Oct 8, 2026 · 23 min · 11 segments
In this episode from HLTH Europe in Amsterdam, Deloitte's **Marc Perlman** is in conversation with **Russ Branzell**, president and CEO of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives…
Bill EggersHostWell, and the CIO role is to advance healthcare, you know, not just keep the boxes running.
You know, as you think about the future of the CIO role or the chief information officer, what do you see, uh, happening? How do you see this evolving? I mean, we've seen a lot of change over the years.
Yeah, it's interesting 'cause when I first got in this, about the same time you were, we're, we're a little bit, uh, longer in the tooth than most here at this event.
Th- we used to joke that the one person who knew everything in an organization was the CFO, 'cause you could track it all to money.
Now really, it's that chief digital officer, that chief information officer, because everything has a digital component to it.
So it's really now the person who really understands the operations throughout the entire organization, and who the organization looks to to help them make it better in meaningful ways, whether that's with data, whether that's with process, or, yes, even with technology.
Especially today's, we couldn't do a podcast without saying AI within the first minute.
Um, th- it really is a industry in not even just transformation, in a revolutionary change state, and the person helping lead that in the organization is that digital health leader, traditionally the CIO.
Yeah, so one of our biggest things we do is teach leadership, and we've been teaching now for 24 years our academies and boot camps.
It, it is interesting how we've, at least I feel like we've taken a step back to really teach the basics of overall healthcare leadership.
We used to teach the ability to create change and change leadership and help people through project management and helping bring people along in major change programs.
Now we're taking a step back 'cause the greatest skill they have is l- is relationship-oriented change leadership, helping an entire organization change the way they think, ch- wa- change the way they operate.
I mean, even now here at this event, if you go around, yeah, sure, there's a lot of buzzwords, but the real core thought process is now we have to radically change the way health and care is being delivered in an affordable and meaningful way, and that's exactly what they're kinda getting their hands in right now.
Just this week, two of the most influential CIOs in the United States were promoted to CAO, to be chief administrative officer, over everything non-clinical in their organization.
Well, now it's chief clinical officer and chief administrative officer, and those two organizations no longer have a COO.
Well, and the CIO role is to advance healthcare, you know, not just keep the boxes running.
You know, as you think about the future of the CIO role or the chief information officer, what do you see, uh, happening? How do you see this evolving? I mean, we've seen a lot of change over the years.
Yeah, it's interesting 'cause when I first got in this, about the same time you were, we're, we're a little bit, uh, longer in the tooth than most here at this event.
Th- we used to joke that the one person who knew everything in an organization was the CFO, 'cause you could track it all to money.
Now really, it's that chief digital officer, that chief information officer, because everything has a digital component to it.
So it's really now the person who really understands the operations throughout the entire organization, and who the organization looks to to help them make it better in meaningful ways, whether that's with data, whether that's with process, or, yes, even with technology.
Especially today's, we couldn't do a podcast without saying AI within the first minute.
Um, th- it really is a industry in not even just transformation, in a revolutionary change state, and the person helping lead that in the organization is that digital health leader, traditionally the CIO.
Yeah, so one of our biggest things we do is teach leadership, and we've been teaching now for 24 years our academies and boot camps.
It, it is interesting how we've, at least I feel like we've taken a step back to really teach the basics of overall healthcare leadership.
We used to teach the ability to create change and change leadership and help people through project management and helping bring people along in major change programs.
Now we're taking a step back 'cause the greatest skill they have is l- is relationship-oriented change leadership, helping an entire organization change the way they think, ch- wa- change the way they operate.
I mean, even now here at this event, if you go around, yeah, sure, there's a lot of buzzwords, but the real core thought process is now we have to radically change the way health and care is being delivered in an affordable and meaningful way, and that's exactly what they're kinda getting their hands in right now.
Just this week, two of the most influential CIOs in the United States were promoted to CAO, to be chief administrative officer, over everything non-clinical in their organization.
Well, now it's chief clinical officer and chief administrative officer, and those two organizations no longer have a COO.
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