What Is Clinical Informatics?

Clinical Informatics (CI) is a field dedicated to enhancing healthcare by leveraging technology and data. The discipline is often summarized by the Fundamental Theorem of Clinical Informatics, which describes how clinicians deliver care that is safer, more effective, and more efficient when supported by information and technology. The role of a clinical informaticist is to uphold this principle across the healthcare system—whether through the design and optimization of electronic health records (EHRs) or the evaluation and integration of innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) into clinical workflows. CI is a specialty-neutral discipline formally recognized by the ACGME, with board certification offered through the American Board of Preventive Medicine and professional representation through the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

What is a Physician Informaticist?

Physician informaticists are medical doctors who practice clinical informatics and use their medical knowledge alongside technology to improve healthcare practices. They bridge the gap between clinical staff and information technology teams, helping design systems that support efficient, high-quality care delivery. By understanding both clinical workflows and technical systems, physician informaticists play a key role in shaping the future of healthcare. Clinical informatics fellows are physician informaticists in training.

What Does an Informaticist Do?

A clinical informaticist integrates information technology into healthcare to improve patient care and operational efficiency. The responsibilities of a clinical informaticist vary by role and setting, but commonly include:

Designing, implementing, and optimizing EHR functionality
Analyzing clinical and operational data to support quality improvement
Improving clinical workflows and reducing documentation burden
Developing and evaluating clinical decision support tools
Supporting technology governance, compliance, and data stewardship
Collaborating with clinicians, IT professionals, and operational leaders
Across these activities, clinical informaticists bridge healthcare and technology to enhance the quality and efficiency of care.

Understanding the Field

Clinical informatics and bioinformatics both rely on data and technology but focus on different domains.

Bioinformatics is primarily research-focused and centers on the analysis of biological and molecular data such as genomics, proteomics, and other high-throughput datasets.

Clinical Informatics focuses on health care delivery and the use of information within clinical settings. This includes EHRs, clinical decision support systems, interoperability, and the management and use of patient data to improve care quality, safety, and efficiency.

Both terms are used, and preference varies by region and discipline. Within health and clinical informatics, “informaticist” is more commonly used in professional and academic contexts to describe specialists practicing in the field.

Fellowship & Training (Physician-Focused)

For physicians interested in leading health care transformation through technology, a Clinical Informatics fellowship provides formal, structured training in the practice of informatics. Fellowship training emphasizes hands-on experience in areas such as EHR optimization, workflow analysis, decision support design, data governance, and leadership within complex health systems.

Completion of an ACGME-accredited Clinical Informatics fellowship is now the only pathway to eligibility for board certification in Clinical Informatics. The temporary “practice pathway” that previously allowed experienced clinicians to sit for the board exam without fellowship training has ended.

During fellowship, physicians work on real-world informatics initiatives in collaboration with IT teams, quality leaders, and frontline clinicians. This experiential training builds practical expertise and a portfolio of work that supports a wide range of informatics career paths.

Many employers increasingly value fellowship-trained, board-certified clinical informaticists for informatics leadership roles. Fellowship training also connects physicians to a national professional community through AMIA and its Clinical Informatics Fellows (ACIF) community, providing mentorship, collaboration, and ongoing professional development.

Physicians who have completed residency training are eligible to apply for a Clinical Informatics fellowship, regardless of specialty. Some physicians pursue fellowship training after completing an additional clinical subspecialty fellowship, and certain programs offer dual-training options.
Prospective applicants can learn more about preparing for fellowship and the timing of the application process through the Clinical Informatics Fellowship Roadmap to Application Guide authored by Clinical Informatics Fellows and alumni. Additional insights into applicant backgrounds and trends are available in Characteristics of the National Applicant Pool for Clinical Informatics Fellowships (2018–2020), published in the AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings.

Credentials & Careers

Clinical Informatics is an interdisciplinary field that includes professionals from many backgrounds. While ACIF focuses on physician informaticists (MD or DO) who have pursued specialized training in Clinical Informatics, informatics more broadly includes professionals with degrees in nursing, pharmacy, public health, computer science, and related fields.

For physicians, eligibility for board certification in Clinical Informatics requires completion of an ACGME-accredited fellowship. There is no longer a clinical practice pathway to certification.

Clinical informaticists work in a wide range of roles across health systems, academia, industry, and government. Career paths may include:

Clinical Informatics or Health IT leadership roles (e.g., CMIO, informatics director)
EHR optimization and implementation
Clinical decision support development
Data analytics and quality improvement
Research and academic medicine
Consulting, digital health, and innovation roles

Graduates of Clinical Informatics fellowships apply their training in diverse settings focused on improving healthcare through effective use of information and technology. Explore career pathways and professional opportunities through AMIA.