UChicago Faculty Physician
Cheng-Kai Kao, MD
Cheng-Kai Kao, MD
UChicago Faculty Physician
Associate Professor of Medicine
Chief Medical Information Officer
Medical Director, Office of International Programs
Specialties
- Hospital Medicine
Locations
- Chicago - Hyde Park
- About
- Specialties & Areas of Expertise
- Locations & Patient Information
- Education & Research
- Accepted Insurance
- External Professional Relationships
Cheng-Kai Kao, MD, is an academic hospitalist and board-certified clinical informaticist, recognized for his expertise in digital health and clinical AI, hospital at home care, clinical decision support, and healthcare innovation. As Chief Medical Information Officer at UChicago Medicine, Dr. Kao spearheads initiatives that leverage information technology to enhance patient safety, streamline clinical workflows, promote resource stewardship, improve electronic health record usability, and drive digital innovation in healthcare delivery. He also serves as Course Director for clinical informatics courses at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and Graham School.
Dr. Kao developed and leads UChicago Medicine’s Hospital at Home program, an innovative care model delivering acute-level care in patients' homes. Additionally, as Medical Director of the Office of International Programs, he oversees the care of international patients, enhances their care quality and experience, promotes knowledge transfer, and fosters collaborations with academic medical centers and healthcare organizations worldwide.
His leadership in healthcare informatics and patient-centered care earned him recognition as a Top Hospitalist by the American College of Physicians in 2017. Dr. Kao has been an active speaker on digital transformation in healthcare and hospital-at-home initiatives.
Specialties
- Hospital Medicine
Areas of Expertise
- Clinical Informatics
- Anticoagulation
Board Certifications
- Internal Medicine
- Clinical Informatics
Languages Spoken
- English
- Mandarin Chinese
- Taiwanese
Medical Education
- National Taiwan University
Internship
- Albert Einstein Healthcare Network
Residency
- Albert Einstein Medical Center
Memberships & Medical Societies
- American College of Physicians
- Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems
- Society of Hospital Medicine
- American Medical Informatics Association
News & Research
Insurance
- Aetna Better Health *see insurance page
- Aetna HMO (specialists only)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- Aetna POS
- Aetna PPO
- BCBS Blue Precision HMO (specialists only)
- BCBS HMO (HMOI) (specialists only)
- BCBS Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO
- BCBS PPO
- Cigna HMO
- Cigna POS
- Cigna PPO
- CountyCare *see insurance page
- Humana Medicare Advantage Choice PPO
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Choice PFFS
- Humana Medicare Advantage Gold Plus HMO
- Medicare
- Multiplan PPO
- PHCS PPO
- United Choice Plus POS/PPO
- United Choice HMO (specialists only)
- United Options (PPO)
- United Select (HMO & EPO) (specialists only)
- United W500 Emergent Wrap
- University of Chicago Health Plan (UCHP)
Our list of accepted insurance providers is subject to change at any time. You should contact your insurance company to confirm UChicago Medicine participates in their network before scheduling your appointment. If you have questions regarding your insurance benefits at UChicago Medicine, please contact our financial counseling team at OPSFinancialCounseling@uchospitals.edu.
UChicago Medicine is committed to fostering a corporate culture of ethical behavior and integrity in all matters related to compliance with the laws and regulations that govern the delivery of healthcare. This aspiration is central to supporting patient care, research, and teaching at UChicago Medicine.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.
Some of our physicians and health professionals collaborate with external pharmaceutical, medical device, or other medical related entities to develop new treatments and products to improve clinical outcomes for patients. In some instances, the physician has ownership interests in the external entity and/or is compensated for advising or speaking about the entity’s products or treatments. These payments may include compensation for consulting and speaking engagements, equity, and/or royalties for products invented by our physicians. To assure objectivity and integrity in patient care, UChicago Medicine requires all physicians and health professionals to report their relationships and financial interests with external entities on an annual basis. This information is used to review relationships and transactions that might give rise to potential financial conflicts of interest, and when considered to be significant a management plan to mitigate any biases is created.
If you are a patient at UChicago Medicine and would like more information about your physician’s external relationships, please talk with your physician. You may also visit the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments website at https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/ . CMS Open Payments is a national disclosure program that promotes a more transparent and accountable health care system. It houses a publicly accessible database of payments that reporting entities, including drug and medical device companies, make to covered recipients like physicians and hospitals.
Information in the CMS Open Payments database could potentially contain inaccurately reported and out of date payment information. All information is open to personal interpretation, if there are questions about the data, patients and their advocates should speak directly to their health care provider for a better understanding.