Surveys Show Healthcare Industry Struggling With IT Staffing
By John Oncea, Editor
Follow John on Twitter: @buck25
Two thirds of providers experiencing IT staff shortages; 21% fear they won't be able to find the tech staff needed to complete an e-health system
PwC’s Health Research Institute released a report that found, “A significant and growing shortage of health information technology (HIT) workers appears greater than previously estimated.” The report concludes that “the healthcare industry is vying for a limited number of IT professionals – and many companies are scrambling to fill the talent void by recruiting technology specialists from other industries.”
PwC isn’t alone in its assessment. This story from Computerworld reiterates the PwC’s findings and notes the move from ICD-9 to ICD-10, which calls for replacing about 15,000 codes with approximately 68,000 new ones, has left healthcare providers “struggling to find and keep a technology staff in what is the fastest growing IT sector in the U.S.”
These stories came out while much of the industry was attending HIMSS13, where HIMSS released its own study of 298 senior IT executives at healthcare firms. The HIMSS study, while noting the industry’s staffing issues, points out that they have not adversely affected “the federal government’s efforts to impact provider investments in information technologies to qualify for Meaningful Use and ICD-10 conversions.” The report shows:
- nearly two-thirds of health IT professionals in provider organizations surveyed have already qualified for Meaningful Use Stage One
- three-quarters indicated they expect to qualify for Stage Two in 2014
- 87 percent expect to complete their conversion to ICD-10 by October 2014.
The entire HIMMS study can be found here.