Clinical Informatics
Clinical analytics are a top priority for two reasons: data mined by those with analytic skill can be used to understand population health, helping better identify infectious disease outbreaks and other population health trends, and can also be used to help a hospital’s bottom line. Big data allows providers to better see how their resources are spent, and where they can trim the fat. The recent deal between Apple and IBM only promises to fuel the market for data analyst positions.
In the current market, an advanced degree in health informatics is very useful. Because of the move toward electronic health records, hospitals and health systems need qualified people to undertake complex projects. A degree opens the door to working for a hospital, a health system, a vendor that sells electronic records or computer software or as a professional consultant. From 2010 to 2020, the U.S. bureau of Labor has said that employment of computer systems analysts in computer systems design and related services will grow 43 percent. Businesses will typically hire them to reorganize IT departments to operate more efficiently.
HIPAA, Meaningful Use and ICD-10 Project Managers
Now that both HIPAA and HITECH are being fully enforced, affected entities can be audited for compliance at any time. At Stage 2 of the HITECH act a certain percentage of provider’s patients must use and interact with patient portals. Navigating HIPAA privacy regulations and the proprietary nature of the portal software is a convoluted process. And the transition from ICD-9-CM to ICE-10-CM is a hefty task as well; ICD-9-CM contains 13,000 3-5-character alphanumeric diagnosis codes with 855 code categories. ICD-10-CM contains 68,000 3-7-character alphanumeric diagnosis codes with 2,033 code categories. In the transition to greater coding specificity, hospitals typically look for someone who has worked as a coder and in health information management roles.
As health organizations strive toward integrating ICD-10 throughout every aspect of their business, there is an enormous need for medical coding and billing specialists capable of working with the updated diagnostic coding system. ICD-10 skills will put you in the front running for an in-demand position such as project manager, ICD-10 coding specialist, or even ICD-10 educator.
Skills in HIPAA Compliance qualify you for a high level HIPAA Privacy Officer position, a role that typically pays over $60,000 annually. Meaningful Use Director positions, a recent addition to the healthcare landscape, can pay anywhere between $35-80,000 each year.
Privacy and Data Breach Prevention Specialists
Health Information privacy specialists are in extremely high demand. EHR applications, particularly when accessed on mobile devices, require enhanced security access and monitoring. Data breaches are expensive, embarrassing, and damaging to to health groups, but many physicians still neglect to encrypt the patient information they’ve stored on various devices. Healthcare organizations need to take security seriously, and bring on IT professionals to ensure they are doing everything they can to reduce instances of identity theft.
Information security spending is expecting to increase nationwide, especially within industries that deal with sensitive information such as hospitals. New security measures are added and reconfigured constantly, and as a result the demand for privacy and data protection specialists is always high. Job growth for this title is projected to grow upwards of 25% within the next 5-10 years.
Pharmaceutical companies, naturally interested in joining the digital health movement as well, have found it more difficult to gain traction. A 2013 Deloitte survey found that, while people trust doctors and medical professionals the most, they trust companies like WedMD next and then internet search results. Big pharma companies come in dead last. Healthcare organizations and pharma companies are competing, not within their respective sectors, but against one another. Digital pharma is only now beginning to take off. According to M2i2′s Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer Sachin Jain in a May interview, “the ultimate incentive is that we as a company are gradually finding our way into the outcomes improvement business, as opposed to the pill and vaccine business, and as we do that, I think we realize that data and technology and HIT is going to be a critical enabler.”
Getting started in healthcare IT is not as intimidating as it may seem. For new job seekers, however, it is important to research the different types of positions available and where you may be most helpful. Additionally, for those without a background in health, learning clinical workflows and the other processes that go into healthcare is imperative. Experience, if it’s outside the realm of healthcare, can be transferable, but you will need to be sure to tailor your resume and cover letter around the language of the health industry. If possible, volunteer in a hospital or similar healthcare IT setting to obtain hands-on experience.
Unlike humans, which can handle diversity, computers hate variations. Hospitals and physicians have experienced workflow disruptions and productivity loss as they adopt more advanced EHR systems. Health IT workers, cogs in the digital health machine, fulfill hybrid roles that blend the skills of clinicians and traditional IT workers. As the nature of the healthcare industry continues to evolve, the future for healthcare IT continues to look very bright.
