In Brief: Nearly a dozen healthcare CIOs attended ECG’s focus group at the CHIME Fall Forum. Here’s what’s on their minds.
It’s been a few years since I attended CHIME, and I was so excited to return in 2022. It was great to see so many colleagues, talk about the future of AI, and see some robots in action (even if they didn’t behave quite right at the keynote address).
Most importantly, it was an opportunity to hear our client CIOs talk about what keeps them up at night and allow them to share lessons learned.
Insights from ECG’s Focus Group
ECG conducted a focus group titled “Linking Your Digital Strategy to Your IT Strategy.” Our clients are continually faced with the challenge of even defining with “digital.” ECG defines digital health as how an organization utilizes IT to communicate and build relationships with employees, customers, and other stakeholders online; as such, digital health is often referred to as a discipline within business, marketing, or media. In fact, the “chief digital officer” has become an official role in many organizations, charged with expanding consumer engagement among patients and staff.
However, at the focus group, we had close to a dozen CIOs who all agreed that the CIO really does need to advise and guide the digital strategy. What was even more interesting is that almost all of our focus group members were more focused on the function of the role rather than the title.
Navigating Digital Health Is a Team Effort
My takeaway was that it doesn’t matter what you call digital or how you define it; what’s important is that all of these initiatives are led by operational or clinical leaders who work side by side with the CIO. The CIO is not necessarily the leader or the driver but needs to:
- Support the initiative.
- Research and refine the best tools.
- Put together the best teams to support the clinicians.
- Remain responsible for project management.
That sense of collaboration extends to our role as consultants as well. The CIOs see us as being able to advise, educate, and arm them with current trends, updated tools, and occasionally support them with project management. A little affirmation as to what we do every day for our clients.
Published December 28, 2022