The next health system IT C-suite leader

Over the past few years, chief AI officers have been the newest addition to health systems’ IT C-suites. So who’s up next?

Becker’s reached out to health system digital executives to ask who they think their next tech-focused counterpart in the C-suite will be. Here are their responses.

Chief digital applications officer. “They will have a comprehensive view of digital and applications, and be able to collaborate with operations, informatics, finance and clinical,” said Anna Schoenbaum, DNP, RN, vice president and chief digital applications officer of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine. “Especially in the world of AI, you need to make sure people are adopting the applications. And if they’re not adopting them, you need to understand why.”

Chief human/AI collaboration officer. “We’re already bringing AI into more workflows, but the real challenge is making sure people and technology work together in a way that actually makes life easier,” said Crystal Broj, chief digital transformation officer of Charleston, S.C.-based MUSC Health. “This role would focus on rethinking jobs, training teams, and redesigning processes so AI doesn’t just exist in the background — it actively supports our staff and helps them do what they do best.”

Chief intelligence officer. “Beyond the AI implementation and adoption focus of today’s chief AI officers, this role embeds intelligence directly into agentic workflows that autonomously make decisions and act — from initiating patient outreach and optimizing care pathways to dynamically reallocating resources,” said Divya Pathak, chief data and AI officer of New York City-based NYC Health + Hospitals. “This will be a leader who integrates human judgment with machine intelligence to build a continuously and autonomously learning health system across every echelon of care.”

Chief observability officer. “As AI, genAI, and digital all come to routine use, we will need good monitoring, value assessment, and ROI,” said Nigam Shah, MD, PhD, chief data scientist of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care. “All of that will require observability of tech, people, processes, etc.”

Chief platform officer. “This role would be responsible for system integration and interoperability, considering the recent announcements from CMS and the White House, and recognizing that point solutions will continue to solve niche problems but create other challenges with integration and scalability,” said Patrick Woodard, CIO of Rapid City, S.D.-based Monument Health. “I say this as a former chief digital officer myself (both that system’s first and last CDO), so unique IT C-suite titles are near and dear to my heart.”

Chief transformation officer. “Transformation officer is not a new role, but I think they’re going to be more highly skewed to technology,” said Michael Hasselberg, PhD, RN, chief transformation and digital officer of Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine. “I suspect five years from now, we’re not going to have a whole lot of chief AI officers in health systems because AI is just going to be a part of everything that we do. And folks who have a tech background, a clinical background, and potentially an academic background if you’re an academic system, are really poised to be that transformative-type leader.”

Existing C-suite roles will evolve. “I’m sure new roles will emerge, but I also think many existing roles will need to be adapted for this new age of AI and automation,” said Mouneer Odeh, chief data and AI officer of Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai. “For example, chief strategy officers will likely start to take on a bigger role in transforming workflows. Human resources will need to play a huge role in transforming the workforce. Technology leaders will evolve from service providers to drivers of transformation.”

The (next generation) chief information and digital officer. “They will be an orchestrator of transformation — bringing together digital strategy, AI, advanced data capabilities, governance, and enterprisewide digital transformation and operating at the intersection of clinical, operational and strategic priorities,” said Sunil Dadlani, executive vice president and chief information and digital transformation officer of Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System. “In short, the CIDO is becoming the chief architect of the health system’s digital future — blending innovation and responsibility into a single, cohesive leadership vision.”

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