As we conducted our second annual CMIO Health IT Top Trends Survey, we welcomed a second round of findings to layer onto last years inaugural results.

BOSTON Health leaders from across the U.S. gathered together at the CMIO Summit Clinical IT Leadership Forum on June 10 to hear and converse with colleagues who have navigated the straits of meaningful use, wrestled health information exchange (HIE) and clinical information systemsand lived to tell the tale of success.

Advanced clinical decision support (CDS) systems prioritize drug interactions, reducing both patient complications and physician time at the computer. And once providers get past the myriad alerts, theyre finding new frontiers for CDS.

We always learn so much from our CMIO Health IT Top Trends Survey, and this year doesnt disappoint. As youll see, the cover story offers great insight into the evolution of the CMIO role as well as the changing state of health IT projects compared with last year. Here are some of the ins and outs.

Positive change hinges on managing data and managing relationships with stakeholders. It is no coincidence that those two key qualities are essentially a job description for a CMIO.

Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed iTrem, an app that lets those with Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions use their iPhone to collect data on hand and arm tremors and relay the results to clinicians.

RTI Electronics has launched Cobia Smart, a measurement instrument used for the quality assurance of x-ray devices.

Readily available images, whether included in an EHR or a residing in repository, can improve care by reducing unnecessary tests, and lowering patients radiation exposure. Theres also a business case for image exchange, especially among HIEs trying to differentiate their services from competitors. In New York, Rochester RHIO was among the first HIEs in the U.S. to offer image exchange, but now its neighbor, the HealtheConnections RHIO, has joined the image exchange club.