"Building Bridges": The Increasingly Vital Role Clinical Leaders Play in Moving Healthcare Forward

Although the panelists come from different backgrounds, all three agreed that the most critical aspect of the CMIO and CNIO roles is to act as a bridge.

“The entire care team is complex and intertwined and interconnected. That’s why it is really important to be ‘the great translator’ and to understand the system-wide perspective of how everything works together,” said Fox. “My role is to translate the needs of clinicians to IT, and to explain to clinicians the opportunities that exist by leveraging IT solutions. We’re here to build bridges to bring people together.”

Fox encouraged viewers to think of the CIO, CMIO and CNIO as a triangle (which can change if an organization has, for example, a chief clinical informatics officer) where leaders rely on each other’s expertise, collaborate, and move initiatives forward.