Hospital IT departments' top 10 areas for hiring FTEs, outsourcing

More than 80 percent of healthcare providers hired at least one IT staffer in the past year, according to a new survey from HIMSS Analytics.

Based on responses from 200 health IT executives, the survey found the top 10 areas for health IT hiring in the past year include:

1. Clinical application support (64 percent)
2. Help desk (57 percent)
3. IT management (45 percent)
4. Project management (35 percent)
5. IT security (34 percent)
6. Financial application support (32 percent)
7. System design and implementation (29 percent)
8. Clinical informatics (29 percent)
9. Systems integration (22 percent)
10. Process/workflow design (20 percent)

However, providers also have frequently turned to outsourcing to provide the necessary manpower in many of these areas. The top 10 areas for provider health IT outsourcing in the past year include:

1. Clinical application support (30 percent)
2. Project management (25 percent)
3. System design and implementation (25 percent)
4. Systems integration (22 percent)
5. IT security (21 percent)
6. Help desk (12 percent)
7. Financial application support (10 percent)
8. Clinical informatics (10 percent)
9. IT management (10 percent)
10. Process/ workflow design (5 percent)

More articles on hospital IT departments:

How to juggle competing priorities: 3 CIOs share best practices
Healthcare CIOs: past, present and future
Ringgold County Hospital to Outsource IT Functions Through ICE Technologies