO is a physician with some degree of formal health informatics
Health informatics
.Health informatics is a discipline at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care...
training or a working equivalent thereof, who often works in conjunction with, or helps to manage other physician, nurse, pharmacy, and general informaticists
Health informatics
.Health informatics is a discipline at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care...
within the organization.
While historically there have been physicians and others filling this role, the more formal CMIO position started around 1992 to help hospitals support the adoption and implementation of health technologies such as electronic medical records (EMRs), electronic health records (EHRs), computerized physician order entry (CPOE), electronic documentation, health information exchanges (HIEs), and other technologies used in the clinical setting. The trend for healthcare organizations to have a CMIO has continued to grow, and accelerated as technology use in the clinical setting has been stimulated by programs such as the 2009 HITECH
HiTech
HiTech was a chess machine built at Carnegie Mellon University under the direction of World Correspondence Chess Champion Dr. Hans J. Berliner, by Berliner, Carl Ebeling, Murray Campbell, and Gordon Goetsch....
(Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act.
CMIOs generally report to either the chief medical officer
Chief Medical Officer
There are four Chief Medical Officers in the United Kingdom who are appointed to advise their respective governments on health related matters: Her Majesty's Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government...
(CMO), chief information officer
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
(CIO), chief operations officer (COO), or chief executive officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
(CEO). The exact roles and responsibilities vary widely , from organization to organization, often depending on the reporting structure , but they typically include at least one of the following:
1. Strategic planning
2. Policy development
3. Systems development and implementation
4. Stakeholder engagement
5. Capacity Building
6. Informatics education and platform development
7. Data mining and quality reporting
8. Education, Training and curriculum design
Some CMIOs continue to practice clinical medicine, to some degree, to help maintain credibility with other physicians, but this is not essential, just as most CIO's no longer perform programming or other low level non-executive functions.