As the healthcare IT regulatory landscape continues to expand, so too, do employment opportunities within the industry, according to Bonnie Siegel, a healthcare IT recruiter with Witt/Kieffer. In a recent post to healthsystemCIO.com, Siegel lists a plethora of new positions that, she says, have cropped up as a direct result of initiatives like Meaningful Use and ICD-10.
"[I]nstead of just the chief information officer title, organizations are adding words like knowledge, innovation or transformation to position titles," Siegel says.
Titles like "senior vice president, population health," "chief accountable care officer" and "president, institute of population health, education and innovation," are just a few that now are in demand, according to Siegel, who adds that there remains a strong need for informatics professionals in traditional roles, as well. Still, Siegel also says many clinical executive positions now include words such as "integration," "transformation" and "innovation."
Project managers for specific directives--like the above mentioned ICD-10 and Meaningful Use--as well as for areas such as cloud computing, business intelligence and virtualization also are increasing in demand, according to Siegel, who says that "dual reporting" may become more commonplace in health IT.
"As you ponder your hiring needs or your next career move, be aware that the IT titles of the past are changing to reflect new initiatives and responsibilities," Siegel says.
Siegel's claims echo findings of a HIMSS Analytics survey published last month that found that healthcare IT remains a hot job market. Of 224 healthcare executives polled, more than 85 percent reported hiring at least one IT employee in 2012, while none reported layoffs; 31 percent respondents, however, said that they had to put an IT project on hold because of staff shortages.
As a whole, hiring in the healthcare industry is helping to significantly fuel the nation's economic recovery, according to a report published in June by the Brookings Institute.
To learn more:
- read the healthsystemCIO.com post