Competition among healthcare recruiters to place well-qualified and experienced health information technology executives is fierce.These strategic tips can help.
With ICD-10, health insurance exchanges, and Meaningful Use deadlines bearing down on them, hospitals and health systems are in a bind to recruit and retain the right health IT executives to implement and manage increasingly complex health information systems.
More than half (52%) of hospitals and health system executives say "inadequate staff with expertise" is their top HIT challenges over the next three years, according to the HealthLeaders Media Intelligence Report, Healthcare IT: Tackling Regulatory, Clinical, and Business Needs.
Unfortunately, competition among hospital recruiters to place effective and experienced HIT executives is fierce.
"The CIO position and the IT discipline are going to be vital to the future of healthcare. Patient information ten years ago was on a piece of paper stored on a rack. That information is vital not only to the survival of the organization, but can determine the life or death of the patient," says Derek Kosiorek, a principal consultant at MGMA who specializes in building healthcare IT infrastructures.
This month, the first annual 2013 HIMSS Workforce Survey found that nearly 30% of healthcare organizations have had to place IT initiatives on hold because of staff shortages, and many expressed concern that the delays put quality of patient care at risk and could negatively impact revenue.
1.Seek HIT leaders with strategic vision
"Having an effective CIO is essential to the survival of the organization. It's also important in a competitive space between one healthcare org and another," says Kosiorek.