As health systems rush to adopt AI, optimize EHRs and address clinician burnout, one reality is becoming clear: technology strategies need clinical leadership and this work is most effective when clinicians partner closely with experienced CIOs and IT leaders, combining clinical insight with deep technical, operational and security expertise.
I did not set out to work in health IT. I trained in pediatrics, completed a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine, and joined Phoenix Children’s in 2007, expecting to spend my career in the trauma bay. But when our organization transitioned from paper to electronic documentation in 2010, I became involved in the implementation effort. What began as frustration with workflow inefficiencies evolved into a deeper curiosity about how systems are designed and how they could work better for clinicians.
That experience reshaped my career. Today, as Associate Chief Medical Information Officer at Phoenix Children’s, I partner with our CMIO and CIO to develop clinically integrated informatics capabilities, supported by an expanding set of clinical informatics specialists. Our goal is to ensure our clinicians and IT actually understand each other so technology improves patient care instead of getting in the way.
Clinicians are uniquely positioned to do this work. We understand the demands of clinical decision‑making, the real impact of poorly designed workflows and how small inefficiencies wear clinicians down over time. When that perspective guides technology decisions, outcomes improve.
EHR optimization, for example, is often treated as a technical issue. In reality, it is one of the most underutilized workforce strategies in healthcare. Every unnecessary click compounds documentation time and contributes to burnout, which is why thoughtful workflow redesign is so important because it can return meaningful time to clinicians.
Some of the highest-impact initiatives I’ve worked on have been deceptively simple. Allowing medical students to document in the EHR transformed their educational experience while preserving appropriate supervision and compliance. Enhancing barcode scanning for medication administration and improving invasive line tracking strengthened patient safety while reducing redundant charting. These projects did not require a major investment. They required clinical insight at the table.
That perspective is even more critical as health systems evaluate artificial intelligence tools. The conversation is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to do so responsibly and effectively. CIOs and IT leaders play a critical role in evaluating scalability, cybersecurity, data governance and long-term sustainability, areas where clinical insight alone is not enough. However, without physician insight, AI tools risk becoming another layer of burden that is well intentioned, expensive and ultimately ignored. Strong informatics programs depend on close collaboration between physicians, CIOs, the IT team and operational leaders, each bringing expertise to the table.
AI scribes, predictive analytics and clinical decision support tools all hold promise. But they must be assessed through a clinical lens: Do they improve clinical efficiency? Do they reduce documentation burden? Do they support, not disrupt, clinical judgment? Technology layered onto flawed workflows will not solve burnout. In some cases, it makes it worse.
Physicians in informatics roles bring built-in credibility that accelerates trust and adoption in ways technology alone cannot. When frontline clinicians know technology decisions are shaped by someone who understands the demands and challenges of patient care, that trust helps reduce resistance and accelerates adoption.
One of the most common questions I hear from colleagues is whether formal informatics training is required to enter this field. Board certification and advanced degrees are increasingly common and valuable. But they are not the only entry point.
My path was shaped by curiosity, mentorship and a willingness to volunteer for projects that bridged clinical care and systems design. Physicians already possess many of the foundational skills required for IT leadership: systems thinking, pattern recognition, communication under pressure and the ability to balance competing priorities.
For physicians considering this path, a few principles are key:
- Start with the biggest pain points. Repeated workflow problems usually point to deeper design issues.
- Get involved across teams. Even small projects help you understand how decisions are made.
- Find mentors outside medicine. Learning from experts in data, finance and operations matters.
- Stay connected to patient care. Clinical work strengthens informatics leadership; it doesn’t detract from it.
- Be patient. System‑level change takes time and steady effort.
I still consider myself a physician first. My role has simply expanded. Improving workflows, optimizing technology and shaping AI strategy are just different ways of caring for patients and at scale.
The next decade of healthcare transformation will not be defined solely by new platforms or algorithms. It will be defined by health systems that bring together clinicians, CIOs and IT leaders as true partners in shaping technology. Organizations that invest in physician informatics leadership will be better positioned to navigate workforce strain, technology disruption and the growing complexity of care delivery.
The trauma bay taught me how to respond to crises in real time. Health IT leadership has taught me how to advance systems that prevent them. Both are forms of patient care. One just happens before the emergency begins.
Kopal Seth, M.D., is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and the associate chief medical information officer at Phoenix Children's.