The CMIO Quick Start Guide: What is a CMIO?

The CMIO Quick Start Guide is a series of posts on the role that the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) plays within an organization. As the number of healthcare organizations pondering the addition of a CMIO to their staff increases, it's vital that every organization understand the benefits of hiring a CMIO, what they'll actually do once they're hired, and how you can expect them to improve your operation. Over the next few weeks, we'll cover these topic and how you should bring one on to your team to ensure mutual success. Stay tuned for a new post every Tuesday. 

What is a CMIO?

CMIO vs. CIO

What Does a CMIO Do?

Besides A Human Bridge, What Else Does a CMIO Do?

An Example of a CMIO's Daily Schedule

What Credentials are Most Requested?

Hard Skills

• An M.D from an accredited medical school
• Board certification in at least one discipline. Board certification in Clinical Informatics a plus.
• Technical knowledge of IT systems such as architecture, databases, programming, security, networks, data exchange, etc.
• Principles of project management
• Quality improvement and workflow re-engineering

Soft Skills

• An ability to commiserate with the agony physicians feel about their clinical IT systems and a keen aptness to resolve their problems and put them at ease
• A strategic mindset, an ability to get that strategy down on paper and distributed to the organization, and the follow-through to translate that strategy into actionable tactics to move the organization towards its goals
• Understand how the IT systems customers use affect their workflow, well-being, and their ability to make decisions
• Technical knowledge and understanding of the IT systems used within an organization
• An ability to lead and manage change associated with large projects, new and updated systems, and organizational change
• Take constantly evolving healthcare IT industry concepts and apply them into management of the organization
• Oversee the implementation of new projects and systems with budgets often into the millions of dollars
• Develop governance structures that ensure continuity and uniformity between departments' systems
• Re-engineer clinical workflows and processes, as well as business and IT processes where needed
• Always keep the customer in mind, whether those customers are patients, providers, board members, or other stakeholders