Texas need for HIT workers estimated at 10,000

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – In Texas, where everything seems larger than life, the need for health IT workers is big, according to the Department of Health Information Management at the Texas State University-San Marcos.
  “Health Information Technology (HIT) Employer Needs Assessment” shows that Texas clinics and hospitals will need 9,500 HIT employees between now and 2013 – and that's a conservative estimate, according to the report’s executive summary.

Other healthcare organizations outside the provider category reported needing an additional 500 HIT employees by 2013, so it is conservatively estimated that Texas will need an additional 10,000 HIT workers by 2013 to support the state’s $103.6 billion healthcare industry, mostly to help to support the implementation and effective use of electronic health records in hospital, medical group and clinic settings.
“As an evolving industry, HIT requires a workforce that possesses the skills to quickly react and adapt to diverse working environments, industry and regulatory changes,” the report notes.

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Texas has one of the largest physician populations in the nation, approximately 600 licensed hospitals, four of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas for attracting venture capital, 13 state-supported local health information initiatives, and a number of private payers and associations offering support to physicians and others who are interested in adopting HIT. A strong healthcare industry, which requires a well-qualified HIT workforce, is necessary to support the large and growing Texas population, the report states.

The online survey queried HIT employers about the competencies they needed in their HIT workforce, as well as the numbers of HIT employees they were using in 2011, vacancies remaining in 2011, and the expected number of additional HIT employees they will be expecting to hire in 2013. Ninety-four of 312 HIT employers responded.
 
The respondents, both provider and non-provider, reported an additional 1,341 employees needed between 2011 and 2013. A conservative extrapolation was conducted using the average needed FTE by provider type multiplied by half the number of Texas clinics and half the number of Texas hospitals, revealing the need for an additional 9,500 HIT employees.

The HIT employers were also asked about the barriers they face when attempting to fill vacancies. Accessing qualified candidates; staff retention in a competitive market; lack of a well-defined HIT career ladder; the high cost of qualified consultants; and the lack of employee computer skills/ability to learn new skills were reported as barriers by more than 60 percent of the respondents.

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Given the results of this study it is apparent the Texas HIT workforce is insufficient to meet the needs, the report concludes.

Bridging this gap will require a collaborative effort between employers, educational providers, public organizations and others to develop and implement a plan of action. Officials say the plan of action includes standardizing HIT roles, competencies and titles; developing common curriculum and training above and beyond the continuing education and health information management roles; as well as developing new models of education/employer collaboration to facilitate continued development of programs to meet employer needs in this fast-growing and evolving field.