After many conversations at HIMSS with people in management positions at EHR vendors, hospitals, health IT companies, and recruiting/staffing companies, it seems conclusive that there is a shift happening with respect to the jobs they are seeking to fill. Exciting new positions are forming in AI, Security, Data Analytics, and Cloud. Professionals who are on the cutting edge and have experience with these niches are highly sought after, and there are simply not enough of them in our market.
So what about the more traditional roles, say the EMR/EHR analyst or implementation person? Well, there is still demand, but there are definite downward trends in some areas. If you are an analyst doing build work with one of the majors (Epic, Cerner, Meditech, Allscripts, etc.) then there is still plenty of work, but you may find that projects are smaller in scope or much more specialized. For hospitals, there is certainly a rise in the ratio of full-time employment to consulting work. In years past many hospital systems simply “gave up” on finding enough fulltime employee analysts, and they filled the gap with consultants. Now it seems employers are hiring full-time employees a bit more easily, and are having less turnover in their organizations compared to several years ago.
For EHR go-live / activation / training individuals there is definitely the painful realization that there just isn’t as much work in that area. The massive cattle-call installs of the stimulus fund fueled era are winding down as expected. It looks like we have reached the maturity stage for this part of the EHR market.
So what does it mean overall? Well, it seems that there are new pockets of opportunity developing and with it new positions for innovators and quick-learners. Things are in flux, but the overall amount of work to be done remains massive. Everyone in a position of leadership indicated they are still very actively hiring which is good news for the health IT professional. We see that happening as well on our Healthcare IT Central job board.
Let us know what you are finding, either as a job-seeker or management professional. Are you finding it challenging to find work or to hire people in a certain niche? We would love to know what you are seeing out there!
Hello Adam,
I am a medsurg nurse trying to get into the Health care IT space. I am proficient in Epic but I am not sure how to navigate getting off the bedside nursing to IT. I don’t want to get a Masters in Nursing Informatics because it doesn’t seem too techincal. Most jobs want experience in IT. Are there certifications that can help make my resume more marketable? If yes, what certifications would you recommend. Thanks.