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- What the heck is an itinerant CMIO?
- A chief medical informatics officer (CMIO) is a physician experienced in the practice of medicine, in implementing information technology, in the field of informatics and in the use of decision support to assist physicians, nurses, staff and patients in making medical decisions.
- An itinerant CMIO is a chief medical informatics officer who is willing to travel to assist hospitals and clinics on a part time, as needed basis.
- Why is an itinerant CMIO even necessary?
- Though many large health care systems and hospitals are able to afford a full or part time chief medical informatics officer, smaller facilities are not. Often smaller facilities, such as critical access hospitals or small practices will involve one of their more technically oriented physicians to fill the role of CMIO, but these physicians seldom have the experience necessary to achieve a fully implemented, effectively used electronic health record (EHR). These facilities need someone who is experienced in the implementation of EHRs, who is EHR vendor agnostic, and who can be trusted by both nurses and physicians. The itinerant CMIO can provide as-needed guidance and insight to the local implementation team, the executive team at the facility, and listen to the concerns of the nursing staff and the physicians. The itinerant CMIO can communicate with both information technology staff and the clinical staff to help each side understand the needs of the other and build lines of communication. The itinerant CMIO can also paint a vision of the future so physicians and staff can see the advantage of working though the disruptive changes brought about by an implementation with the belief that things will be much better once all the work is complete.
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