Clinicians understand the importance leading the decision making in healthcare systems for technology that impacts patient care.

According to the 576 respondents of the 2015 HIMSS Impact of Informatic Nurse Survey, informatic nurses were widely seen as bringing value to the use of clinical systems and technologies at their healthcare organizations.  Key survey results include:  Quality of Patient Care:  Sixty (60) percent of respondents indicated that informatics nurses have a high impact on quality of care. Respondents reported that informatics nurses have a high degree of impact on workflow, patient safety and user acceptance.

Healthcare Informatics is included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in areas such as EHRs, tracking disease and health as well as DNA sequencing, showcasing the positive impact of health IT in the healthcare arena. The importance of Clinical Informatics has garnered the attention of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and as of December 2013, Clinical Informatics is recognized as a Board Subspecialty.

Healthcare service organizations need to to harness mutual interests for mutual gain as they build care delivery models with patients—not patient encounters—at their center. The companies that will emerge as winners in this new marketplace will be those that can articulate how technology can add value, align incentives, strategically share and analyze data, and redeploy, extend and expand their workforce to embrace digital enablers. • Understanding which digital health technologies both physicians and consumers value should shape digital strategies. • Generating meaningful, actionable insights through analytics will focus investments and yield better, faster results. • Figuring out what motivates both caregivers and consumers to adopt and continue to use digital technology is critical for sustainability. • Rethinking the workforce and informing workflows will fuel the digital health return on investment.

There remains opportunity to bring relevant clinical application to technology to inform meaningful workflows and data analytics and improve the current state. Involving clinicians in decisions around purchasing technology is imperative to improve patient outcomes and bring value to healthcare service delivery.

Brenda Hopkins  RN, MBA