Association of Independent HIT Professionals

Become a HIT Consultant!

There has never been a better time in the history of healthcare IT to decide to become an independent consultant! However, the decision to become an independent consultant is not one to be made lightly. While it is true that independent consultants typically enjoy higher income potential than their counterparts in hospitals or at vendors, the demands of travel and time away from friends and family are aspects to consider. It truly is a balance that must be achieved to be successful.


If you enjoy working with a variety of people and the thought of experiencing different work environments, you may enjoy being a consultant! You can expect to experience many different work environments, travel around the country and be exposed to something that is different from your current day to day. While some assignments may allow you to work from a home office, or commute to a client site one or two weeks a month, you can expect to travel on Sunday or Monday morning and be at the client site until Thursday or Friday.


The role of  AIDHIT  is to guide, support, encourage and unite professional HIT workers who have chosen to be independent. Our online community provides a comprehensive resource on all aspects of running a small business, as well as benefits, forums for the exchange of ideas, and TheHITHub for job postings from screened and vetted third party consulting companies.


For more information on the realities of getting a healthcare IT job if you are not familiar with Healthcare, Shahid N. Shah, The Healthcare IT Guy, has a great blog about switching into this field here.


If you are looking to just get into the field of healthcare IT, Mr. Shah was interviewed about the subject. His video interviews are here.

Industry Environment

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and accompanying Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) provided 19.2 billion dollars for Healthcare IT. The three stage (for now) Meaningful Use initiative calls for complete and accurate records, better access to information and patient empowerment. http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=2996&mode=2

As a result the Healthcare Industry is seeing the widespread adoption of Electronic Medical Records.

Work Opportunity

It is nearly impossible for the 5,000 or so United States hospitals to implement these systems without external support. Whether it is due to the lack of in-house knowledge or the speed in which systems are being implemented, healthcare organizations are turning to the skills and expertise of third party consultants.

 

15 of the top 100 Healthcare IT Vendors offer services (consulting) for 100% of their revenue. http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/hci100/2012-healthcare-informatics-100-ranking

 

There has been a nearly 50% growth each year for these companies from 2009 to 2010, and from 2010 to 2012, and there is no sign of them slowing down anytime soon. In fact, a February 2012 study by Texas State University-San Marcos conservatively estimates that Texas alone will need 10,000 HIT workers by 2013! http://www.health.txstate.edu/him/TxHIT-workforce/news/contentParagraph/03/document/TexasHITEmployerNeedsAssessment_RELEASED_03302012.pdf

 

What Skills Do I Need?

As a consultant, you are hired on to a project due to your expertise in an area and your experience having worked in different HIT environments. You may advise a client on several ways to solve a problem, giving the positives and negatives of each based upon your experience, and then assist them in the execution of their decision.

Although it is important to have marketable skills, the most important role you play is client advocate!

Most successful consultants have confidence in their abilities, an ability to communicate with clients and clinicians, an ability to work in a team environment and a high level of professionalism and interpersonal skills.

You will also need marketable skills around EMR's and Medical Informatics. This may include:

  • Project Management experience (and/or a PMP certification)
  • In-depth knowledge of the building and/or implementation of a Vendors EMR module such as McKesson HOE, Epic Willow, Cerner PharmNet, or any of the dozens of other Vendor modules.
                • Go Live Support experience

For more information about how to get a job in healthcare IT if you don't have job specific experience, healthcare IT blogger Shahid N. Shah, The Healthcare IT Guy, has an excellent blog on the topic here.

First Steps

A consultant may work for a third party vendor of services as a W2 employee or may be a 1099 independent contractor for hire with third party vendors or directly to a hospital. Some choose to establish a business structure for tax and liability reasons.

AIDHIT can be your guide to becoming a consultant. Learn more about Membership Benefits!