As an emerging job sector within the healthcare market, Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) positions are projected to grow 18% by 2028, significantly outpacing other occupations in the market. This isn't a surprise when hospitals and other large healthcare facilities rapidly adopt new technology like AI, IoT, and EMR/HER applications to improve patient care and operational efficiency.
We'll examine the role and duties of a CMIO and address why this hybrid health IT executive is vital to being competitive in the healthcare market. Large healthcare organizations need a CMIO to improve data systems and reduce malpractice from miscommunication.
What is a CMIO?
A Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) plays a critical role in healthcare organizations. This executive must successfully act as a bridge between IT and medical departments. Because of the sensitive nature of patient data managed by healthcare facilities, a CMIO is a critical asset for leading the frontlines of data protection, communication, and efficiency.
Related: Pushing the Boundaries of Virtual Care
What Are the Duties of CMIOs?
A CMIO must oversee IT programs and systems while providing a clinical perspective to ensure patient care is the highest priority. To do this, chief medical information officers find themselves regularly tasked with:
- Working as a liaison between IT, medical, and executive departments
- Identifying trends in health informatics to improve applications and systems
- Creating and enforcing standards to increase the quality of patient care and operational efficiency. Evaluating and managing the health organization's IT systems
- Leading the design and implementation of EMR/HER applications and software
- Analyzing data from EMR-certified technicians
- Ensuring care quality and communication remain consistent across various information systems
- Analyzing medical data to improve operations and health services
- Training medical professionals on how to use IT applications and systems, specifically EMR/HER programs that require computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
- Identifying and protecting against fraudulent behavior and cyber attacks
As more systems and medical equipment become integrated with AI and the network, the CMIO's role becomes critical to successful communication, patient care, and efficiency in daily operations. CMIOs are more commonly needed in hospitals and large healthcare facilities.
Ready to start improving patient scheduling today? Book your personalized demo to see how we can help.
Where Do CMIOs Commonly Work?
While any health organization can have a CMIO position within their executive staff, CMIOs are critical to hospitals and large healthcare organizations to help manage and analyze large data sets, drive efficiency within the organization, and enforce protocols for privacy and communication.
A recent survey by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that healthcare managers in IT service commonly worked at:
- Hospitals
- Physician offices
- Nursing care facilities
- Government organizations
- Outpatient centers
Why Are CMIOs Important for Healthcare Institutions?
For large health organizations, CMIOs are needed for:
- Reducing EHR barriers
- Implementing health IT programs and applications
- Communicating the needs of medical professionals to improve workflow
- Leveraging data analysis to improve business operations, patient care, and cyber security
- Training others to ensure standards and protocols are maintained
This newer executive position enables the organization to streamline, open communication channels, and reduce miscommunication and malpractice issues. For large health organizations, this position is important for profitability.
CMIO Training And Education
Because the CMIO acts as a critical bridge between IT and healthcare professionals, the CMIO must have experience and education in the medical field and IT. This enables them to communicate clearly with both departments. As this job sector grows, more organizations are looking for candidates with a Master’s or Graduate degree in Health Informatics.
For IT and medical professionals that would like to transition to this position, there are several certificates that can increase experience and training:
- Clinical Informatics Certification
- Advanced Health Informatics Certification
- Registered Health Information Administrator
- Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems
Learn more about our Smart Care Routing™ technology that enables healthcare facilities to automate triage, patient communication, and administrative tasks that can reduce operational costs while improving efficiency. Visit Clearstep to learn more.
Related: Pros and Cons: AI in the Medical Field
FAQs
Here are some commonly asked questions about CMIOs:
What Degrees Are Required To Become A CMIO?
As an executive, CMIO candidates are generally expected to have some or all of the following degrees and work experience:
- Bachelor's degree in IT or health-related field
- Master's degree in health informatics or healthcare administration
- Graduate Certificate in Health Informatics
- Work experience as a medical professional
- Proven leadership skills
- Excellent communication skills
How Much Do CMIOs Earn?
The CMIO position is still relatively new, so there aren't concrete numbers on salary. A C-level executive generally makes $97,140 per year in health IT. And there are other reports of a range that can top around $250,000.
Your salary as a CMIO will be influenced by several factors such as:
- Location & area demand
- Education
- Size of the health organization
- Job scope
How Is The Job Outlook for CMIOs?
Technology is only getting more complex and integrated into every aspect of the healthcare organization. The ability to track, gather, analyze, and protect the massive data collected is a huge undertaking. CMIOs are poised to grow in adoption and demand as health organizations expand their data management systems.
The CMIO job sector is expected to outpace the average for other occupations through 2028.
Final Thoughts
When you have a CMIO who proactively identifies trends, provides insight on how to improve efficiency, and ensures the quality of patient care, your healthcare organization will exceed patient expectations. Your business will reduce wasteful costs, procedures, and applications in exchange for higher profitability.
Clearstep offers advanced AI tools that can identify operational efficiency and manage patient experience. By investing in our system, you can increase satisfaction and retention with patients. Our Smart Care Routing technology automates everyday tasks, reduces staff stress, and opens up your schedule to focus on what matters most.
Looking for a profitable, efficient way to manage triage, scheduling and associated administrative tasks? Sign up for a demo of our Smart Care Routing solution.
Related: How AI chat increases health systems' clinical capacity and builds brand loyalty
