In this year's survey of 120 CMIOs, when asked, “What do you want your next job to be?” 67% responded that they still wanted to be CMIOs rather than advancing to some other C-suite position.
“You like to be CMIOs,” Shaffer said. “Some of you (14%) would like to be a CMIO somewhere else or have this job 'significantly expanded' (33%), but 20% responded they wanted to stay in their present positions just as they are—angst and all. Only 4% expressed interest in becoming CIOs or CMOs.
Job satisfaction was high, with 44% indicating they were very satisfied with their work, while 43% were somewhat satisfied. Meanwhile, 44% felt they were very successful and 50% somewhat successful at their jobs.
One possible reason for these high marks is CMIO pay.
Mean total compensation this year for survey respondents was $326,000, up 2.5% from $318,000 in last year's survey, Shaffer said.
Compensation levels ranged from $206,000 to $550,000, with the median falling in the range of $300,000 to $349,000.
Higher pay levels correlated with the physician's medical specialty (and pay) before becoming a CMIO; geography and the local cost of living; and the number of people reporting to them. What didn't correlate well was whether a CMIO's organization was an early adopter of health IT, and whether they had graduate education in medical informatics.
That said, only 18% of the CMIOs surveyed didn't have advanced informatics training.
Board certification in medical informatics, new in 2013, when the first class of candidates passed the program's initial exam, was “a hit” with AMDIS members surveyed, Shaffer said, and 1 in 4 already has attained the clinical informatics subspecialty. (So far, there are 456 board certified physician informaticists, according to Dr. William Hersh, professor and chairman of the Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, who made a presentation on updates to the certification program at the conference today.)
“CMIOs are seemingly tireless, highly educated and experienced,” Shaffer said, noting 71% still practice medicine and 78% have some previous administrative or management experience.
In offering some parting words of personal advice, Shaffer warned the physician informaticists to take their own words about job stress and frustrations seriously.
“No matter how good you are, how inspirational you are, this is a tough time,” Shaffer said. “Take care of yourselves and your families. You have to lift each other up when things are challenging. Find ways to collaborate. And when you can't do that, chocolate.”
Follow Joseph Conn on Twitter: @MHJConn