The Rx for IT Professionals

Vendors providing healthcare IT products, along with hospitals and healthcare organizations and practices, are looking to hire IT professionals.

With an Obama administration promise to stimulate the healthcare IT market to the tune of $19 billion, you might expect a windfall of career opportunities to follow. And you’d be right.

According to Christine Chang, analyst of healthcare technologies at Datamonitor, a business intelligence firm located in New York, almost all vendors providing healthcare IT products as well as hospitals, healthcare organizations and healthcare practices will be looking to hire IT professionals.

“Electronic health records (EHR) is the main focus of the Obama stimulus for healthcare IT, but there are so many technology pieces to add onto that,” she says, noting that there will be a strong call for IT professionals who can provide systems integration.

EHR systems will penetrate the hospital market as well as the physician’s office. “There are currently hundreds of companies vying for market share, some are start-ups; others are more established players in the healthcare IT market,” says Chang.

Back in April 2008, Dr. William Hersh, professor and chairman of the Department of Medical Informatics at Oregon Health and Science University and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), reported on Capital Hill that the nation’s healthcare system was in need of an additional 40,000 IT employees.

CEJKA Search Inc., a healthcare executive search firm, St. Louis, Mo., surveyed 75 CIOs in December 2008 and found that 60% hired someone in the clinical information technology area in 2008 and 57% expect hiring to continue in 2009.

“Of those jobs, 53% will be clinical informatics, 25% will be project management leaders and about 14% in the ambulatory systems area to connect medical practices to hospitals or healthcare facilities,” says Bonnie Siegel, vice president of the healthcare IT practice at CEJKA.

The biggest demand will be for the implementation of EHR and Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems, she says.

According to Chang, the healthcare IT industry was in a growth mode prior to the recent billion-dollar infusion that targets computerizing medical health records and expects the demand to be that much greater with healthcare organizations pressed to implement computerized systems.

Fitting in

How to get a foot in the door to IT career opportunities in the healthcare sector? Be healthcare savvy. IT professionals with medical degrees or previous experience in the industry will rise to the top, according to industry experts.

C-level positions likely will require physician credentials.

“In the area of medical informatics, for example, healthcare organizations will be looking to hire physician champions who can manage the IT, executive, MD relationship,” says Siegel.

Medical informatics also includes a segment for nursing informatics. IT professionals with prior nursing credentials or experience may want to add those skills to their resume.

IT professionals looking to acquire knowledge about the healthcare industry may want to consider gaining that knowledge by working for a IT consulting company or solution provider organization with a healthcare practice.

Change suggests that vendors in the healthcare sector will be looking for IT professionals for product development or to join their sales teams.

IT security specialists, particularly those holding the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) credential from ISACA or the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) designation from (ISC)2 will be in demand, according to Seigel.

“Five percent of healthcare CIOs report that they’ll be hiring security leaders because of EMR,” she adds.

On the tech side, the healthcare industry also will be looking for individuals with experience in wiring, networking and infrastructure. Individuals with strong technical skills may find opportunity as a CTO or technical director.

Whichever door you walk through, a combination of technical skills and good communication skills will be required for both hiring and promotions.

“The job candidate must be engaging, personable and be able to talk on all levels; be familiar with clinical terminology and communicate with healthcare executives,” says Siegel.

Given the scope of the upcoming opportunity in healthcare IT, Change says it’s never too late to get started.