Although it's still in its early stages, a "serious pending outflow" of IT workers in the health care industry is starting to worry chief information officers.
"There is definitely a problem and it is getting worse. I'm pretty much living it every day," said Jonathan Beard, manager of talent acquisition for Kaiser Permanente's IT division.
"I can tell you that when it comes to IT workers with health care experience, there are not a lot out there and the competition for them is fierce," Beard said.
The problem touches everywhere -- public and private sectors, large operations and small -- and it's probably going to get worse before it gets better, according to a new report examining the growing challenges of a multigenerational work force in health IT. The first and probably biggest problem is "brain drain," according to the Computer Sciences Corporation report, titled "The Multigenerational Healthcare IT Workforce."
Retirees Taking Specialized Knowledge
Walt Zywiak, principal researcher in the emerging practices unit of Computer Sciences Corporation and author of the report, said health IT retirees are taking a different toll than retirees in other IT disciplines.
"People retiring in health IT are not necessarily like IT workers in other industries," Zywiak said, adding, "A lot of these people have special characteristics. Many of them are actually the ones who got the ball rolling, bringing IT into the health care world."
"We're talking about trailblazers -- people who got together with end users and helped define how an industry was going to develop with IT. These people have intimate knowledge that's hard to pass along," Zywiak said.
In his report, Zywiak identifies four distinct generations in the IT departments of health care organizations:
- Traditionalists, born before 1946;
- Baby boomers, born between 1946-1964;
- Generation Xers, born between 1965-1980; and
- Generation Yers, born after 1980.
Changing Expectations, Goals
The exodus of traditionalists and boomers -- the "serious pending outflow" -- is a major part of the challenge facing the industry, but it's not the only part, according to the report.
Different generations approach their careers with different expectations and goals. As younger IT workers move into leadership positions, those differences become a factor, Zywiak said.
"More organizations are having to deal with some of the issues newer generations bring with them," Zywiak, a boomer, said, adding, "I think generally, Gen X and Gen Y have more focus on blended lifestyle. Not that we weren't focused on that, too."
"But I think it was more of a new idea for us to try to balance quality of life with career. I think for younger workers, it's more of an expectation," Zywiak said.
Younger workers more often are looking for flexible work schedules, opportunities to work from home and more ways to balance family life with career, according to the report.
Health IT's Slow Start, Money Are Factors
Health care's relative slow start in developing new information infrastructure and comparatively low pay have made it difficult to attract and retain young IT talent, according to the report and industry leaders.
"It's hard finding good IT people in general, let alone people with health care experience," said Kaiser recruiter Beard, adding, "Those kinds of people are not necessarily attracted to health care."
"I'm not competing with other health care organizations. I'm competing with Google and Oracle and Yahoo," Beard said. "Health care just isn't sexy, although that might be changing as we begin moving into broader and more detailed applications," Beard added.
Pay is also a big factor for IT job hunters and a recurring theme for recruiters.
"For example," Zywiak writes in the report, "one CIO remarked that she has had such little recent success that she goes into every offer expecting to lose to a higher salary offer elsewhere. Another management team begins worrying about losing each new recruit to a higher offer as soon as they have completed vendor application training."
The report's findings are based on consultations with senior IT managers and CIOs at 10 U.S. health care organizations, including two large group practices, seven integrated delivery systems and one vendor of software for health insurers.
Zywiak said that although there is uniform recognition of the problem, there isn't much action yet.
"Across the board, health IT had not really formally addressed this issue yet," Zywiak said. "CIOs and middle managers are very aware, but there's very little being done in terms of formalizing long-term plans."
Solutions Suggested
The report makes several suggestions for filling the void left by retirees and for attracting new talent.
Offering potential retirees a variety of options including reduced or flexible hours, consulting opportunities and gradual retirement plans can help soften the blow, the report states.
The report also offers several ideas to attract and retain IT talent, including customized benefit packages, flexible hours and working conditions, company-supported car pools and "gas cards" to reduce employee transportation costs.
The report concludes with a warning that health care IT departments will have to start paying serious attention to multigenerational challenges if they are to keep up with demand over the coming years. The report stresses the importance of understanding and dealing with the shift in generations.
One CIO, talking about retiring IT workers, put it this way:
"They not only know the systems, but I know if they wake up in the middle of the first night users go live, before going back to bed they check online to be sure everything's going OK. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to replace that combination of skill and commitment."