Health care has experienced multiple changes in the last few years. From the adoption of Electronic Health Records to improvements in medical imaging, the industry has seen its landscape altered by numerous factors such as government legislation and standards on information technology security.
For their part, chief information officers have been responsible for the management of IT solutions and computer systems that support the goals of medical facilities around the country. According to a report from the executive search firm SSi-Search, these CIOs in health care have endured an increase in the complexity and responsibilities of their workload with no end in sight for demand. Additionally, the findings showed that compensation has not grown in tandem with the new duties of CIOs.
EHRs and the effects of HITECH
According to the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, following the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, health care organizations were incentivized to install EHR systems in their practices to facilitate patient management. Eventually, this data could be used to participate in health information exchange and improve the health outcomes of countless American citizens.
In order to meet the conditions for receiving payments, CIOs have to work collaboratively with other health care executives to successfully adopt these technologies and mitigate the changes that will occur as a result.
As part of HITECH, the Meaningful Use program was established, which works to push the adoption of EHRs through the incentive initiative, reimbursing them for their efforts provided they adequately attest to Meaningful Use. CHIME explained that its goal has five points:
- Improve the quality and safety of care, while reducing health disparities
- Ensure the privacy and security of health information
- Engage patient in their own health care
- Improve the health of the population as a whole
- Facilitate the coordination of care across practices.
It is important that CIOs understand the risk of rushing implementation, as it can lead to issues with revenue cycle and maintaining profitability. It involves a lot of internal assessments, as practices – including Digital Imaging facilities – have to determine their IT needs and the sift through the available vendors.
CIO challenges following legislation
The study’s findings, reported by Clinical Innovation, were curated from interviews with 178 CIOs, as well as conversations with other industry executives. From their research, SSi-Search was able to glean a composite picture of the CIO in America, with 82 percent being male, 61 percent having a master’s degree and salaries ranging from $125,000 to more than $725,000 per year.
However, in regards to challenges that CIOs have faced since HITECH, many reported that their difficulties rest in acquiring the proper resources to get work done. Other executives were not as strategically involved on key initiatives, leaving CIOs alone to solve problems and action plans.
“CIOs complained that they were not always brought in at the onset of a project,” read the report. “This, they cautioned, jeopardized the ability to maximize efficiencies.”
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Ronny Bachrach
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