Are You Prepared for the Diverse Demands of Functioning as an Effective CMO?
By Christopher Cheney
Emory University is training CMOs and physician leaders aspiring to serve in the role in the skills and abilities needed to succeed as a CMO at health systems and hospitals.
In recent years, the CMO role has evolved beyond the traditional focus on clinical issues such as quality care and patient safety. Today, a health system or hospital CMO also needs to be involved in additional areas such as implementing an organization’s strategy, helping maintain financial sustainability, and workforce planning.
The CMO Program from Emory Executive Education is a non-degree program designed to be completed in nine months to a year. The program features 18 educational modules, two electives, and a capstone project. Most of the learning is conducted online, and there is a one-and-a-half day in-person forum that gives participants an opportunity to engage directly with faculty and healthcare organization leaders.
The capstone project gives participants an opportunity to integrate several elements of the training program. Participants are encouraged to select a capstone project that is relevant to their organization. Examples of capstone projects that have been done in the CMO Program include burnout mitigation, staffing models, and employee engagement.
The CMO Program has been crafted to train physician leaders who are serving as CMOs or aspiring to become a CMO, according to Nicola Barrett, chief corporate learning officer, Emory Executive Education at Emory University Goizueta Business School.
“Most of the participants are physician leaders who are in management positions,” Barrett says. “About 50% of the people who have participated in the program have had at least 20 years of experience, 20% of the participants have had 15 to 19 years of experience, and 21% of the participants have had 10 to 14 years of experience.”
Barrett says the titles of CMO Program participants include CMO, medical director, and staff physician.
“The people who participate in this program want to play a leadership role at the enterprise level,” Barrett says.
Teaching skills and capabilities
The CMO Program teaches participants essential management skills for the modern CMO. Managing innovation in care models is one of the primary focal points.
“The notion of innovation in care models is incorporated in several of the training modules, and one of the program’s electives is totally focused on innovation in healthcare,” Barrett says. “In addition, the themes of the in-person forum at the university include innovation in healthcare because innovation is critical to the success of healthcare organizations.”
The CMO Program teaches participants about achieving operational excellence.
The CMO Program prepares participants to make high-stakes decisions.
“Understanding decision frameworks, negotiation and influence tools, structuring an argument in a clear way, stakeholders, and financial data to back up a position are all included in the program, and they are essential to making high-stakes decisions,” Barrett says. “Participants are encouraged to understand how decisions are made in their organizations and how decisions can be improved in their organizations.”
The CMO Program teaches participants financial skills to impact strategic and organizational performance, such as understanding a budget and other financial documents. One elective takes a deep dive into decision-making.
“We train participants on how to read these documents and how to interpret them,” Barrett says. “We also teach participants about forming a budget, which is a big challenge for physician leaders. This is an area where our success coaches are most helpful.”
The CMO Program helps participants acknowledge and navigate competing priorities, which is critical.
“They need to understand who the key stakeholders are in an organization along with their needs and preferences,” Barrett says. “We teach participants about an optimal approach or set of optimal approaches for addressing competing priorities.”