HIE Staffing Challenges

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Finding the right staff to run a health information exchange is difficult, according to a survey conducted by HIMSS.

A report compiled by AHIMA and HIMSS, Trends in Health Information Exchange Organizational Staffing, found health information exchanges (HIEs) find it difficult to recruit qualified health IT staff members.

“The most common resources used to identify HIE technology candidates were job boards and referrals, with external search or recruiting firms, industry conferences or events, and professional organizations also cited. Additional, but less frequently used, recruitment methods included searches run by technical (internal) managers, school alumni associations and programs, and posting on the HIO’s website and LinkedIn,” notes the report.

However these methods of recruitment are not enough to tempt qualified staff to join the HIE project. And according to Modern Healthcare, finding employees with the right skills is a challenge in itself.

The report explains, “The most frequently identified challenges include cost of living/location of the HIO, industry competition for qualified candidates, salary and benefits competitive within the industry, and finding the right skill sets.”

A blog post about the report explains certain positions are more difficult to fill than others. For example, “positions involving connectivity, data integrity and data integration.” Fierce Health IT further reports that respondents said 25-50 percent of their staff is in these roles.

“The 2014 survey results indicated that people in positions that require competencies and skills of connectivity, data integrity and data integration earn more than the 2012 survey results suggested,” explains the blog. “We believe this is good news for HIOs.  It indicates HIOs have the ability to pay their staff more money, and also may suggest these organizations are smarter about who they hire.”