Health IT Job Seekers Say Hiring Managers Miss Boat

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"I have spoken to many highly qualified and experienced IT resources who have applied for positions in the Healthcare industry and the response is typically 'do you have experience as a nurse or as a healthcare practitioner?'," wrote one commenter. "Until the healthcare industry rejects the notion that you have to have medical experience to bring your IT skills to bear, they will continue to struggle with innovation and improved service to the public."

Others complained that prospective employers required training in specific software packages, something that federally funded health IT certificate and master's programs generally don't offer.

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"Many other companies want you to be trained and experienced in the several types of HIT software. This doesn't give anyone a chance to get a foot in the door," noted one commenter on the IW site. "I am a recent graduate of the HITECH Grant program and because I don't have experience in any one of the big (or even new and smaller software companies) they will not interview me. There are many of us that have the health background but now lack the experience in software applications," this commenter said. "It is very frustrating."

This is something that the HIMSS-ASHHRA collaboration is intended to address, according to Helen Figge, senior director for career services at HIMSS. Figge told InformationWeek Healthcare that HIMSS will work with ASHHRA to "get HR people to stop screening out overqualified candidates." HR professionals in healthcare need to learn to read deeper into people's resumes, she said. "The expectations need to be level-set."

Figge urged job seekers to be patient, but acknowledged that that was "not a good answer" for people who are out of work. "I probably get 10 phone calls a day from people wanting to slit their wrists because they can't find a job," Figge said.

"The industry is having difficulty absorbing all the changes in healthcare," she explained, with the current rapid adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange, the switch to ANSI X12 5010 electronic transactions and ICD-10 coding, a renewed emphasis on bundled payments, and other elements of healthcare reform. "No one is used to this current landscape," Figge said.

She did say that "the jobs will come because they have to come to support all the projects that have already started."

Figge also suggested that some people could consider volunteering in the IT department at a not-for-profit hospital in order to gain needed experience. "You've got to give a little to learn a little," she said. Professional networking also is important.

Of course, HIMSS isn't the only organization working to address the health IT labor gap, just the one involved in this collaboration with healthcare HR managers. The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) is helping to train clinical professionals to fill high-level roles such as chief medical information officer and chief nursing information officer. The (AHIMA) is advocating on behalf of health information managers, people who don't necessarily need clinical backgrounds.