Health IT – Getting it right!

Demand Created for Health IT Professionals due to Stimulus

By Samantha on January 14th, 2010

Considering the money that is now flowing into health IT for EHRs – undoubtedly, there will have to be someone to build, install, deploy and train personnel to use the systems. Studies estimate that there was a need for 10,000 to 15,000 new health IT professionals nationwide, but those were conducted before the enactment of the federal stimulus back in February. Therefore, there’s an extremely high demand for health IT workers, reports Health Leaders Media.

Recently, an American Hospital Association survey found that 25% of responding organizations are shorthanded when it comes to IT staff and expertise. However, the economic situation that has left so many talented IT professionals unemployed could provide an unprecedented opportunity for healthcare. “We have to figure out a strategy to take IT professionals from other disciplines and orient them to healthcare, and then look at the educational system and the places where they are training people who are specializing in healthcare issues to beginning to look at healthcare IT as a piece of the curriculum,” says AHA spokesman Rick Wade.

Even though the experienced IT professionals can be immediate help in building secure infrastructure, they will have to be trained for the unique needs of healthcare. Alex Rodriguez CIO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Ky. comments, “It’s about understanding clinical business processes. That is the separation-being able to have the communication skills to dive into how the business processes work, the communication skills and the thinking skills to determine how the new technology applications are going to be used,” he explains.

Though the increased demand could propel salaries, Rodriguez says people are looking for professional growth and stability during these trying times. Therefore, hospitals may not have to break the bank when expanding their health IT staff.