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Health Information Exchanges create jobs

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Richard Blumenthal from Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology are overseeing nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help healthcare providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information exchange (HIE) and technology systems.

There is a strong economic component to HIE

According to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, investing $10 billion in the health information technology industry, which includes HIE, will create 212,000 jobs. The awards will help make HIE solutions available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in healthcare and information technology. 

To help understand this on a smaller scale, assume that a state has a population of 13 million people, with 25,000 practicing physicians and 200 hospitals. Once the state initiates an HIE program, it will add approximately 4,825 new jobs.

Using conservative estimates:

  • Provider practices would add at least one full-time employee (FTE) per physician association to support the electronic medical records (EMR) system. Assuming one FTE per 8 physicians translates into 3,125 jobs.
  • Regional extension center (REC) employees will average around 15 FTE per REC with spillover downstream contracting effects becoming quite sizeable. For example, contracts will be awarded to firms to evaluate physician sites for EMR deployment. Assuming that number would at least be equal to REC employment, it translates into 200 REC or REC-contracted jobs.
  • Hospital job creation will bring in even higher numbers. Assuming that hospitals add 5-10 people per hospital for support, it would be conservative to put the average increase for 200 hospitals to be 1,000 jobs.
  • Regional HIEs associated with HIE development would probably average around 20-30 FTEs per region; a state with a 13-million population base would activate around 100-200 FTEs. 
  • Lastly the vendor spillover in terms of service needs should be considered as new jobs. Services include electronic medical record companies, hosting companies, and training companies. The average FTE per EMR installation for all of these functions is 2-4 FTEs. Assuming they complete about 10-12 installations per team per year, 2000 implementations would mean another 400-800 jobs.