Survey: Healthcare Careers Sizzling

Bernie Monegain, Editor for Healthcare IT News

Healthcare continues to be one of the hottest areas for hiring across the country – and an area where it's crucial to recruit the right talent – according to a survey by recruiting firm CareerBuilder.

CareerBuilder’s annual survey finds 22 percent of healthcare hiring managers plan to add full-time, permanent healthcare employees in this year, up three percentage points over 2012. At the same time, 23 percent of healthcare employers reported they have open positions for which they can’t find qualified talent.

Thirteen percent of all U.S. jobs are in healthcare and the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the U.S. will add 5.6 million health care jobs from 2010 to 2020, the largest projected increase of any industry.

CareerBuilder announced today a new division specifically for healthcare with stronger market intelligence, more customized recruitment and information on healthcare trends and workforce issues.

[See also: Healthcare IT hiring: A new frontier.]

"The recession had very little impact on the hiring momentum of the healthcare industry and, to meet further demand, CareerBuilder has pooled a group of proficient experts into a new division that will focus solely on assisting healthcare client’s hiring needs efficiently and effectively," said Jason Lovelace, president of the Health Care Group at CareerBuilder, in a news release. "Our research suggests that heathcare hiring will accelerate in 2013 with heightened competition for high skill labor and improved compensation trends. As a result, it is essential that we arm our healthcare clients with the data and tools needed to recruit qualified talent and ultimately, positively impact patient care."

Temporary and contract hiring

More healthcare organizations are turning to staffing and recruiting companies and temporary workers to help meet increased market demands, according to Lovelace Thirty-six percent of healthcare employers plan to hire temporary and contract workers in 2013, up from 34 percent last year, the Career Builder survey shows. Among these employers, 37 percent plan to transition some temporary workers into full-time, permanent employees over the next 12 months. There are an increasing number of areas – information technology is one – where demand for skilled positions – is growing much faster than the supply.

Harris Interactive conducted the online survey on behalf of CareerBuilder, among 274 health care hiring managers and human resource professionals and 576 healthcare workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between Nov.1-Nov. 30, 2012

HIMSS Analytics: HITECH Achieved its Intended Result

According to the analytics arm of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), HIMSS Analytics, the number of hospitals adopting EHRs has increased steadily over the past year. The number of hospitals that have reached Stage 5 and 6 of HIMSS Analytics’ Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) has increased by more than 80 percent over the five most recent quarters for which data is available.

In addition, the data from HIMSS analytics found that the number of acute-care hospitals that achieved Stage 7 has increased 63 percent. On the other side, the hospitals at Stages 0, 1, 2, and 3 have seen decreases of at least 10 percent. 

“This data suggests that the HITECH portion of the 2009 stimulus law is achieving its intended result of encouraging increased implementation and meaningful use of electronic health records among hospitals,” John Hoyt, executive vice president of HIMSS Analytics, said in a statement. 

“Hospitals are lag indicators of economic conditions. This information indicates that despite the recession, hospitals are continuing to see the value of investing in health IT to improve the quality, safety and effectiveness of patient care.”

HIMSS Analytics says on the contrary, few hospitals in Canada have achieved similar success in the EMRAM scale. It notes Canada does not have an equivalent stimulus program.

“Facilities moving to the upper stages of EMRAM are laying the groundwork for interoperability to occur,” said Hoyt.  “Stage 6 and Stage 7 hospitals are fully prepared for provider-to-provider or facility-to-facility interoperability, as well as increasing the provider or facility’s ability to provide electronic health data reporting to public health and immunization registries to support population health review and syndromic surveillance.”

Original article 

The Short ANSWER to "The Most Important Interview Question of All Time"

--Lou Adler

In a lively blog post last week, I suggested that the following was the most important interview question (MIQ) of all time:

What single project or task would you consider the most significant accomplishment in your career, so far?

Within 48 hours, 125,000 people attempted to answer the question following the set of follow-up questions provided. It takes about 15 minutes to fully understand the accomplishment. When you try it out, you'll be amazed at how much you've revealed about yourself and your abilities. You'll also you'll discover the answers can't be faked, unless you take a shortcut.

(Note: I’ll be holding an informal webcast on Friday, January 25, 2013 at 10:30AM PT, reviewing this QUESTION, how to properly evaluate the ANSWER, and demostrate why all of your "better" questions have hidden flaws.)

From a practical strandpoint, without knowing what job is being filled, there's really no correct answer to this MIQ. To get part of the correct answer, you need to ask the hiring manager this first: What's the most important project or task this person needs to handle in order to be considered successful?

You need specific details to fully understand the scope of the job, but at least now you can compare the person's biggest accomplishment to this benchmark to determine if the person is too heavy, too light, or a possible fit. Now we're getting close to the correct answer. You can then dig deeper with those who are possible hires by asking the candidate the same MIQ question for 3-4 different accomplishments spaced out over the past 3-10 years. This reveals the person's long term trend line of growth and performance.

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Friday Fun: More Weird Interview Questions

Julie Bort

Career site Glassdoor has compiled its annual list of the oddest job interview questions that companies ask, and – surprise! – there's a bunch of questions from tech companies like Google, Amazon and Salesforce.com.

Glassdoor analyzed more than 300,000 interview questions asked at real job interviews and posted by people who use its website to come up these whoppers.

We posted the full list of 25 here, but here's a rundown of the ones asked by tech companies.

How would you answer them? We've shared our thoughts:

How many cows are in Canada? Google asked a person applying for a job as a local data quality evaluator. Answer: about 7 million, according to Wiki Answers. (And yes, we Googled it.)

What songs best describe your work ethic? Asked at Dell for a consumer sales job. Possible good answer: Depeche Mode's "Work Hard"

Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it? Asked at Amazon for a product development job. Here's our list: 14 Startups That Would Be Awesome...If Only They Existed

How would people communicate in a perfect world? Asked at Novell for a software engineer job. Obvious answer: telepathy. Better answer (posted on Glassdoor): Always in person, face-to-face. That answer leads to a discussion of videoconferencing tech, which is a lot easier tech problem to solve than telepathy.

What’s your favorite song? Perform it for us now. Asked at LivingSocial for an adventures city manager job. If you're not a great singer, might we suggest Kelly Clarkson's "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"? And if you can sing, you'll have this one covered.

Have you ever stolen a pen from work? Asked by Jiffy Software for a software architect job. Obvious answer: Yes, but not on purpose. Better answer: In the grand scheme, no. I've probably brought more pens to the office and left them there as I've taken home.

What kitchen utensil would you be? Asked by Bandwidth.com for a marketer job. Best answer we've seen (posted on Glassdoor): The Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer

If you could be anyone else, who would it be? Asked by Salesforce.com for a sales representative job. Obvious, ingratiating answer: Marc Benioff. Better answer: Anyone from our list of 15 Tech Geniuses Living Fabulous, Enviable Lives

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-weirdest-interview-questions-tech-companies-ask-2013-1#ixzz2ILbSMFEg

Survey says EHR adoption faster than expected

Erin McCann

Family physicians are adopting electronic health records (EHRs) at a much faster rate than previous data suggested, reaching a nearly 70 percent adoption rate nationwide, new study findings reveal. 

The study, published in the January/February issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, shows EHR adoption by family physicians has doubled since 2005, with researchers estimating that the adoption rate will exceed 80 percent by 2013.  

Findings also reveal a higher percentage of EHR adoption among physicians in comparison to a July 2012 study conducted by the CDC's Center for National Health Statistics, which reported that 55 percent of office-based physicians had adopted EHRs.

EHR adoption rates among family physicians, however, have also been shown to be higher than other office-based specialities. One November study, for example, reported that pediatricians had some of the lowest adoption rates of EHR systems, with a paltry 41 percent indicating they had EHRs.   

[Related: 7 ways meaningful use grew deeper roots in 2012]

Researchers also point to geographical differences in EHR adoption rates. Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon and Utah, for example, had significantly higher adoption rates in comparison to states with much lower numbers such as Florida, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.   

According to study co-author Andrew Bazemore, MD, director of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Primary Care, report findings offer "some encouragement that we have passed a critical threshold," HealthDay reported.   

Utah family physicians had the highest EHR adoption rates in the country, pegged at nearly 95 percent statewide, according to the study, but Bazemore said, "More work is needed, including better information from all of the states."  

North Dakota ranked lowest among the 50 states, with an overall EHR adoption rate of only 47 percent. 

The study was conducted by researchers at the Association of American Medical Colleges, Georgetown University Medical Center, National Center for Health Statistics, University of Colorado Denver, The Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care and Medstar Franklin Square Hospital.

mHealth Market to hit $10.2B by 2018

Rene Letourneau, Editor, Healthcare Finance News

The global mHealth market will grow at a compound annual rate of 41.5 percent in the next five years to reach $10.2 billion by 2018, up from $1.3 billion in 2012, according to a recent report from market research firm Transparency Market Research.

The increasing popularity of smartphones and the uptick in chronic diseases are key drivers, said Pawan Kumar, head of ICT and Semiconductor Practices at Transparency Market Research.

[See also: Mobile health initiative expands with global focus.]

“The introduction of newer and improved mobile health applications in the market is helping the healthcare providers to cater (to a higher) number of patients in less time with significant cost saving,” said Kumar. “Faster development of 3G and 4G networks is also expected to fuel the further growth of the market.”

The remote patient monitoring services segment of the mHealth market is growing the most quickly and accounted for about 63 percent of revenue in 2012.

Remote monitoring of patients can help reduce costs significantly by reducing the amount of time the patient spends in the hospital and by lowering the frequency of follow-up visits to the physician, which, according to Kumar, is especially important due to the “shortage of healthcare workers globally.”

Among the biggest challenges that could potentially weaken market growth are data storage and security, said Kumar.

[See also: FDA issues draft document on mobile app regulations.]

“Multiple device access to healthcare data and applications, on- and off-premises, raises security concerns,” he said. “In the case of mHealth applications, there is a high risk of loss of unprotected confidential data to an unauthenticated user, and physicians are short of time and skills to take care of such security measures.”

Despite the hurdles, Kumar expects the market to continue to trend up.

“We expect that the robust market growth will continue on account of increasing innovation and growing participation of stakeholders,” said Kumar.

“A number of organizations within the provider and mobile technology industries are now sponsoring projects across developing countries like Africa, India and others to explore mHealth opportunities,” he added. “Governments across different countries are playing a vital role in the growth of the mHealth market by initiating policies to support mobile health applications in their respective countries.”

Athenahealth Makes Big mHealth Buy

Athenahealth, a Watertown, Mass.-based provider of EHR cloud-based software, has announced it has acquired Epocrates, a San Mateo, Calif. based provider of mobile health (mHealth) point-of-care clinical applications.  The deal is valued at $11.75 per share, in cash, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $293 million, and it’s athenahealth’s biggest ever.

“I have been an admirer of Epocrates since it first emerged and have watched the company grow consistently, one app download at a time, as it has cemented itself into the consciousness of America’s physicians,” Jonathan Bush, president and CEO of athenahealth, said in a statement. “No other company has been able to replicate the brand awareness, familiarity, and trust that Epocrates has across the clinical mobile user base.”

Athenahealth says it plans on integrating its cloud-based network with Epocrates’ “expertise” in mHealth to position itself to “introduce new mobile applications” Also, it says it will expand its current provider base of 38,000 to include the reported one million plus healthcare professionals on the Epocrates network.

The closing of the acquisition is subject to the approval of Epocrates shareholders and other customary closing conditions and is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2013.

http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/athenahealth-makes-big-mhealth-buy

Do I Look Old in This?

It’s a fact.  Before I ever see you, I see your resume.  If done right, a cursory glance should tell me what I need to know; the result will either draw me in for more detail or send me back to the drawing board.

Your resume is an incredibly powerful document; it should be a thoughtfully crafted record of your career path and accomplishments.  It should convey your personal style, your qualifications, your value, your “brand.”  And when you’re writing it, it’s one of the only times in your entire life that it’s not impolite to brag—sales and marketing folks, I’m talking to you.  But even if you’re doing everything else right, adhering to outdated rules about resume writing can make you look outdated, past your prime, out of the loop, even irrelevant…

In an age when culture (as in “fit”) is as important as qualifications, image matters.  If you want a resume that stands out from the crowd, let your accomplishments, not the uniqueness of the document, be the key differentiator that separates you from the competition.      

Has it been a while since you last considered an updated resume format? 

Dead giveaways:

T.M.I. or Superfluous Personal Details: Your age, date of birth, social security number, marital status, the ages of your children, your hobbies, and your religious or political affiliations, do not belong on your resume (neither does your photograph).

Object of My Objection, Your Objective Statement: Your resume’s headline, the first (and therefore most valuable) part of the page I will read, is the very last place you should consider putting a generic throwaway statement to confirm what any hiring manager already knows—you want a job in your industry that allows you to grow and make a valuable contribution to the organization.  Instead, use this space for an executive summary; craft a brief, but inclusive, statement that encapsulates your skills, experience, and achievements. 

You Know What Happens When You Assume: 
1. You went to college?  So did 95% of the other qualified applicants for this job.  Again, don’t waste the headline space on something I’m going to assume you did, anyway.  Leave Education & Training for last.  2. For future reference: don’t include your references with your resume—if I want them, I’ll ask for them.  And I won’t wait for your written permission to do so, so you needn’t bother ending the document with “References Available Upon Request” because, of course, they are.
3. Accomplished, Dynamic, Detail-Oriented, Team Players don’t misuse prime resume real estate with buzz words; they demonstrate their marketable qualities through quantifiable, easily describable achievements, which they list in context throughout their resumes. 

Colors, and Fonts, and Graphics (oh my!): Unless you are an artist or graphic designer, your resume is not the appropriate place to demonstrate your affinity for a decorative flourish.  Remember that YOU are the main attraction.  The goal is to create a document that is consistent, accurate, well-written (not overwritten; don’t be glib), aesthetically inoffensive, and easy to read.

My One and Only: There is still an incredibly prevalent misconception that resumes should not exceed one page in length.  While I will be the first to agree that sometimes less is, in fact, more (see above, don’t be glib), the one page rule was created for a time when your resume was read on paper, not a computer monitor.  The idea was to prevent pages from becoming separated and leaving a hiring manager with an incomplete profile.  You don’t need to leave out important details, edit out half of your work history, use a microscopic font, or drastically reduce the margins to create a resume of acceptable length.  Write until you’re done.  If I’m looking at it on paper, that’s because I printed it out (and I printed it out because I felt it was strong enough not to delete from my email, where I can easily find another copy should the pages become separated).

Enough is Enough: Words for the sake of length suggest a lack of substance or that you paid someone else (by the word) to write your resume.  The more you write, the harder it is to find the information I need.  The harder it is to find, the less likely I am to look.  Hiring managers look at a steady stream of resumes—don’t expect to get many phone calls if you have buried your skills, accomplishments, and background in needlessly verbose paragraphs.  Respect white space on the page.  Don’t make me squint.  Don’t make me read for comprehension.  Use bullet points and make the reasons I should hire you so obvious it’s practically impossible not to see them.

-Contributed by Kate Harlow