Accountable Care Heightens Importance of CMIO Role

Velasco sees future variations in the CMIO role, with some CMIOs focusing on clinical informatics, while others focus on the behind-the-scenes analytics and back-end research support. One way to address this natural fragmentation, he said, is to enlist a cohort of medical informaticists that can satisfy all the organization’s needs. At THR, Velasco has an associate CMIO who focuses on clinical decision support, which frees him up to address other areas of IT.

Hodges sees a trend toward a new CMIO role that focuses on optimization, analytics, and quality, with quality departments reporting to that new role.