When [an applicant] can
say, ‘I’ve hit these [IT
education] targets,’ that shows a
commitment to advancement.
TIMOTHY STET THEIMER (LEF T), CIO,
ST. VINCENT’S HEALTH SYSTEM
Lt. Col. Eric McClung, CIO for the U. S. Army’s Pacific
Regional Medical Command (PRMC), said the ability to
demonstrate continual upgrades in IT and management skills
is doubly important for people interested in healthcare-related
IT jobs in the military, where leadership changes every two to
three years.
The PRMC is one of five Army regional medical commands
worldwide that oversee day-to-day operations of treatment facilities in their regions.
The difficulty in finding candidates who keep up with changes
in healthcare often prompts McClung to look for general healthcare workers who’d like to move into IT. It’s often easier, he said,
to teach technical skills to someone with a healthcare background
than it is to teach an IT professional about healthcare.
“Just get me an interesting, willing person with a healthcare
background, and my organization will overlay the IT knowledge
required,” said McClung, who’s also CIO at Tripler Army Medical
Center in Hawaii.
Job hunters should take note of qualifications that Stettheimer, McClung and other healthcare I T executives are seeking,
because that industry leads the way in IT job openings. The U. S.
Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that
IT jobs in healthcare will grow by about 20% per year through
2018. There are currently 176,090 IT jobs in the industry, according to the BLS.
According to SimplyHired.com, the number of healthcare
IT positions has increased by 67% since November 2009. The
online job-search engine lists 7,200 open healthcare IT positions
out of 4. 9 million jobs on its website.
“Healthcare is definitely one of the most significant areas
of growth, and it requires the most skilled people,” said Keith
According to Fraidenburg, the most coveted CHIME certifica-
tions are those for project management of clinical systems and
electronic health records deployment and administration.
The organization also offers a highly complex healthcare CIO
certification program that covers both business and technical
subjects, he said.
“Healthcare is the most information-intense and complex industry that I know of,” Fraidenburg said. “I’ve worked in manufacturing ... but in terms of complexity and the impact of information ... I don’t know anything that compares with healthcare.” u
Healthcare CIOs
Tell Job Seekers to
Keep Skills Sharp
The medical industry seeks thousands of
IT workers, but its need for unique skills
makes hiring difficult. By Lucas Mearian
AN IT JOB APPLICANT with a history of constantly beefing up his technology and management skills is more impressive to Timothy Stettheimer than a positive referral or a strong face-to-face interview. “How do you know you’re hiring a good person?
You can get a referral. So what? Someone can interview well. So
what? But when [an applicant] can say, ‘I’ve hit these [I T education]
targets,’ that shows a commitment to advancement,” said Stettheimer, who is CIO at St. Vincent’s Health System in Birmingham, Ala.
