“Beginning with the observation that the vast majority of respondents associated health IT as a strategically critical tool to help a healthcare organisation’s patient care focused efforts, researchers explored variances in survey responses based on whether the respondent’s organisation employed (71 percent) or did not employ a clinical IT executive,” the report said. “This analysis generated remarkable differences on a multitude of issues leading researchers to conclude that the presence of a clinical IT executive in a healthcare provider organisation appears to have a notable impact on the organisation’s orientation towards health IT.”
As the healthcare industry evolves from a volume to a value-basedpayment system, clinical IT executives are expected to play an increasingly significant role in ensuring health IT is appropriately leveraged to positively impact care outcomes, the report continued.
“Clinical IT executives clearly possess a unique and valued perspective regarding the criticality of health IT on an organisation’s patient care-focused efforts, and this orientation appears to be gaining traction in many organisations” said Lorren Pettit, Vice President, Research for HIMSS. “And while clinical IT executives are part of the overall executive team in many healthcare organizations, their presence is not universally true. We will definitely continue to explore and track these issues in future HIMSS research studies.”
For the past 27 years, HIMSS has conducted the annual Leadership Survey as a means to identify and monitor generalised trends within the U.S. healthcare IT marketplace.
The Leadership Survey reflects the responses of 282 IT
executives and professionals in U.S. hospitals and health systems with regard
to their organisation’s IT environment.
Source: HIMSS
Image Credit: HIMSS
