Nashville, Tenn. – March 26, 2012 – Today, members of the board of the Tennessee Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced details of their workforce initiative, delivering on a promise to provide opportunities for healthcare IT students and professionals during the next calendar year.
During 2012, the Tennessee HIMSS Board will lead this initiative by providing the following opportunities and resources from within their own organizations:
• 50 internship positions with a focus on healthcare IT including clinical analytics, HIS/EMR implementations, security, networking, etc.
• 500 hours of volunteer collaboration with educators, students, and professionals, in an effort to represent the needs of healthcare providers in Tennessee
• A published a list of internship opportunities by April 12, 2012 at http://www.tnhimss.org/
Mark Gilliam, Vice-President and CIO of Ardent Health Services, and current chair of the Tennessee HIMSS Workforce Committee, said in support of the announcement, “The healthcare technology industry is growing rapidly and is in need of talented workers along the entire career spectrum. We face a host of challenges within the healthcare industry today and as those challenges increase in the years to come, technology will play an expanding role in addressing them. We need highly trained workers and leaders to bring those solutions to bear, so I’m excited that Tennessee HIMSS will be offering these opportunities to support our workforce.”
During the fourth quarter of 2011, over 1,000 technology-related jobs were available in Middle TN alone and the healthcare industry was the single largest provider.
The median income of all jobs available in the healthcare sector was $95,400 while findings from the Robert Half Technology Salary Guide 2011 indicate a starting salary range of $50,750-$83,000 for select HIT positions, while also citing salary ranges from $77,750-$116.250 across various established professionals.
These findings were recently highlighted by HealthcareITNews:
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/it-professionals-see-jump-starting-salaries-2011
Justin Lanning, the President of Tennessee HIMSS and Vice-President of Business Development at HPS, Xerox, provided some context to the announcement, stating that “We [Tennessee HIMSS] have a passionate group of healthcare executives on our board who are committed to our community and our industry. When we come together with a shared vision and shared goals we can collectively generate tremendous momentum to make progress rapidly and we are proud to be doing just that.”
ABOUT TENNESSEE HIMSS
TN HIMSS is committed to developing and delivering services, curricula, and information in meaningful ways that are specific to the needs of the Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) industry as it pertains to delivering high quality, cost-efficient, and patient-centered healthcare. We are also committed to generating internships with employers for HIT development and advancement.
