Health Informatics – An Emerging Workforce

by Michael Kirshner, DDS, MPH, founder and owner, Michael Kirshner Consulting

Meeting changing workforce needs
If you work in the health care space, finding the right candidate to fill your information technology (IT) positions is going to get harder and harder. According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can expect a 29% increase in employment demand in health care IT by 2014. This is more than twice the national average for all job classifications. In Oregon, the State Education Department estimates that by 2014 there will be over 270 job openings in health care IT per year.

Transformation in health care
The growth in health care IT is the result of a transformation occurring in health care. The change is driven by new information systems and technologies, particularly electronic medical records. With an increasing reliance on electronic health information in decision making and benchmarking, health care IT professionals are tasked to move beyond traditional roles of system support. New roles focus on providing expanded data management as well as clinical and business analysis. Ensuring data security and quality is now even more critical. In addition, as the sources of data become diversified and interconnected, the role of the health care IT worker becomes more complex.

Health informatics provides link between computers and medicine
A new discipline in health care information technology, health informatics, has emerged to meet the demands of a changing environment. Health informatics is the link between computers and medicine. Health informatics professionals are being called upon to design, develop and use emerging technologies in multiple areas of health care, including electronic health records, bio-medical devices, telecommunications, laboratory and imaging systems, business and financial systems, scheduling and registration, customer care, patient information systems and medical libraries, to name only a few. These technologies help providers and patients access and utilize key information in both clinical and business management.

Health informatics needs in Oregon
The growth of health care and need for health informatics professionals in Oregon are driven by a variety of general and local factors:

• Increase in the general and aging population
• Fast growth of health care job sector
• Aging health care workforce
• Increase in health care technologies
• Growth of health care facilities

Let’s examine each of the drivers.

Increase in the general and aging population. From 2000 to 2030 the growth rate for Oregon is projected to be 41.3 %, while the US growth is projected to be 29.2%. By the year 2030, 18% of Oregon’s population will be over the age of 65. The result – greater need for health care services and an increasing need for qualified and trained health informatics professionals.

Fast growth of health care job sector. Of the top 20 fastest growing occupations, 10 are concentrated in health services. The health care sector growth represents 14% of the statewide growth.

Aging health care workforce. It is estimated that within the next ten years, 50% of the current health care workforce will retire. As these baby-boomers exit the workforce not only will they need to be replaced, but they will also need more health care services, thereby creating demands on the system directly in two ways.

Increase in health care technologies. As more and new technologies become the standards of care, more personnel are needed who are highly trained and skilled in these technologies. This is particularly true of clinical information systems and electronic health records.

Growth of health care facilities. Of the top 25 construction projects started in 2005 in Oregon and Southwest Washington, 11 are health care facilities, hospitals or medical clinics. New health care facilities will be equipped with newer electronic information systems and technologies, requiring additional health informatics personnel qualified and trained to manage and support these new electronic systems.

What business leaders say
According to the Oregon Business Plan, a policy group comprised of Oregon business and government leaders, “Creating and retaining a world-class workforce is an integral part of a prospering economy. If Oregon is to compete globally, it must be able to attract, retain, and train a workforce that can compete with any in the world. To achieve this goal, we must create new high performance work environments and flexible, responsive education and job training programs that are competency-based, responsive to the demands in a rapidly changing labor market, and are tied to new technologies, customer needs, and evolving production processes.”

Representative of many health care and IT business executives, David Chabner, director of information systems, Merle West Medical Center, noted: “I will be hiring personnel who will need to have technical skills with an understanding of how clinical informatics should be deployed.” His sentiments were echoed by other leaders such as Kumar Chatani, regional CIO, Kaiser Permanente, who commented, “The challenge is to find well-rounded IT professionals who have an understanding of healthcare informatics, health insurance industry and relationship management skills.”

At the medical device company, Welch Allyn Monitoring, R&D director, Craig Brandis, stated “new [education] program[s] could help the medical device sector by producing four-year graduates with solid IT backgrounds combined with an understanding of the clinical and regulatory worlds.”

Oregon business leaders concur:

• We need more well qualified and trained college graduates in the health informatics employment pool.
• Health informatics employees must be familiar with the unique nature of health care organizations, such as financing and delivery of care.
• Hands-on experience with evolving technologies in health care settings is indispensable.
• People skills, management experience and critical thinking capabilities are fundamental requisites.

Oregon Institute of Technology
The supply of qualified and skilled workforce is not meeting the demand. Where will qualified applicants come from? How will they be trained in the new skills required in a changing health care environment? The Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) is working to help fill the gap in skilled and qualified health informatics professionals.

The state’s only four-year public university offering health degrees and bachelor and master-level programs in IT and computer science, OIT is now looking to integrate its recognized expertise in allied health, engineering and information technology with health informatics.

According to David Woodall, OIT provost , “In 2005 the Oregon legislature approved the creation of the Oregon Center for Health Professions (OCHP) at OIT. OIT is expanding its role in statewide delivery of health programs as part of the OCHP mission. The new bachelor’s program in health informatics will help fill the workforce need. OIT is working in partnership with OHSU, that is delivering graduate degrees and community colleges that deliver associate degrees in this area. The future for these health professionals is bright as Oregon seeks to lead the nation in the delivery of high quality health care for its citizens.”

Along with the degree-level academic program in IT and health informatics, OIT will serve Oregon health care business communities by offering seminars, mini-courses and continuing education courses that address industry specific needs. In addition, OIT will partner with other Oregon colleges and universities with the goal of supporting student and working professional learning, while fostering a world-class business climate for the State of Oregon.

Sources

1. Oregon Employment Department. Occupational Information Center. 2006 [cited 2006 7/17]; Available from: http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/OIC
2. Oregon Business Plan. Oregon Business Plan - Initiative Tracker -- Meet Targeted Workforce Needs of Industry. 2006 [cited 2006 July 14]; Available from: http://www.oregonbusinessplan.org/workforce.html
3. Lynch S. A Workforce Shortage. 2006 [cited 2006 7/14]; Available from: http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/
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Links

• Oregon Institute of Technology - A four-year college part of the Oregon University System with locations in Klamath Falls and Portland,
• Oregon Business Plan - A policy group comprised of Oregon business and government leaders.
• Merle West Medical Center - A 176-bed nationally accredited not-for-profit, 501 ( c ) 3 community-benefit healthcare center. Located in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
• Kaiser Permanente – A not-for-profit managed care organization serving members in several states and Washington, DC.
• Welch Allyn Monitoring - A medical equipment business that designs, manufactures and markets mission critical flexible monitoring solutions. Located in Beaverton, OR.
• Health Net Oregon - A health insurer for small groups and individuals.

About the author
Michael Kirshner, DDS, MPH is founder and owner of Michael Kirshner Consulting, a health care and health informatics consulting firm. Dr. Kirshner has been in heath care for over 30 years with a focus in health informatics since 1995. He offers a wide range of health care and health informatics consulting services including strategic planning, assessment and evaluation, user adoption and implementation services. Contact Michael at michaelk@ccwebster.net