Future-proofing health care: The role of clinical informatics
Abstract
Clinical informatics has emerged as a major discipline in shaping the future of care delivery with the expansion of technology across the healthcare industry. Organisations are harnessing technology more than ever to enhance clinical care, support financial resilience, streamline workflows, reduce administrative burdens and participate in quality and payment programmes; however, it is crucial that the industry does not repeat mistakes from the past with the integration of technology.1,2 This paper explores the changing healthcare landscape, and the crucial role clinical informatics plays in future proofing the system and supporting the quintuple aim with its unique training across medicine, technology and process improvement. There are several best practices and considerations for technology integration, including governance structure, problem identification, team roles and responsibilities, measuring what matters and considering the end-user experience early and often. Additionally, the amount of data being generated across health care today also requires careful handling to minimise risk and protect privacy and security. Organisations that have prioritised these concepts and led with the lens of clinical informatics have seen impact across programmes that leveraged technology for care delivery. Value has been generated through clinical outcomes, patient experiences have improved, access to care has increased and value-based care arrangements have seen success.3 Clinical informaticians are uniquely positioned to guide processes that require the right mix of understanding across people, process and technology to thrive in the ever-changing healthcare environment.4 This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Margaret Lozovatsky , MD, FAMIA, is the Vice President of Digital Health at the American Medical Association (AMA). Dr Lozovatsky is a nationally recognised leader in healthcare informatics and has a passion for using technology to improve patient care. Dr Lozovatsky served on Professional Satisfaction and Practice Sustainability Advisory Committee from 2016 to 2024. She is one of the inaugural members of the Physician Advisory Board at Epic and currently sits on the Epic Physician Wellness Advisory Board. Dr Lozovatsky is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems. In 2021, she was inducted as a fellow of the American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA). In 2023, Dr Lozovatsky received the HIMSS—AMDIS Changemaker in Health Care Physician Executive Award. She also serves as a paediatric hospitalist at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she continues to care for patients. She is board certified in paediatrics and clinical informatics. Before joining the AMA, Dr Lozovatsky was the Chief Health Informatics Officer and Senior Vice President for Novant Health, where she was the executive physician leader overseeing clinical informatics across a 15-hospital system with 750+ clinics. Dr Lozovatsky led a team that created a strategic vision for the use of clinical technology and explored areas where digital solutions and artificial intelligence (AI) can be utilised to improve the patient experience and promote clinician wellness. Dr Lozovatsky has a broad range of experience with clinical technology, digital health and AI. After receiving her undergraduate degree in computer science from Marquette University and earning her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin, she began her career as a paediatric hospitalist at NorthShore University Health System. There, she also pursued a career in healthcare informatics, leading efforts to improve documentation and inpatient optimisation. Dr Lozovatsky later worked as a medical director of information systems at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. In that role, she focussed on improving physician efficiency, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) optimisation and the development of tools to improve paediatric care. Dr Lozovatsky subsequently served in a variety of leadership roles at BJC Health Care and Washington University in St. Louis, including the Chief Medical Information Officer for Child Health, the Vice Chair of Clinical Informatics for the Department of Pediatrics and Program Director of the Clinical Informatics Fellowship.
Stacy Lloyd , MPH, is currently the Director of Digital Health and Operations at the AMA, where she leads various initiatives focussed on ensuring that healthcare technology meets the needs of physicians and patients. She has over 15 years of experience in finance and operations, digital health, innovation and patient advocacy at leading healthcare organisations, including Northwestern Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Stacy also holds a bachelor’s in business administration from Duquesne University and a master’s in public health policy and administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Laura Fritsche , MHA, has spent the past 8 years working in health care at both the system and national level, focussing on improving healthcare delivery through innovation and technology. She is currently supporting digital health initiatives at the AMA. She holds a master’s in health administration and policy from University of Illinois at Chicago.
Citation
Lozovatsky, Margaret, Lloyd, Stacy and Fritsche, Laura (2025, December 1). Future-proofing health care: The role of clinical informatics. In the Management in Healthcare: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 10, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.69554/WXLZ2966.Publications LLP