Having a career in Health IT requires a lot of skills and qualifications, even more so if you want that career to be successful – but what are those skills and qualifications? We all know what skills and qualifications we needed when we first entered the field, but regardless of how long you’ve been working in Health IT, the field has changed a lot since then. So what are these key skills and qualifications and how have they evolved with advancements in healthcare technology?

We reached out to our incredible Healthcare IT Today Community for their thoughts and the following is what they had to say.

Tom Liddell, CEO at Harmony Healthcare IT

A successful career in health IT leadership requires a unique blend of technical expertise, regulatory knowledge, and strong communication skills. A solid foundation in data infrastructure, security, and privacy protocols is crucial for anyone in 2024 looking to succeed in the healthcare industry. Familiarity with interoperability standards is also essential, as is the need to stay abreast of evolving compliance requirements.

IT leaders in healthcare must demonstrate commitment to continuous learning and professional development. The ability to translate complex technical information into understandable terms for diverse stakeholders is critical. Overall, the key skills and qualifications for success in this area involve a combination of technical proficiency, regulatory and security acumen, and interpersonal skills, all of which contribute to the effective implementation and management of healthcare technology solutions–ultimately ensuring the secure and compliant handling of critical data.

Patrick Schiess, President and Chief Information Security Officer at Darena Solutions

Development teams need a well-rounded skill set to create compelling healthcare IT products. Recognizing this, successful leaders will prioritize the integration of software engineers with solid product design and user experience expertise. Investing time in client research and meticulous planning pays off by producing user-friendly and need-fulfilling products. This approach enhances user satisfaction and energizes software engineers, who can focus on their strengths rather than stretch into unsuitable roles.

Emphasizing the significance of design in innovation, health IT leaders are encouraged to dedicate resources to robust design cycles and to bring professional designers on board. This strategy leads to superior products and a collaborative environment for all team members.

Brian Urban, Director of Innovation and Emerging Markets at FinThrive

Developing into a healthy leader within healthcare technology/IT requires you to be authentically (1) loving and (2) curious. This differs greatly from other industries, such as engineering, actuarial sciences, accounting, law, civil services, etc., where a traditional square box, black-and-white thinking prevails—a mindset handed down from generation to generation.

What makes healthcare technology leadership skills uniquely different is the constant need to approach challenges, competition, collaborations, and thresholds with a sense of love. In the realm of healthcare, developing new products for age-old problems requires an unwavering commitment to embracing unforeseen obstacles. Without a genuine love for improving lives through the products, policies, or procedures you’re introducing to the market, you risk staying in a transactional space devoid of deeper meaning. To authentically contribute to societal health, it’s crucial to accept failure as an integral part of the process. Bouncing back from failures swiftly and delivering creative solutions is essential for meaningful progress in healthcare.

The second aspect is being curious—a complementary trait to the concept of being loving. Continually taking meaningful creative risks that lead to the next innovation or progress is a crucial part of becoming a successful healthcare leader in technology and IT. Investigating and finding ways to win and positively impact the lives you serve are fundamental components of this leadership skill set, setting it apart from other industries. Being academically strong greatly contributes to a healthcare leadership mindset. Most high-performing academic institutions in healthcare, technology, and innovation are well-versed in policies, procedures, and regulations at the state and federal government levels.

There are unique ways to stay informed, including staying connected with state-based associations, health plans, and regional healthcare finance organizations directly linked to the latest government regulations from CMS and other contributors, such as NCQA. Staying close to leading academic institutions, research entities, and nonprofit organizations reporting to government bodies provides the best way to stay informed about new regulations, policies, procedures, and opportunities for securing funding for accelerated projects and programs.

Wes Wright, Chief Healthcare Officer at Ordr

A successful career in Health IT requires the same skills and qualifications needed for a successful career in any other field: it all starts with communication and empathy. If you don’t understand the needs of your customer, whoever that might be, then you can’t meet those needs. The only way you can do that is through communication and empathy.

Shawn Gingrich, VP of HR at Azalea Health

Successful Healthcare IT professionals must excel in three skill sets in today’s quickly evolving climate: Collaboration on project management with multiple internal/external clients, execution of an impenetrable threat management program, and compliance with ever-changing regulatory requirements.

Caryn Hewitt, RN, BSN, CENP, CPHQ, Senior Director of Consulting Services at CenTrak

One of the first things I recommend is an understanding of what clinicians do and a background or career already in an area of the clinical world. It is crucial to have a good understanding of what the clinical folks are doing, why they are doing it, the tools they’re using in their day-to-day, and what problems Health IT is trying to solve. This knowledge better allows those in Health IT to be inquisitive, ask questions, and really understand why they’re doing the things they’re doing.

I’ve also found that having excellent listening skills goes a long way, and I recommend entering conversations as a partnership. In other words, it’s best to understand the clinician’s world and not come across as ‘I’m going to tell you what I’m doing for you.’ In reality, you’re in this together.

Advancements in technology have changed the skillset required to perform health IT roles. Health IT workers have technology at their disposal, both in their daily lives outside of work and in their professional settings. The young professionals in today’s healthcare environment are incredibly smart, and this is partially because they bring with them an understanding of what technology can do for them, their team, and the healthcare business as a whole. With their understanding of both clinical needs and technology, they can more easily implement technology to positively impact clinicians’ time and effort and better inform the patient experience.

John Johnson, Chief Information Officer at Savista

IT professionals working in healthcare must, at a minimum, possess strong collaboration skills and foundational technical skills specific to their technology domain such as programming, security, data management, infrastructure, project management, and systems integration. To increase their value to their organizations, IT professionals should build their knowledge and skills to include expertise in EHR systems (ex., Epic), regulations and compliance requirements (ex., HIPAA), and healthcare data and interoperability standards (Ex., FHIR/HL7.) The combination of technical skills and industry knowledge are foundational for Health IT workers. However, looking forward to 2024 the healthcare technology landscape continues to evolve with new and maturing technologies such as Generative AI, Machine Learning, Telehealth/Telemedicine, and Augmented Reality.

This evolution will challenge Health IT professionals to keep pace through continuous research, education, and application of these technologies. To achieve success in this rapidly evolving industry, Health IT professionals should include in their 2024 plans a focus on:

Artificial Intelligence: AI is in its infancy and many organizations are ‘experimenting’ with AI-enabled use-cases to drive business value. Health IT professionals must partner with business stakeholders to drive AI benefits while maintaining appropriate security and compliance standards.

Cybersecurity: Health IT professionals need to incorporate Cybersecurity best practices into all areas of the business to effectively protect sensitive data from security threats. A formal Cybersecurity program can provide a framework for managing emerging security threats.

Interoperability: Healthcare systems no longer operate stand-alone. Standards like FHIR are enabling interoperability which delivers healthcare data exchange between different systems. Adoption and management of interoperability are required to compete in the Healthcare services industry.

Patient Experience: Applying technology such as patient portals to enable communication and self-service can improve the overall patient experience, improve patient engagement, and drive operational efficiency. Portals provide the patient with 24×7 access to messaging, scheduling, and billing/payment capabilities which reduce administrative burden and enhance the patient experience. Health IT professionals must design and build these systems with strict adherence to privacy and data security regulations.

So many great insights here! Thank you to everyone who took the time out of their day to submit a quote in to us and to all of you for taking the time to read this article! We could not do this without all of your support! What do you think are the key skills and qualifications needed for a successful career in Health IT and how have they evolved over time? Let us know either in the comments down below or over on social media. We’d love to hear from all of you!