From the Editor: What You Need to Know—Now

Providers and facilities will be sorting out the HHS/ONC’s proposed rules for meaningful use and the Interim Final Rule for some time to come. Reading and digesting the 700-plus pages in these two documents is not for the faint of heart, and the drafts have spawned myriad questions since their release in late December.

Some of those answers may be found in Atlanta later this month at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s annual meeting. Stimulus efforts will be front and center at HIMSS 2010, whether you’re visiting with exhibitors on the show floor, checking out the Interoperability Pavilion—which will feature health information exchanges, electronic medical records and lots more—or taking in one of the 300+ educational sessions. With incentive funds on the table, this information is more important than ever. But it’s not the whole HIMSS picture, any more than it’s your entire job as a CMIO. As in past years, look for HIMSS to deliver the critical information you need to keep your facility’s IT systems as healthy as they can be. Even if you can’t go, you can follow the daily happenings at HIMSS on CMIO.net. Be sure to subscribe to CMIO News, which will feature daily, live coverage from the show.

Speaking of critical information, turn to our 2010 Compensation Survey to see how your plans and projects for 2010 and beyond stack up against what your compatriots are doing, how much time they’re spending on these projects, and how well they’re compensated for their efforts. As you’ll see, most of our respondents are quite satisfied with their compensation and job. Although survey participants reported annual salaries ranging from less than $30,000 (many still function in a part-time role) to more than $300,000, the largest group make between $200,000 and $250,000.

Another intriguing find: CMIOs are more likely to be Baby Boomers, and many have been in healthcare IT for less than 10 years—reflecting the relative newness of this title at most healthcare facilities.

It’s likely little surprise that the vast majority—93 percent—of our survey base is male. However, a recent survey by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) found that the number of female healthcare CIOs has increased from 9 percent in 1987 to 30 percent in 2008, so we’ll be watching to see if CMIO demographics follow this trend in the future.