CIO, CMIO Groups Seek Closer Collaboration

Trade associations representing chief information officers and chief medical information officers have expanded a partnership that began in early 2014.


Trade associations representing chief information officers and chief medical information officers have expanded a partnership that began in early 2014.

The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives has long offered an annual CIO Boot Camp program for health information technology professionals newly in a CIO role or aspiring to get there. This year, CHIME worked with the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems to develop a boot camp for new and hopeful CMIOs, with the first camp being held June 15-17.

Now, CHIME will offer operational support to AMDIS by representing the association on public policy matters and helping to expand education programs in such areas as information infrastructure and biomedical issues. AMDIS, in turn, will advise CHIME on physician informatics issues. Both organizations will meet three times a year to review goals and develop new initiatives.

The deeper relationship comes from a recognition that CIOs and CMIOs must develop closer collaboration and be joined at the hip, says CHIME CEO Russell Branzell. CIOs, for instance, need to find ways to advance health information technology while engaging physicians proactively rather than reactively, he adds.