A chief information officer also known as a CIO serves as one of the most important executive dealing with the healthcare institutions. He normally works along with the Information Technology staff of the health organizations in order to support the implementation, designing and provision of technology which could be imbibed in the healthcare for its betterment. A chief information officer playing the role of protagonist in today’s consistently advancing technological era, has to face a lot many challenges which could rather be regarded as exciting new opportunities to incline the healthcare towards a more connected, patient- centric and collaborative approach.(‘What Can Health Care CIOs’)
A CIO has a numerous responsibilities on his shoulders which are continuously increasing with the growing trend of technology. Implementation of interoperability which is defined as the ability of different software applications and information technology systems to exchange data through communication is a supreme need of the hour. The CIO for resolution of this issue plays a role chief interoperable information officer (CIIO) stitching the gulf between patient centric and informative healthcare. Further CIO also looks after a vast ocean of information which may be in either structured or unstructured formats like patient’s health records or free-text patient notes. This information with its ever-expanding dynamic nature again could have been a matter of grave concern posing a challenge for the Health care departments in absence of a CIO. (‘What Can Health Care CIOs’) The Chief Information Officer also plays a major role in strategy designing for the organization. The officer operates as a leader in the field of Information Technology for creation and execution of standards and strategies. The CIO playing an efficient role in management and developing a robust, technical infrastructure justifies his position as an important pillar of the healthcare organisations. A chief information officer moreover is a member of the senior executive team of a healthcare organisation. Collectively the team is known as the C suite. (‘Job Functions of a Chief Information Officer’)
The CIO shares a unique bond even with the other executives of the organisation. The CIO along with the other executives of the organisation, like the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, are collectively responsible for designing the overall strategy of the company and developing approaches for augmenting the competitive performance of healthcare organisation. The team further bear the responsibility for planning the innovative information technology approaches to meets the healthcare requirement of the organisation to nurture the health of the patients. A chief information officer also has the responsibility of managing the team of specialists in the field of IT in operating the health resources of the organisation. A CIO also has the power to appoint an IT director and an IT manager to look after important health information. (‘Job Functions of a Chief Information Officer’) A CIO has to incorporate certain traits in order to justify the highly significant persona he carries. To be successful a CIO must be capable enough to mentor and lead.
Moreover, strategy designing playing such an important role makes it necessary for a CIO to possess the quality of designing innovative strategies and implementing them. Further Technology must be looked upon as a tool to make the access to information easier and beneficial. A CIO dealing with a number of executive must also have the ability to build consensus. The ability to communicate and collaborate is another trait a CIO needs to master in order to be successful. Ability to build great teams which may be seen as a by-product of the previously mentioned traits also holds its own relevance. A CIO must be incorporated with the ability to mitigate risks. In a case of disaster the CIO must be strategic enough to maintain backups in turn mitigating future risks. (‘10 qualities’) A CIO thus holding a very important position in a healthcare organisation truly deserves to be entitled as a custodian of the health care organisations.
References
Great Valley Publishing Company, I. (2014). What Can Health Care CIOs Expect in 2014? — A Top Five List. Fortherecordmag.com. Retrieved 9 December 2014, from http://www.fortherecordmag.com/archives/0114p8.shtml
Healthcareitnews.com,. (2014). 10 qualities of stellar CIOs | Healthcare IT News. Retrieved 9 December 2014, from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/10-qualities-stellar-cios?page=1
Work - Chron.com,. (2014). Job Functions of a Chief Information Officer. Retrieved 9 December 2014, from http://work.chron.com/job-functions-chief-information-officer-12331.html
