10,000 Health Information Technology workers needed in Texas

An estimated 10,000 additional Health Information Technology (HIT) workers are needed in the $103.6 billion Texas healthcare industry between now and 2013, according to a report published by the Texas Health Information Technology Project.  Texas State University-San Marcos has published an Employer Need Assessment Report as part of their Texas Health Information Technology Project.  Dr. Susan H. Fenton, Ph.D. is the project director. It has included input from the Project Executive Committee Members including representatives from across the state and the North Texas region. 

The HIT Employer Needs Assessment that was done as part of this project has shown that Texas clinics and hospitals are conservatively estimating a need of 9,500 HIT employees between now and 2013.  Non-providers reported needing an additional 500 HIT employees by 2013.  Input was included from North Texas employers.  The survey also queried HIT employers about the competencies needed in their HIT workforce as well as barriers they face when attempting to fill HIT employee vacancies.  Barriers included accessing qualified candidates, staff retention in competitive market, lack of well-defined HIT career ladder, high cost of qualified consultants, and lack of employee computer skills/ability to learn new skills. 

Health Information Technology is an evolving industry that requires a workforce that possesses the skills to quickly react and adapt to diverse working environments, industry and regulatory changes.  The project has also published a Long-Term Educational Plan that has gathered data from across the state and country related to competencies, credentials, training programs, new education models, and innovative workforce development models in an effort to find the most effective methods for addressing this HIT workforce needs in Texas.  For more information on the work of this project, please see their website at   http://www.health.txstate.edu/him/TxHIT-workforce.html