CMIOs: Prepare To Get Your Hands Dirty

For the third year in a row, CHIME and AMDIS are partnering to bring the successful Boot Camp program to CMIOs. Given the immense challenges facing CMIOs, there’s never been a more important time for them to grow their skill set and leadership training.

When I added the CIO role to my CMIO duties in 2010 at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, one of the first things I did was sign up for CHIME’s CIO Boot Camp. That turned out to be a very smart move. The course was an intensive and immersive experience that gave me the tools and skills I needed to hit the ground running.

Now, it’s been taken a step further. CHIME is teaming up with AMDIS to offer the CMIO Boot Camp, June 19-21 in Ojai, Calif. It precedes the 25th Annual AMDIS Physician-Computer Connect Symposium. I am both thrilled and humbled to be on the CMIO Boot Camp Faculty.

The CMIO Boot Camp builds on the success of the CIO program, but its content is geared to the special needs of the CMIO and addresses the challenges inherent in serving the needs of both physicians and administrators. Physicians are increasingly overworked, burnt out and frustrated by the demands of a rapidly changing healthcare system. There has never been a more important time for CMIOs to excel at what they do.

The CMIO Boot Camp is built around six Success Factors:

1. Strategic Alignment & Execution
2. Making Change Happen
3. Demonstrating Value
4. Building Networks & Communities
5. Team Building
6. Customer Service as a Core Value

A central part of the curriculum is a series of case studies that drives practical application of the Success Factors. The case studies are designed to build on each other; they will engage the course participants in collaborative real-world problem solving. I like to think of the course as a mini-MBA designed for the physician leader. The complete course agenda can be viewed at the course website.

The Boot Camp isn’t intended for people who are on the fence about a career in clinical informatics. It isn’t a board prep course, and it isn’t an introduction to informatics. It is focused on the tools and skills needed to engage and lead physicians. If you are a CMIO or associate CMIO who wants to take your career to the next level, or you are mentoring such a person, do yourself a favor and take a hard look at the CMIO Boot Camp. It’s a serious commitment. Participants have a healthy list of required and suggested reading. They’re expected to come prepared. The course size is limited to ensure optimum interaction between the faculty and participants. Prepare to get your hands dirty. Prepare to learn.

This piece was originally posted on LinkedIn Pulse by George Reynolds, MD, Epic Emeritus and former CIO and CMIO at Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, Neb.