Health systems across the U.S. are ramping up their IT hiring in 2025 to address emerging technologies, modernize infrastructure and improve patient care.
At Aurora, Colo.-based Children's Hospital Colorado, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer Amy Feaster said the organization plans to make targeted increases in specific areas.
"Those areas will focus on innovation, artificial intelligence and digital health," she told Becker's. "These are quickly growing areas of our portfolio and promise to help improve the digital experience for our providers and nurses, provide innovative care models and help teams accomplish more with less friction."
Ms. Feaster said the hospital's IT department will prioritize skills and roles required to develop and maintain AI solutions.
"These will both be key in the coming years," she said. "The other skill that is so important is the ability to work with operational areas to define manual, repetitive workflows and be able to automate those workflows to free up time for people to perform more complex work that they find more enjoyable."
Meanwhile, at Kansas City, Mo.-based Children's Mercy Kansas City, the organization is preparing to grow its IT workforce in 2025 as part of a broader effort to modernize its technology infrastructure and improve patient care, CIO Brian Lancaster told Becker's.
The health system is transitioning from Oracle Health to Epic for its EHR system while modernizing its infrastructure by adopting a hybrid cloud approach with AWS and Microsoft Azure. These initiatives are driving the need for additional IT resources, including cloud engineers, project managers and informaticists.
"We're not at the point we need to be to meet the organization's needs," Mr. Lancaster said. "The transition to Epic and the move to the cloud are key drivers of our current resource needs."
At Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, CIO Brad Reimer told Becker's that the health system doesn't anticipate significant growth in traditional IT roles but plans to expand teams focused on emerging technologies, particularly in AI, product management and patient-facing digital tools.
"There's definitely a need for new mindsets in modern technology, especially with tools that focus on digital transformation and reducing friction for caregivers," he said.
Sanford is also upskilling its workforce, focusing on both technical skill sets and organizational change management. These efforts aim to shift traditional IT teams toward a more digital, patient-centered approach.