Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence are altering the IT staffing equation for health systems, CIOs told Becker's.
While IT unemployment overall hit a new high in August, AI and cybersecurity positions continued to grow, according to IT consultant Janco Associates.
"Throughout the years, there has always been a cyclical nature towards recruiting for support of new and emerging technologies," said Michael Restuccia, senior vice president and CIO of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine. "Whether it was Visual Basic, .Net, EMR support or ERP [enterprise resource planning] support to name just a few, health systems follow the trends."
Penn Medicine has had success recruiting cybersecurity talent and moving high-performing IT employees to the security team, Mr. Restuccia said. But health systems often can't afford senior AI specialists.
"As a result, partnering with existing vendors and leveraging our project management resources to activate the AI solution is our approach," he said.
Health systems typically rely on software vendors for AI solutions rather than building their own so recruiting AI experts isn't as much of an issue in healthcare, said Jason Joseph, chief digital and information officer of Corewell Health, dually headquartered in Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich.
"What it often means is that we need talent that is AI knowledgeable to be able to move some of that stuff forward," he said.
Similarly, Corewell Health's cybersecurity staff focuses on updating and patching software to keep it secure.
As health systems continue to move more of their data to the cloud, they will need staff with expertise in that arena, Mr. Joseph said.
"We're going to shift some of those more core technical skill sets into more cloud management skill sets," he said. "And our application skill sets are going to move from just knowing how to configure to also knowing how to make your application work in a cloud environment and support it in a cloud environment."
Corewell Health's IT staff of about 1,800 full-time employees has been steady the past few years, and Mr. Joseph expects it to stay that way going forward, even as the department automates some functions. Staffers with cybersecurity and cloud knowledge will continue to flourish.
The health system has been increasing its AI staff "very deliberately," Mr. Joseph said. "I look at it more like a ramp than a cliff in terms of our scale-up on AI support. But that's definitely an area where I'm expecting in five years, we're going to see a very different level of support and competency in our data and analytics, advanced analytics and AI, relative to standard analytics or basic application support and infrastructure."
While Corewell Health aims to be competitive on compensation for tech workers, a selling point for working in healthcare is the mission: saving lives and improving people's health, he said. Plus, the use cases involving AI and other technologies continue to grow.
"Being in technology and in healthcare is probably the most exciting place you could be right now," he said. "It's just a lot of fun."
With budgetary pressures, some health systems are focused on strengthening the IT basics, leading to a squeeze on tech employment, said Saad Chaudhry, chief digital officer of St. Louis-based SSM Health.
"This usually means there is some level of focused attention, budgetary or otherwise, to align resources only with activities or projects that are modernizing foundational elements, like core systems of record and technology infrastructure," he said. "That, together with compressed operating margins, is likely leading organizations to hold off on funding projects that do not align with strengthening foundations."
Health systems are increasingly outsourcing traditional IT employees and could look to do the same with AI staff, said Jason Szczuka, chief digital officer of Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health. His health system, however, keeps all of its cybersecurity talent in house.
Cybersecurity is a harder skill to recruit for than AI because hackers' tactics are always shifting, Mr. Szczuka said.
"Cybersecurity is the one that is inherently tougher because it changes every day in two profound ways: One is the tech that you utilize in your cybersec defense is constantly evolving, so you've got to stay on top of that on a daily basis," he said. "And the threats are constantly evolving. Sometimes they're broadcast, sometimes they're targeted, sometimes they're external, sometimes they're internal."
"AI gets better and better every day, but I don't believe the skill set that is needed to effectuate those improvements has to grow and evolve at the same pace," he added.
Mr. Szczuka said he expects health system IT departments to grow — but with more staff employed by a third party.
"I do believe the days are gone where a health system can realistically claim they'll be able to keep the best and the brightest in their own four walls in a sustainable manner year after year," he said.