Data from: Characteristics of the healthcare information technology workforce in the HITECH era: underestimated in size, still growing, and adapting to advanced uses

Objective: There is little readily available data about the size and characteristics of the healthcare information technology workforce. We sought to update a previous description of the size, growth, and characteristics of this workforce based on the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics® Database, a resource that includes hospital size, number of beds, amount of staffing, and an eight-stage model of electronic health record adoption (Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, EMRAM℠).

Materials and Methods: We updated an analysis done using a 2007 snapshot of the HIMSS Analytics Database with a comparable snapshot from 2014 in order to estimate the size of the current workforce and project future needs. For the 2014 data, we applied the same weighted average analysis used in 2007 to obtain a ratio of information technology (IT) hospital full-time equivalent (FTE) to staffed beds, extrapolate the results to all US hospitals, and project the workforce needs as hospitals achieve higher EMRAM stages.

Results: Our estimated size of the healthcare information technology workforce in the US in 2014 was 161 160, which was 8.0% larger than the estimate based on the 2007 data. Based on the new data, we project a potential need for an additional 19 852 and 153 114 FTE, if all hospitals were to achieve EMRAM Stages 6 and 7, respectively. The distribution of FTE across job function category varies by EMRAM stage.

Discussion and Conclusions: Although these data are limited, especially for EMRAM Stage 7, there is likely need for substantial workforce growth as hospitals increase their adoption of advanced healthcare information technology. Further research with data better focused on workforce characteristics will provide a better picture of staffing requirements.

研究目标：目前鲜有公开可用的医疗信息技术从业者规模与特征相关数据。本研究旨在基于医疗信息与管理系统学会（Healthcare Information Management Systems Society, HIMSS）Analytics®数据库，更新此前对该从业者群体的规模、增长趋势及特征的描述。该数据库包含医院规模、床位数、人员配置情况，以及电子健康档案采纳的八阶段模型——电子病历采纳模型（Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, EMRAM℠）。

材料与方法：本研究将2007年HIMSS Analytics数据库快照的分析更新为2014年的可比快照，以此估算当前从业者规模并预测未来需求。针对2014年的数据，我们沿用2007年采用的加权平均分析法，计算医院信息技术（Information Technology, IT）全职当量（Full-Time Equivalent, FTE）与在编床位的比值，将结果外推至全美所有医院，并针对医院达到更高EMRAM阶段的场景预测从业者需求。

研究结果：我们估算2014年美国医疗信息技术从业者规模为161160人，较基于2007年数据的估算结果高出8.0%。基于新数据，我们预测若所有医院分别达到EMRAM第6阶段与第7阶段，将分别额外需要19852名与153114名全职当量从业者。不同岗位类别的全职当量分布随EMRAM阶段有所差异。

讨论与结论：尽管此类数据存在局限性（尤其是针对EMRAM第7阶段的数据），但随着医院提升先进医疗信息技术的采纳程度，从业者规模很可能需要大幅增长。后续聚焦于从业者特征的研究将能更清晰地呈现人员配置需求。