Dive Brief:
- The demand for health informatics workers is projected to grow at twice the rate of employment overall, according to a new report from research firm Burning Glass. However, there is strong evidence that the nation already faces a shortage of qualified workers in this field.
- Job postings for health informatics personnel stay open long than others, as employers are struggling to fill many of these jobs, according to the report. On average, health informatics positions stay open for 35 days, or two days longer than the national average posting duration of 33 days.
- The report attributes the difficulties of hiring new personnel to the rapid evolution and growth in health informatics and also to rapidly changing job requirements.
Dive Insight:
Anyone who's worried about their market viability in the economy knows which career to turn to—though the special skills required to man complex healthcare technology systems is steep: Health informatics includes positions involved with the collection, handling and processing of healthcare information for a variety of purposes, from billing to medical quality assurance. And most jobs require more than just an IT background.
In the larger scheme of things, the shortage of talent qualified to undertake these jobs can impede key improvements to America's healthcare system. The proposed solution, suggested by researchers, is that educators, training organizations, and workforce policymakers develop more opportunities for students and job seekers to cross-train between healthcare and IT specialties to meet the demand for these hybrid positions.
In the short term, employers may need to rethink the package they are offering for these kinds of positions. They may need to up the ante in order to attract personnel of the right caliber in such a competitive space.