Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, chief digital information officer at Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health, has watched her own job description change out from under her.
“Initially, the role of the CMIO or the CNIO was to be at-the-elbow support. Right, we stood there and helped people use technology,” said Dr. Lozovatsky, who earlier in her career worked as a chief medical information officer. “Now we’re really truly at an executive table setting strategy for how to use these tools, and that’s a very different role.”
She ties the shift directly to credibility. “Having that clinical background and understanding how to integrate technology into clinical care is critical to us successfully setting a strategy for an organization and how to bring in tools,” she told Becker’s last week at its annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago.
Albert Villarin, MD, regional vice president and chief medical informatics officer at New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, arrived at a similar description of the role he’s held for roughly two decades of his career.
“It was just you and a CIO 15, 10 years ago. Now it’s collaborative with the other chief executive officers of the C-suite,” Dr. Villarin said. “I believe that the position of CMIO will become a very important strategic partner … to become like a chief clinical strategy officer within the C-suite.”
He described the job as resting on three legs at once, not one.
“I think we have the trifecta, I call it,” Dr. Villarin said. “It’s the operational experience by being in the executive suite for all these years. The clinical background, of course, that gives you relevance and understanding of the needs from a clinical perspective. But also the financial business model understanding that healthcare ultimately is a business.”
At Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine, Mitchell Schnall, MD, PhD, senior vice president for data and technology solutions, said the same logic is why his health system specifically recruits clinically trained technology leaders rather than pure IT executives — credibility with physicians is only part of it. The other part is understanding where the money actually is.
“Obviously one place that you can go right to work on is revenue cycle,” Dr. Schnall said. “The applications that help you optimize your coding processes and ensure coding and documentation match closely bring immediate value.”
At Brooklyn Hospital Center, the two roles have already merged into one title. Sam Amirfar, MD, who spoke at the Becker’s conference, holds both chief medical officer and chief information officer simultaneously — the same evolution other leaders are predicting, just further along.
