Half of the nation's hospitals have a CIO or CTO and 30 percent have a CMIO, according to a survey by the American Hospital Association.
However, these executives are not always involved in the regular-decision making processes at their organizations. One-fifth of respondents said the CIO or CTO is "always involved" in decisions, and 6 percent said the CMIO is always involved.
These executives are more often brought to the decision-making table "when necessary by topic," according to the survey. Sixty percent of respondents said the CIO or CTO is engaged when the topic lends itself to his/her expertise; the same was said of CMIOs by 52 percent of respondents.
Survey results are based on responses to an online survey of more than 1,100 healthcare executives, 95 percent of whom were CEOs and 5 percent of whom were strategy executives with their organizations. The majority of respondents worked with health systems or community hospitals.
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