Get Ready to Recruit for Healthcare IT

Nathan Lenyszyn, Sales Executive and Consultant
September 8, 2011

It's no secret that healthcare reform and its Meaningful Use incentives have prompted many healthcare organizations to grow their IT departments. What's slowly coming to light, however, is the realization that more mature electronic medical records (EMRs) systems - which in theory should require less, not more, handholding on the part of IT - actually require more IT support.

This paradox is cited as a contributing factor to the recent study by research firm Computer Economics, which found that nearly "61% of health care organizations in the U.S. and Canada plan to add IT professionals to their staff this year." Respondents included those who worked in hospitals, pathology labs, nursing homes or medical practice groups. The "IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2011/2012" study also found that operational budgets for healthcare IT have increased 3.1% in the last year.

So what is an already hard-pressed IT director to do in order to fill empty positions that needed someone in them yesterday? Recruitment firms may just be the answer. If those same directors are busy running and installing new systems, they certainly don't have extra time for recruitment - thus the need for a third party recruitment solution.

And what can a recruiter do to successfully fill these IT positions quickly and effectively? Or for that matter prospect to new clients? Provide themselves with the most up-to-date information on their client hospitals and their competitors. Sales intelligence tools like the Billian's HealthDATA Portal - which includes information on every hospital in the U.S. such as IT directors, IT systems in place/planned upgrades, admissions and financials - can be used in prospecting and fulfilling client roles. This type of information can help give a recruiter the ability to size up and dissect the market, and target firms that would have a higher demand for IT personnel.

As Peter Ostrow relates in a recent Aberdeen report, "The challenge now is to separate the valuable sales intelligence content from the static around it, so that quota-carrying professionals have maximum time to do what they do best: sell." Or in this case, recruit.

As healthcare IT systems become more sophisticated, the need for more experienced IT personnel is likely to grow, and with it a need for recruiting. Don't let opportunity slip away. Make sure to have the right tools with which to take advantage of this growing market.

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