Thursday 19 February 2015

Emergence of the CIO in Healthcare Sectors – A Needed Evolution or Unnecessary Addition?

Yes, hospitals and other healthcare facilities have CIOs or Chief Information Officers, and that’s a fact!

The CIO is no longer a distinctive corporate world and IT sector title and can be seen in other sectors as well. Digitalization and new-age technology is primarily responsible for the distinctive evolution of the role of the CIOs in the healthcare sector and plays a significant part in research and analysis, development and implementation of strategies, identification and selection of technology and IT supplies and more. In fact, there is no singular reason that has led to its recognition and popularity, but a plethora of factors. Let’s have a look at the main reasons for the emergence of the CIO in healthcare sectors!

Emergence of the CIO in Healthcare Sectors: Main contributors
In terms of scope and complexity the role of healthcare CIOs is constantly changing. In fact certain research papers show that that keeping in mind other variables, the importance of the role has increased by 25-50%!


  • Changing business agenda on data transparency: This has been a critical factor for the emergence of the role of CIOs in the healthcare sector- data and information transparency and availability. It was seen that due to lack of data and information transparency between departments, doctor-patients, pharmacists and other involved individuals, it was leading to higher costs for medical treatment. As a result of that, the federal government introduced new practices, medical institutes came out with reports, and it was made mandatory for medical records to be made accessible to authorized persons. Since the appropriate utilization of IT is the most convenient way to store, manage, share, modify or analyze digital data, healthcare companies and hospitals started to make proper use of Information Technology which in turn led to the emergence of the role of the Chief Information Officer!  



  • Big Data and multichannel communication: Gone are the days when individuals would rely on single channels for connecting with doctors, nurses, physicians or any others. With data coming from multiple online and offline channels like social media, text, emails, query forms etc. it was identified that specialists would be required to compile, normalize and integrate this enormous volume and variety of data being added with immense velocity. That’s how it was identified that CIOs or specialists at managing large volumes of Big Data would be needed in the healthcare sector as well!



  • The strategic leader behind the teams: The CIO is not the regular systems and operations guy. He is the strategic leader responsible for leading high-performing teams. Whether it is for developing long-term growth plans, or practices for accelerating the revenue cycles, or even for designing a comprehensive strategy for patient engagement, the CIO and his team ensures that the right strategies and tools are implemented for keeping the scales balanced. It was as such necessary for healthcare companies and hospitals to identify a leader who would through the proper implementation of IT offer business solutions. 

As such it’s not a pretentious statement to say that the role of the Chief Information Officer is not just another title, but an important part of the healthcare sector- a much needed evolution.

For healthcare marketers, hospital recruiters, pharmaceutical company manufacturers or anyone else looking for a way to get in touch with CIOs from hospitals or healthcare facilities, the Chief Information Officers email list from Top Healthcare Leads is a good way to start your communications and campaigns to them! As a global leader in offering healthcare data, we can help our team with the most comprehensive solutions for achieving business excellence!

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