News Feature | July 25, 2014

HIT Consultants More Satisfied Than Full Time Workers

Katie Wike

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Hospital Survey Data Partnership

A recent HIT survey shows that consultants are better paid and more satisfied than those who work full time.          

Fierce Health IT reports that, in a survey of nearly 500 HIT workers:

  • 77 percent of consultants reported they were satisfied with their job
  • 43 percent of consultants were very satisfied
  • 44 percent of consultants were somewhat satisfied

Additionally:

  • 64 percent of full-time employees were satisfied with their job
  • 19 percent of full-time employees were very satisfied
  • 45 percent of full-time employees were somewhat satisfied

The report, published by Healthcare IT Leaders and titled HIT Workforce Engagement Trends, discovered that despite lower satisfaction numbers for full-time employees, both groups said their jobs were challenging. Eighty-eight percent of full-time employees felt so and 89 percent of consultants.

“Healthcare IT can have a profound impact on patients’ lives and outcomes, and our respondents seemed to grasp the critical importance of their roles,” the report said. MedCity News reports only 1 percent of HIT professionals overall said their jobs were “not at all meaningful.”

Forty percent of consultants said they were “very satisfied” with their current pay, while only 18 percent of full-time employees reported the same satisfaction. Overall, health IT professionals saw their average salaries grow by 4 percent in 2013.

According to The HIMSS 2013 Compensation Survey, the average salary of healthcare IT professionals is $113,269. “Seventy-one percent of respondents said they had received a salary increase in the last year with the average increase being 4.16 percent. Nearly half reported receiving a bonus in the last year averaging between three and four percent of the total annual salary.”

“Most healthcare IT consultants in today’s job market have plenty of reasons to smile,” said Brad Elster, President of Healthcare IT Leaders. “They are well-paid, they are in high-demand and the work they do is challenging and satisfying. What’s not to be happy about?”