High Tech Healthcare Jobs Picking Up Speed

by Alex A. Kecskes

The economy may still be in the doldrums, but if you're studying to be a healthcare professional, there are plenty of opportunities in the high tech end.

A recent study from the University of California San Diego Extension revealed that health information technology is the career choice for many of today's college students. As healthcare becomes increasingly dependent on devices and systems to manage, diagnose and treat patients, adding IT to your medical studies will make you highly employable.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for health IT professionals is expected to increase by 20 percent in this decade. Helping to fuel this demand was the passage of the 2009 federal American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. It pumped millions of dollars in increased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals that implement Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in 2011. In fact, hospitals will be penalized if they fail to implement an EHR by 2015.

Currently there are very few IT professionals in the healthcare industry. Couple that with the fact just a scant 1.5 percent of U.S. hospitals utilize comprehensive clinical information systems and it's easy to see that trained health IT professionals will be in big demand in the next 5 to 10 years.

Note too, that the federal government recently set out to spend a hefty $2 billion to fill 50,000 jobs in the next five years. Much of that will be directed at the health IT job market, which is good news for young healthcare grads who have added tech savvy to their medical studies.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/