Healthcare organizations can have difficulty hiring the right individuals for HIEs, according to a survey by HIMSS and AHIMA.
With more healthcare organizations working to implement EHRs and become connected to health information exchanges (HIEs), it is increasingly important for those facilities to have well-trained staff members. Protecting patients’ private health information requires strong administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. If an employee is unaware of a particular safeguard, for example, he or she could inadvertently expose PHI or other sensitive data.
But what happens if healthcare organizations are having difficulty hiring qualified staff members in the first place?
According to a survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), it is most difficult for organizations to find individuals with the right skill set, and be able to offer those individuals competitive pay.
The survey focused on IT staff positions and divided them into three categories: workers in connectivity, data integrity, and data integration. The results showed that there was considerable overlap in those duties. HIMSS and AHIMA interviewed representatives of 16 exchange organizations through an online survey.
Additionally, more than two-thirds of respondents handled more than 1 million patients’ records. The organizations’ total staff sizes ranged from 1.5 to 47 full-time-equivalent employees, while IT staffs ranged from 0 to 19 full-time-equivalent employees.
Specifically, the survey identified challenges that were unique to connectivity, data integrity and data integration projects within HIE organizations. The most significant challenges were the following:
- Ability to determine business requirements, project scope and the corresponding deliverables to support the project
- Employee satisfaction
- Employee experience
- Government requirements and their impact on projects
- Skill sets (i.e. the right skills for the project)
- Ability to assume multiple types of responsibilities, or wear multiple “hats”
- Prioritization of tasks based on high demand
“Challenges in recruitment for the positions of Connectivity, Data Integrity and/or Data Integration remain,” the survey said. “The most frequently identified challenges include cost of living / location of the HIO, industry competition for qualified candidates, salary and benefits competitive within the industry, and finding the right skill sets.”
According to the results, positions within HIE organizations that had the highest levels of turnover were Data Administrator, HIE Implementation Manager, HIE Project Managers, Physician Liaison, and Project Managers.
If a healthcare organization is able to hire and retain qualified staff members, that is only the beginning to creating a well-rounded HIE. Unless employees are well-trained, healthcare facilities could still struggle with keeping information secure.
Strong staff training can enable HIEs, even if there are strict privacy laws within the state. Proper training can mitigate obstacles in the way of an exchange, Minnesota’s Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) President and CEO Cheryl Stephens told HealthITSecurity.com in an interview.
Minnesota has strict health data privacy and security rules that make the exchange of health information between healthcare organizations a complex task. However, by having staff training dedicated to educating patients about health data privacy and the value of HIE, Stephens said that they have experienced a low percentage of patients opting out of the state exchange program.
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