As healthcare becomes increasingly digital, the demand for specialized technological skills will increase in the near future, according to the Financial Times.
Healthcare professionals will become more responsible for managing EMRs, analyzing data generated by remote patient monitoring devices and other IT-related tasks. Even senior level executives will need to refine digital skills.
Changing talent demands for executives
While they don't necessarily need to become data or software specialists, senior leaders do need to acquire a deeper understanding of the way technology is used in their organizations, as much of healthcare strategy today is shaped by the incorporation of technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
"It's all about change," Didier Deltort, general manager of monitoring solutions at GE Healthcare told the Financial Times. "When you are dealing with inefficiencies, new ways of working and new technologies it can be frightening. So healthcare leaders really need to tackle those things carefully, through strong change management methodologies."
The advent of technology in healthcare is having a significant impact on talent management strategies. More often, technology-focused executives — such as a chief analytics officer, chief transformation officer or a chief information security officer — are included in the C-suite. Technology executives are also taking appointments on boards of directors, according to Jim Utterback, who leads the health IT practice for executive search firm Witt/Kieffer.
Reporting relationships are also changing. In many organizations, CIOs are no longer accountable to the CFO or chief administration officer, but directly to the CEO.
Growing IT familiarity for frontline employees
Physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals need to acquire new technological skills. For surgeons, this means staying up-to-date and trained in the most advanced surgical techniques. Other workers need to be prepared to manage large volumes of information across various IT systems, such as EMRs and data transmitted from patients' wearable or at-home devices.
"As we move from data collection and implementation of [EMR] systems to the point where we need analytics to improve patient outcomes, that whole increase in data analytics is going to produce a lot of new jobs in the market," Mr. Utterback said, according to the Financial Times.
The growing demand for an IT-savvy healthcare workforce is illuminating a new educational need for healthcare professionals — digital healthcare technology. Many medical, nursing and pharmacy schools have incorporated IT training into their curriculums, according to the report.