Siegel Quoted in Healthcare IT News

Recently, Bonnie Siegel was interviewed by Healthcare IT News...below is a little of what the article mentioned as it relates to healthcare IT decisions.

The industry push toward adoption of healthcare IT is giving CIOs more decision-making power and prominence within hospital system's executive ranks, says one healthcare executive recruiter.

The implementation of electronic medical records and President Bush's call for portable electronic health records by 2014 have shaken up a lot of organizations, driving more executive boards to look to CIOs for strategic leadership going forward, said Bonnie Siegel, vice president of CEJKA Search's Healthcare IT Practice.

"Some organizations that had a director of IT now need an upgraded position at the executive management table to be more strategic," she said. Hospitals with between 200 and 500 beds in smaller metropolitan areas, in particular, are upgrading their director of IT positions to CIO positions.

Executive boards are asking many questions, and the CIO is required to be the "great communicator" who possesses interpersonal, leadership and team player skills, she said.
Hospital systems are also building CIO support teams that include clinical leaders to lead the clinical side of IT initiatives. In some organizations, the trend is adding the positions of Chief Medical Information Officer, Director of Medical Informatics, and/or Chief Nursing Officer to the CIO support team.

"You need buy-in from the caregivers," Siegel said. "You need to add clinicians for the user's perspective."

With the rise of electronic patient data access and exchange, hospital systems are also adding Chief Security Officer in IT to the team.

With hospitals connecting their electronic record systems to their associated physician groups' EHRs, the need for CIOs to move comfortably between acute-care settings and physician practice settings is becoming increasingly important. "This is causing new positions to be formed," she said.

While CIO recruitment is occurring "sporadically" across the country, Siegel noted that a lot of CIO hiring activity can be found in major metropolitan areas, particularly in the East Coast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Northwest regions and in California.