Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Why is it becoming more challenging to recruit health IT talent?
Nick Giannas: There are several factors: There are new emerging roles, there is this ongoing transformation in healthcare, and there is also a consolidation that has happened, creating larger organizations. All those factors are requiring executives with new skills and experiences.
With consolidation, you’re seeing larger multibillion-dollar organizations in healthcare that need additional executives to operate. Emerging roles such as CISOs or chief analytics officer positions are filling leadership needs which didn’t exist before. We’re moving toward a more consumer-driven type of environment as well, where you need a different approach. This impacts positions from CIO to CFO to chief marketing officer and requires different skill sets than many current executives have.
The CIO position, for example, has evolved to an executive-level role requiring those executive-level skills. CIOs need to show more vision and leadership than before. With the skills and experience expanded, it’s making it a bit harder to recruit the right talent.
Q: Can you comment on the emerging IT-focused roles, like CMIOs and CNIOs? You mentioned CISOs and chief analytics officers. Are there any new ones coming up?
NG: Three I’ll mention are chief analytics officers, chief information security officers and chief digital officers. All are becoming essential for larger systems.
It’s interesting that the CMIO is not an emerging role any longer; it’s been around for some time. We’re moving toward a second-generation CMIO that is more focused on optimization and transformation. Initially, the CMIO was focused on helping with implementing the EMR and designing workflow issues. Now it has transitioned more toward optimization and transformation as healthcare is moving toward initiatives including population health and personalized medicine. The CNIO role has evolved similarly.
Other trending roles that are becoming increasingly important and in demand are bioinformatics and biomedical informatics researchers. These positions can be titled director of biomedical or bioinformatics or chief research informatics officer, and are dedicated to providing more accessible and integrated data to facilitate personalized medicine.
Q: There has been an increase in educational programs and degree options in both IT and health IT specifically. How will things like this help meet the demand for IT talent?
NG: They will certainly help with MBA programs, informatics master’s programs for clinicians and certifications for IT executives. I also think for IT leaders it’s going to be essential to continue to develop those soft skills and broaden experience to meet demand. Mentorship and leadership development and succession planning that come from within organizations will help greatly.
Education programs do well in terms of giving you fundamental knowledge. But it’s hands-on experience and being in a role with a mentor that can help you with career development and offer true opportunities for growth.
Q: How can hospitals and health systems market or position themselves to be attractive workplaces for candidates?
NG: We can take this question and spin it a little. If there’s a talent shortage, where are we going to look for it? We can potentially look outside the industry but healthcare organizations have to be prepared and plan appropriately to position a “nontraditional” candidate for success.
Organizations that are known to view IT as a strategic asset will attract candidates. Also, if an organization is positioned to meet the future demands of the industry and allows for someone to be innovative and have a seat at the table, it will be able to recruit top talent.
Q: I’m curious your thoughts on the millennial workforce. In general, organizations are concerned about millennials, saying they’re lazy or too demanding. But in IT, millennials are digital natives. Can you talk about this dynamic?
NG: Putting the stereotypes aside, millennials will make up the future workforce. We have to depend on them to step in and fill these roles. I think they can and will do just that, and they will make an even greater impact because technology is already part of their DNA. If we’re moving toward a more digital environment in healthcare, who better to have as part of our workforce than those driving those types of changes in healthcare? Millennials are open to change. They’re up to the challenge.
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