Healthcare IT is proving to be an explosive industry with more and more emphasis being placed on electronic digital practices to ensure that facility managers, doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff have full access to the exact information they need, when it is needed.
Considering the size of Texas, this industry has been experiencing immense growth in the 600 licensed hospitals currently operating in the state.
In order to better understand how the workforce will evolve in Texas in order to accommodate the growing needs of the healthcare IT field, a recent Health Information Technology (HIT) "Employer Needs Assessment Report," led by researcher Susan H. Fenton PhD in conjunction with the Texas Workforce Commission surveyed 94 HIT professionals.
Interestingly, while the study cites that former estimates suggested that the burgeoning industry would require the staff population to add an additional 3,500 HIT employees, this analysis puts forth that, by 2013, Texas will require an additional 10,000 HIT staff members to support the implementation and use of electronic medical records software.
As the study concludes, "Given the results of this study, it is apparent the current Texas HIT workforce is insufficient to meet the needs. This gap will only grow and the quality of care for Texas citizens will suffer if the stakeholders do not take action. Bridging this gap will require a collaborative effort between employers, educational providers, public organizations and others to develop and implement a plan of action."
Understanding the vast new population of employees likely to penetrate the HIT industry within the next year, it will be crucial for facility managers to adopt strategic training programs to get new staff up-to-speed on a particular infrastructure. One excellent way to do so is by partnering with a certified medical technology consulting company that can both help implement product suites and further come on site to work closely with new employees to be sure that they deploy EMR programs to their full potential.
Microwize Technology is a leading healthcare IT consultant offering products such as electronic medical records software and medical billing software from top providers like Allscripts and McKesson, including McKesson's Medisoft, Lytec and Practice Choice products.
