Having IT is a necessity for hospitals, but for many, having an IT team to support that technology is a luxury. Here are some tips from experts on creating an IT team on a budget. The most obvious option is to replace some full-time IT employees with contract workers, said Chad Holstead, of IT consulting firm, Business Knowledge Systems.

"One full-time employee gives you 40 to 60 hours of time and you must pay benefits, salary, cover for vacation time, etc. That one person needs to be top of their game, up on latest IT trends and available for crisis,” he said. Contracting with an IT consulting firm allows hospitals to have minimal IT employees in-house who can handle routine work but rely on the contractors to manage and support the IT system 24/7.

But while the contracting option may save hospitals money on employee benefits, there are risks to that option, cautioned Drexel DeFord, former chief information officer at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and current CEO at Next Wave Connect, a social networking platform for the healthcare industry.

[See also: Top 3 skills healthcare leaders need now.]

Having IT is a necessity for hospitals, but for many, having an IT team to support that technology is a luxury. Here are some tips from experts on creating an IT team on a budget. The most obvious option is to replace some full-time IT employees with contract workers.]

“The size/cost of the team is significantly connected to the organization’s willingness to accept risk,” he said. “If an organization is willing to accept the risk associated with only a single person being an expert on any one application or infrastructure area, cost can be reduced, but risk of outages, staff burnout, end-users being unhappy with service … will be significantly higher.”

Before organizations make any decisions about cutting IT staff or signing contracts with consultants, they need to assess their organization’s strategic scope and roadmap, said Lucas Merrow, chief technology officer at Eliza Corp, which offers technology-driven patient engagement solutions.

“A lot of executives view IT as purely a cost center … [but] when managed properly, IT is an advantage – it’s a cost reducer,” he said.

That said, when the budget is shrinking, those in the C-suite have to take a hard look at what’s mission critical, Merrow said. Hiring contractors is a solid approach. However, contractors will have to be actively managed because in many cases, they become de facto employees. “… and on an hourly basis, they become more expensive, not less expensive,” he noted.

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Hospitals can also be cost savvy through better infrastructure management, explained two IT experts in a story posted on CIO Zone. Eric Dorr, senior IT research director at Hackett Group, an advisory firm, and his colleague, David Ackerman, Hackett Group’s IT practice leader, said that switching from several operating systems to one can reduce the cost of tech support. Similarly, choosing one platform rather than multiple platforms, eliminates the time and resources needed to troubleshoot multiple systems.