Study: Hospitals Need More I.T. Staff

Not only will there be needed additional IT/IS personnel, there's a drive from the consumer end of things to drive this...while most of the world has been graduating up to newer software, hardware, etc. the health care business has lagged...patients want to see their bills online as one simple example....related story here....another reason for CRM and Business Intelligence software to enter the picture...some hospitals have already jumped on the bandwagon, by either making the investment, or being able to take advantage of software offered from vendors using Web 2.0 technology from "the cloud". At the top of the helm is a successful CIO...one with some tech background...not just a figurehead...we have plenty of those already...and they do need some political skills too...and the CIO needs a good CEO too that will listen and help work out the budgets...and be flexible...related story here....and if you want to read about being a healthcare CIO from the horse's mouth, read "Life as a HealthCare CIO" for some additional information...a link is also included on the Geek Blog roll on this site as well...BD

" U.S hospitals will need nearly 41,000 additional I.T. professionals—38% more than now—as they move to higher levels of I.T. adoption, according to a new study. The study from the Oregon Health and Science University was presented in April at a Capitol Hill meeting of the Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics, comprising interested members of Congress. The meeting was moderated by Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.), sponsor of legislation to authorize nearly $100 million in grants over four years to help increase the number of students pursuing degrees in health I.T. The legislation, H.B. 1467, passed the House last June but has not moved through the Senate. "
" Study authors used hospital-supplied data from the HIMSS Analytics Database of the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society in Chicago. The data from 1,318 hospitals included the ratio of I.T. employees per hospital bed, which varies depending on the level of I.T. adoption. Applying the findings to all hospitals in the country, the study concluded that the nation’s hospitals have 108,390 full-time equivalent employees but need 40,784 more for all hospitals to reach a Stage 6 level of automation, the highest level."