CHIEF MEDICAL INFORMATION OFFICER (CMIO) SALARIES

The market for Health informatics is touted to be one of the hottest growth sectors in USA today and some computer-savvy physicians are increasingly investigating ways to jump into the Medical informatics - Healthcare IT bandwagon . A few years ago, Health IT spending overtook Radiology as the biggest investment that a hospital made with systems like Electronic Medical Records, Computerized Order Entry Systems and Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS). Better quality, reduced medical errors and saving administrative costs are the main reasons for the growth of the health care IT market.

One of the hottest executive positions that are specifically geared for Computer-loving physicians is that of the Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO), at times also called Chief Medical Informatics Officer. As per this article, "The new chief medical information officer title indicates its growing importance in health-care. Organizations are likely focusing on the necessary integration of technology and medical applications, which requires significant physician input and leadership".


A practicing cardiologist once asked me with great interest about various medical informatics courses being offered in USA and he expressed great frustration over the Managed Care scenario in US. Indeed, many places have begun to offer fellowship positions in Medical Informatics, Pathology Informatics for post-residency physicians, for example the Cleveland Clinic Medical Informatics Fellowship program or the Yale University Medical Informatics fellowship program.

Let's first have a look at what is expected from a CMIO position. Most places will want the CMIO to be a board-certified / Board Eligible physician who must maintain 20 to 25% practice and devote the rest to IT management and application innovation or revamp, etc.

How to become a Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) in USA ?

A CMIO is not an academic position or specialty, it's an executive position with needs highly dependent on the individual hiring organization - Just like a CEO cannot plan his career academically to be a CEO !

But let's see how much we can learn. A sample job posting for a Children's hospital reads:

"The Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) provides physician leadership to advance our clinical information systems to bring evidence-based medicine to the point of care consistent with our mission and strategy. - 20% Clinical practice, pediatric infectious disease consultant and 80% Clinical informatics leadership"

Another job posting reads:

"The Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) provides leadership in the development of the overall clinical information technology strategy, direction on the design and implementation of clinical databases and those applications that utilize them; will educate, involve, and support physicians and other users of clinical information regarding the purposes and functions of the information system"


Note that a CMIO is not merely an IT-knowledgeable physician, but needs to have proven leadership and management skills too - hence an MBA / MHA /MMM (Master of Medical Management) along the way is highly recommended for CMIO wannabe docs.

So to become a CMIO, you would probably need these at least:

- Be a Board Certified Physician : A CMIO is a bridge between the docs and the IT side, and to have the support of docs and be their leader, you need to be a well known physician yourself
- Leadership Skills and Communication Skills
- Management Experience
- IT systems experience and / or informatics academics
- Be a member of a professional organization like the Health Information Management & Systems Society (HIMSS) and follow developments, conferences, certifications and workshops.


CMIO Salaries Data:


Incomes and compensation data for CMIO are somewhat fuzzy at this point since it's a fairly new position - but being expected to work as a physician, base salaries commensurate with that of a physician are obvious. However, in addition, being classified as an executive position, one can expect big time bonuses dependent on performance.

- Justin Graham, chief medical information officer: $275,000 as per this article

- I once spoke to a CIO of a University Hospital in the midwest and he told me the salary ranges for the few CMIOs that he knew of, hovered between 180,000 to 250,000/- a year with excellent executive style bonuses. He himself made $226,000/- a year as a CIO (Chief Information Officer)

- As per this excellent news post that appeared on HealthExecutive, a recruiter words:
"Physicians with both informatics expertise and leadership skills are most definitely in demand today, and they do not come cheap. “It’s unusual to see someone in this role earning less than $175,000,” executive recruiter Hodges said. The majority earn at least $250,000 plus bonuses."


One of the most celebrated CMIOs in USA is Dr. Paul C. Tang of Palo Alto Medical Foundation and he is essentially living my dream ;-). Here's a great interview transcript with Dr. Peter Dysert, the CMIO of Baylor Health System and a Pathologist.


Medical Informatics Fellowships Salary range from 36,000$ to 40,000$ a year for post-PhD (Non-MD) graduates and 50,000$ to 60,000$ a year for Post-Residency MD Graduates.


Another great article to read is "What does the Chief Medical Information Officer Do ?"



Also Read:

- Information Technology for the Practicing Physician
- Physician Executive Salaries in USA
- InformaticsForum.com : Forum for Health , Medical, Healthcare IT & Bioinformatics
- Medical Informatics: An Executive Primer
- Implementing an Electronic Health Record System
- Mega Options for Physicians: How Doctors Can Achieve Their Dreams by Moving into Non-Clinical Careers or Becoming Entrepreneurs





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