Health Information Technology ResearchFindings by theHealth Workforce Initiative

Presented to the Health Workforce Initiative, Advisory Committee

May 20, 2011

1. Health Information Technology definitions and Research Overview

2. Key findings from the research and what they mean for the Community Colleges

3. Next Steps for the Health Information Technology Research

Preview

What is Health

Information Technology?

is a term used to encompass the collection, transmission, analysis, and storage of medical information.

This information includes; – Electronic medical records (EMR), – Insurance and billing details, – Diagnostic test results, and – Many other technical patient data.

Health IT is essentially customized IT for the healthcare sector.

Health Information Technology (Health IT)

How is Health IT changing the demand for the healthcare workforce?

What are the key job skills and functions that are arising out of the increased adoption of Health IT?

Profile the healthcare employers that are most likely to have already adopted Health IT technologies, those that are considering it and those that are not likely to adopt in the near future.

Research Objectives

300 telephone surveys were completed with healthcare employers in the Bay Area. (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, and Sonoma Counties)

The margin of error for the study was +/- 5.51% given a 95% level of confidence with those questions that were answered by all respondents.

Survey Fielded November 13 – December 13, 2010

Methodology

General Medical & Surgical Hospitals (622110)

Offices of Physicians (621111), except mental health specialists

Outpatient Care Centers (6214), include;

Community Clinics and Family Planning Centers, and Surgical centers that are not part of a hospital

Healthcare Industries Sampled

Outpatient care cen-ters (includes clinics)

Offices of physicians (except mental

health specialists)

General medical and surgical hospitals

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

7.9%

85.1%

7.0%

7.2%

30.6%

62.2%

2010 Jobs 2010 Establishments

Employer Profile by Industry

General medical and surgical hospitals

Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists)

Outpatient care centers0.00

20,000.00

40,000.00

60,000.00

80,000.00

100,000.00

120,000.00

140,000.00

99,466

48,940

11,505

111,122

48,882

14,119

2010 Jobs 2015 Jobs

* Source: EMSI, December 2010.

Employer ProfileBy 5 Year Growth Expectations * (Bay Area)

Current employees 12-month expected0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

180,000159,911 165,373

This represent’s 3.4%employment growth or about 5,500 new jobs in the Bay Area in 2011

** Source: Health IT Survey – Bay Area, December 2010.

Employer ProfileBy 12 Month Growth Expectations ** (Bay Area)

What did we learn from employers

aboutHealth IT?

Yes No, but we are consider-ing HIT in the future

No, and we do not ex-pect to be adopting any

HIT in the future

DK/NA0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

62.7%

14.0%

22.3%

1.0%

Employer Profile by Industry

Employers most likely to already be using Health IT application included larger Employers (50+ employees) and Hospitals. Outpatient Care Centers were the most likely to consider adopting Health IT in the near futures.

General employees91.2%

HIT supporting/ installing em-

ployees8.8%

This represents approximately 14,000 Bay Area healthcare employees who spend at least half of their time supporting or installing Health IT applications

*** Percentages are taken from those employers that are currently usingHealth IT or the expectations of those considering it for the near future.

Proportion of Workforce***Supporting or Installing Health IT

More than two out of five employers (43%) indicate at least some difficulty finding or developing applicants who can use Health IT applications and over a quarter of employers (28%) have outsourced some aspect of their Health IT work in the last 12 months.

HIT trainers, these individuals design and/ or deliver HIT training programs

HIT support specialists - these individuals provide on-site support for

HIT systems as well as implementation of new systems

Information management and workflow specialists - these individuals are not required to be licensed clinical professionals

HIT managers - these individuals provide on-site management of HIT systems

including implementation and/ or operations of HIT applications

Technical support staff, including use of software for HIT applications - these individuals provide technical support for

HIT users

Clinicians or practitioners focused on information technology management and

implementation

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

13.5%

20.0%

20.4%

25.2%

27.0%

28.3%

10.9%

15.7%

15.7%

11.7%

13.5%

12.6%

70.0%

58.3%

55.2%

57.0%

53.9%

53.0%

Extremely important Important Not too important Don't have position DK/NA

Key Health IT Job Functions

Clinician’s focused on information technology, technical staff supporting Health IT applications and Health IT supervisors providing on-site management were the most important Health IT job functions that we evaluated.

*** Percentages are taken from those employers that are currently usingHealth IT or the expectations of those considering it for the near future.

General em-ployees48.8%

HIT employees51.2%

Of Healthcare employers that are already using Health IT, or are considering adopting it in the near future, just over half of employees need to have at least one of the six health IT job functions identified

Proportion of the Workforce*** that require at least one of the Health IT Skills

Healthcare workers that require at least one of the Health IT job functions, are expected to grow at twice the rate (7 to 9%) of all healthcare jobs in the next 12 months.

DK/NA

None

Physician assistant/ registered nurses

Technical specialists and analysts

Coders/ billing

Doctors

LVN/ medical assistants

Administrative and support staff

Managers and administrators

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

3.5%

26.5%

11.7%

14.8%

16.5%

17.0%

22.2%

33.0%

43.9%

Occupational Titles for Health IT Job Functions

Employers were more likely to identify the six Health IT job functions with general occupational roles (management and administrators or support staff) and less likely to identify specific occupational titles

DK/NA

Depends on occupation

Other

Multitasking/ attention to detail/ creativity

Experience

Creative problem-solving skills

Ability to work with different groups or departments

Computer skills

Interpersonal communication skills

Technical competence specific to the position

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

6.5%

4.8%

3.9%

2.6%

2.6%

16.1%

18.7%

19.6%

29.1%

64.8%

Most Important Skills for Health IT Workers

Finding Health IT Workers

Recruit from outside45.2%

Promote from within23.9%

Even split (50/50

outside & promote)14.8%

Don't currently have positions that re-

quire HIT7.0%DK/NA

9.1%

Health IT is changing how healthcare employers typically find non-entry level employees. Healthcare employers are typically more likely to promote from within for their general workforce.

What does the research findings

meanfor the

Community Colleges?

1 Health IT will change the skills sets that healthcare employers require when hiring new employees. While clinical requirements will remain important, the technical skills associated with using and understanding new information technologies will become increasingly important and should be reflected in the overall curriculum for training and preparing new healthcare workers.

2While Employers have still not settled on the key occupations that are most connected to Health IT, most employment is expected to be found in three categories;

1. Clinicians and practitioners2. Managers and administrators3. Technical support staff

3 Larger Healthcare employers (more than 10 employees) are more likely to have adopted Health IT and are more likely to face difficulty finding or developing Health IT workers (>50%).

What are the next steps

for the Health IT: Labor Market

Research?

Next Steps for the Health Information Technology Research

1. Complete a similar research study in Greater Sacramento & Northern California

2. Compare results from the Greater Bay Area and Northern California as it relates to use and demand for the Health IT workforce

3. Develop a deeper dataset to describe and differentiate universal and regional trends in Health IT workforce demand.

Health Information Technology ResearchFindings by the Health Workforce Initiative

Presented to the Health Workforce Initiative, Advisory Committee

May 20, 2011