ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the world in which the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO)—or Chief Health Information Officer (CHIO), in some organizations—now lives, not that of the past. A trusting and credible relationship between these physicians and the CMIO can be a natural one, especially if they are as interested and passionate about the potential of healthcare IT in achieving medical staff goals for quality and efficiency. A related option might be to apportion the CMIO role among multiple physicians—for example, those with complementary clinical or informatics experiences. Arguably the most important interaction the CMIO has is with the active physician community/medical staff. A parochial approach to "physician" informatics—as opposed to a broader one to "clinical" informatics and relevant clinical informatics leadership—will avoid many challenges. Quality initiatives in the pre-Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) era typically were educational and voluntary.
