Health IT is a field of constant change. As the various tenets of Obamacare impact healthcare delivery and technology advances at rapid rates, big changes are bound to impact the industry in the new year.
But how will these changes affect health IT job seekers? Keep the following trends in mind as you search for new opportunities in 2015:
More Technology, More Positions
Technology continues to evolve and the jobs in the industry continue to grow.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment in many segments of IT will increase at faster rates than other occupations from 2012 to 2022. Information security analysts are projected to see the greatest growth of 38 percent, a rate much faster than the average growth rate of 11 percent predicted for all occupations. More information security analysts will be needed to protect important information, especially in the advent of electronic medical and health records.
System software developers, web developers, computer network architects, and database administrators are also expected to see growth in demand at a faster rate than average.
As hospitals and health systems adopt more and newer technology to help manage thousands of new patients enrolled in health insurance, skilled health IT professionals will be in high demand this year.
Big Changes
Big data will continue to make waves in the IT space, creating opportunities for health IT job seekers.
The investment in big data technologies is still expanding, and 73 percent of organizations surveyed by Gartner have invested or plan to invest in big data in the next two years, up from 64 percent in 2013. The widespread adoption of big data will require more IT workers who possess a deeper knowledge of the technology.
In 2012, Gartner predicted that 1.9 million IT jobs would be added in the U.S. to support big data by 2015. Although no follow-up studies have been done to measure the growth of big data positions, the field is definitely expanding.
Not only will there be a demand for IT professionals who are highly-skilled with big data technology, but companies will be looking for IT candidates who possess some knowledge of big data. Moving forward, big data is poised to play an important role in the health IT industry, and skills and knowledge of the technology will be valuable assets to job seekers.
Mind the Gap
Although more companies will be looking to fill more and more health IT positions, they will struggle to find the right professional for the job. As technology advances at unprecedented rates, employers will be searching for highly-skilled individuals. In 2015, there won’t be enough tech talent to go around, and the IT skills gap will widen.
But companies aren’t just looking for professionals who specialize in one area. Instead, employers are looking to attract those who possess knowledge and skills that span multiple disciplines of IT, analytics, and business, a small survey from McKinsey&Company suggests. Employers are looking for data strategists who can combine business decision-making skills and IT knowledge, data scientists who can use their deep understanding of analytics combined with an IT background to develop algorithms, and analytic consultants who can combine their knowledge of business and analytics.
Health IT professionals with expanded knowledge and skills will be in the best position to secure lucrative opportunities in the new year.
What other trends will affect the health IT job search in 2015?