Sixty-seven percent is a large number and it jumps to 73% for healthcare employers that are recruiting Epic-certified healthcare IT professionals in order to comply with EMR requirements.

The survey, “Closing the IT Talent Gap in Health Care” by consulting firm Towers Watson, profiled more than 100 healthcare employers and found that the majority are having problems with both the retention and recruitment of healthcare IT workers. Of the respondents, 52 percent are hospital systems and 67 percent have more than 5,000 employees.

Closing IT Talent Gaps for Healthcare Recruitment

In the short term, health systems and medical providers need information technology professionals in order to comply with EHR “meaningful use” requirements which take effect in 2014. But in the long term and according to the study, “the real payoff of an effective and fully compliant IT system is its role in aiding clinical decision making. Many healthcare leaders are already seeing how real savings can accrue from using evidence-based medicine to help redesign the way services are delivered. And IT systems, instead of only supporting clinical services, can now help determine what clinical services will be provided.”

The challenge for hospital IT recruiters is to better understand the current state of talent gaps and balance both short- and long-term challenges in healthcare into an effective information technology workforce recruitment solution. Health systems that are better able to balance the practical needs of healthcare IT workers – such as competitive pay and job security – with the long-term goal of helping an industry transform technologically, will win out going forward.

In order to effectively staff their IT departments, healthcare recruiters need to close the gap between what they think is important to IT professionals and what is actually important to them. After a thorough analysis, you can then tailor your incentive package and employee value proposition to attract top-quality healthcare IT personnel for both the short- and long-term.

Healthcare information technology staffing can be resolved with workforce management system and an enhanced job-to-candidate skill-matching process. With a full range of recruitment services including our Candidate Direct Marketplace® Vendor Management Systems (VMS), Managed Service Provider (MSP), and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), employers have the ability to optimize their IT staffing in partnership with a dedicated StayStaffed Client Account Manager. Our contingent IT workforce management systems combined with our reputable staffing agencies nationwide, will help you to source, recruit, hire or optimize your contingent IT industry jobs quickly and efficiently.

“By providing IT staffing agencies with detailed information about the job, skills required, long term career path and benefits, they will be able to source the most qualified person that matches what employers need as well as matching the candidate’s expectations. Our Client Account Managers are skilled at analyzing your needs and getting it to the right agencies using our comprehensive Vendor Management System to simplify and expedite the entire process.“ Said Sue Higgins, Stay Staffed Director of Product Development.

Contact a StayStaffed representative now for a 20-minute VMS demonstration to learn how we can streamline your IT staffing. Phone (800) 585-1710 to talk to learn more.

Source: Closing the IT Talent Gap in Health Care