Brett Oliver, MD, chief medical information officer at Louisville, Ky.-based Baptist Health, discusses the cultural gaps that can sometimes occur with operations and clinicians and how CMIOs can use their unique perspectives to help.
Responses are lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How has your role as CMIO evolved over the past two to three years? How have your responsibilities changed since you took on the role?
Dr. Brett Oliver: I've learned there is no one CMIO job description. It varies quite a bit by organizational need but is beginning to solidify more as organizations emerge post EHR implementation.
We are change agents that are called to bridge the cultural gaps sometimes encountered with operations and the clinicians. We are effecting change more broadly and pervasively, now extending to comprehensive redesign of care processes as well as the use of new technology or improving the functionality of existing systems. While still focused on improving the clinical interface and usability of our EHR, we are challenged with how to make the overall care system better with our unique perspective.
Q: Which apps and technologies do you find most helpful, and which do you think will be passing fads?
BO: I think the apps and technologies that are ready to explode are the ones involving the exchange of patient data and precision medicine. For instance, I believe it will be the standard of care to have pharmacogenomics clinical decision support as part of your EHR in the near future. A physician simply cannot synthesize that amount of complex information without the support of the EHR and pharmacogenomics platforms.
Applications that can help digest raw patient-generated data and lead to actionable plans for providers are part of an area that's ripe for disruption. This could be done internally at an organization with an enterprise database warehouse and data scientists or one could turn to an external application. Amassing clinically raw and often useless information, like a patient's step count, will have to morph into an actionable step for providers or find itself a passing fad.
Real-time coaching online or via mobile device for patients that would benefit from behavioral change, such as dietary intervention for diabetes, will grow as the time physicians and other traditional healthcare professionals are able to spend with patients continues to shrink — or more value is placed on prevention in our reimbursement system.
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