The health care industry is likely to increase efforts to employ health informaticists with both clinical and technical skills over the next two years, according to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute, United Press International reports.
The study -- which was presented at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's 2012 conference -- predicted that informaticists will assist with the technical aspects of implementing electronic health record systems and integrating data.
Methodology
For the study, PwC's Health Research Institute surveyed 600 health care organizations about their health informatics needs. Researchers surveyed:
- Hospitals;
- Health insurers;
- Health systems;
- Life sciences companies; and
- Pharmaceutical companies.
Report Findings
The survey found that:
- 70% of health insurers plan to increase hiring for technical informatics positions over the next two years;
- 48% of hospitals plan to increase hiring for informatics positions over the next two years; and
- 39% of pharmaceutical and life sciences companies plan to increase hiring for informatics positions over the next two years.
In addition, the survey found that:
- 50% of health care provider and hospital respondents reported that misaligned clinical and technology teams are a barrier to incorporating sophisticated analytics into physicians' daily activities; and
- 40% of health care provider and hospital respondents said that their staff lacked skilled workers to develop a comprehensive clinical informatics program (United Press International, 2/25).
PwC plans to publish the official report by the end of February (PricewaterhouseCoopers release, 2/23).