The Future of the Healthcare Workforce: What is next for workers in Analytics, Informatics, and the Evolution of Work in Healthcare

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, the convergence of analytics, digital transformation, and workforce dynamics is creating unprecedented opportunities and challenges. At the heart of what is expected to transform the patient and provider experience are healthcare analytics, digital health technologies, and the adoption of next-generation health informatics.

Here, I aim to clarify key trends, and data organizations can leverage to support their workforce as these changes unfold.

The Pulse of the Healthcare Workforce

- Healthcare Workforce Overview: The U.S. healthcare system has over 59 million employees, with over a trillion dollars in annual payroll. Despite this, our country's hospitals face severe staffing shortages, reflecting the sector's expansive reach and the urgency of healthcare technology in aiding efficiency and access. Over 70 percent of workers in healthcare are women, but only 32 percent at senior, C-suite levels.

- Growth Trends: The sector witnessed a 20% growth from 2006 to 2016, adding 2.8 million jobs. The coming decade is expected to welcome an additional 2.4 million new jobs, signaling a robust 16% growth rate, outpacing the national average. Despite these promising numbers, challenges such as workforce attrition, particularly in lower-paying roles, underscore the urgent need for strategic workforce planning and development.

- Geographic variation: 9.7 million people currently work in low-paying jobs in the sector, like home health aides, and the need will continue to rise for the next five years. But at the current rate, more than 6.5 million workers will leave in that time frame, while less than 2 million will fill their spots. California and New York are expected to suffer the greatest hits, with each state projected to lose half a million workforce members by 2026.

- Demographic pressures: The aging U.S. population and the retirement of current workers are expected to generate significant job opportunities, with a 32% job growth projected for medical and health services managers between 2020 and 2030.

Deciphering Back-Office and Technical Roles

Back-office roles in healthcare, often overshadowed by their clinical counterparts, are the backbone supporting healthcare operations. These positions, ranging from administrative assistants to IT specialists, are pivotal in ensuring the seamless functioning of healthcare organizations.

- Salary disparities: Salaries for back-office jobs can vary widely depending on the industry and specific job duties. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for administrative assistants was $40,990 as of May 2020, while the median annual salary for accountants and auditors was $73,560

- IT and Health Informatics: Specialized IT roles within healthcare, such as web developers, IT technicians, and database administrators, are vital in managing the technological infrastructure critical for modern healthcare delivery. Similarly, health informatics, employing approximately 416,400 professionals as of 2020, is set for a 9% growth by 2030, emphasizing the sector's increasing reliance on data and technology for informed decision-making.

- Yes, AI disruption: More than 43% of healthcare executives see automating business processes as a key area for AI investments. This idea has been gaining traction for the last ten years, but actual investments, including efforts to improve digital literacy skills within healthcare organizations, haven't quite caught up

AI is poised to revolutionize back-office healthcare roles, but we're still in the very early stages of understanding how these changes will reshape job roles, workflows, and management. The gap between the potential of AI and the current level of investment and training in digital skills highlights a critical area that requires more focus. Indeed, this might be where more attention and investment are needed to minimize disruption and leverage AI as an opportunity.

Properly addressing this gap not only can improve job quality and experiences for healthcare workers but also enhance patient care, making this area a pivotal point for future developments in healthcare.

The Future of Health Informatics & New Roles

Several promising trends mark the trajectory of health informatics for the next years:

1. Telemedicine and Digital Health adoption and scale: As technology costs decrease, the adoption of telemedicine and digital health platforms is expected to rise, fueled by the pandemic and the digital preferences of younger consumers. The most significant growth in adoption was among digital health tools that aid in remote care. The percentage of physicians using tele-visits/virtual visits grew from 14% in 2016 to 80% in 2022 while the percentage of physicians using remote monitoring devices grew from 12% in 2016 to 30% in 2022
2. Nursing and Informatics: The integration of informatics in nursing heralds a future where digital tools enhance patient care, education, and administrative efficiency. This can have huge impact in patient safety and access to care, as was the experience at Baptist Health, where Virtual nurses were able to complete 83% of all admission-history documentation. The process?saved?bedside nurses over 3,000 hours of documentation.
3. Addressing Health Disparities: Health informatics is poised to be crucial in mitigating health disparities and leveraging technology to enhance access and outcomes for underserved populations.
4. Consumerization and Interoperability of Healthcare Technologies: The drive towards consumer-friendly healthcare technologies and the need for interoperability among digital health platforms highlight the ongoing transformation towards more integrated, patient-centered care. While great strides have been made for interoperability, there are still substantial challenges with technical skills inside healthcare organizations to leverage data and information for patient care to its full extent.

The evolving landscape of health informatics highlights an imminent shift in healthcare delivery teams' composition. Embracing healthcare informatics across the care continuum demands new skills, effective change management, and innovative thinking.

While the elements for a data-driven care delivery exist, revolutionizing patient care will depend on teams adopting new operational modes, collaborating with novel partners, and placing informatics and data at their core.

Transforming Healthcare Workforce: A Strategic Approach to Training

As artificial intelligence (AI) ushers in sweeping changes and efficiencies in back-office and administrative tasks within healthcare, it simultaneously mandates a significant paradigm shift in training. With the specialized knowledge required in healthcare professions, it becomes imperative to reimagine the training cycle, integrating preskilling and reskilling as foundational elements of workforce development in this sector.

The Need for Preskilling: Before entering the workforce, individuals must be equipped with the skills necessary to navigate the evolving healthcare landscape. By anticipating future skill demands, we can prepare the next generation for the challenges ahead, ensuring a seamless transition into the workforce.

Upskilling: The rapid pace of technological advancement in healthcare necessitates ongoing learning. Investing in upskilling enhances service quality, employee satisfaction, and retention, making it an indispensable strategy for healthcare organizations aiming to maintain relevance and competitiveness.

Reskilling: As the healthcare sector evolves, so do the roles within it. Reskilling offers a path for employees to transition into new roles that align with current and future needs, ensuring the workforce remains agile and capable of meeting the demands of a dynamic industry.

A Proactive Approach to Workforce Development Success in these areas requires a proactive and strategic approach from healthcare systems and plans. This means not only identifying future skills needs but also fostering a culture that values and supports continuous professional development.

The future of healthcare is intrinsically linked to our collective ability to adapt and grow through preskilling, upskilling, and reskilling. This comprehensive approach to training is not just about meeting immediate needs but about envisioning and preparing for the future landscape of healthcare.

As AI continues to redefine the roles and operations within healthcare, the focus on advanced training and development presents an optimistic pathway.

Organizations that prioritize this focus stand to not only navigate the transition successfully but also to revolutionize the care experience, leveraging AI as a catalyst for improvement and innovation.

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This article is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health industry reports, and current healthcare employment and technology trends studies.