Driven by the growing adoption of advanced technologies like AI, blockchain, IoT, and others, the healthcare sector has transformed tremendously over the last decade. Earlier healthcare professionals used to use only a few medical devices but today they have highly sophisticated software, applications, and solutions to offer personalized treatment, accelerate drug discovery and development, and streamline admin operations.
With the increasing need for such helpful software and applications, the demand for healthcare IT staff augmentation is skyrocketing. Yes, you read that correctly! IT staff augmentation enables healthcare organizations to expand their existing IT teams to meet their specific project (healthcare app or software development) requirements.
Let’s check out this blog to learn about IT staff augmentation in healthcare. From benefits, challenges, and solutions to tips for augmenting healthcare IT professionals, it covers almost everything.
What is IT Staff Augmentation in Healthcare
It is a strategic approach that enables healthcare professionals and organizations to extend their in-house IT teams with external IT professionals to meet their temporary project development requirements. With it, a company can fill skill gaps, scale up or down their development team, boost efficiency, and accelerate time-to-market by quickly completing the healthcare software development project.
IT Staff Augmentation in Healthcare: Market Statistics
IT staff augmentation is highly in demand across various industries, including healthcare. Here are some interesting statistics proving this statement:
- 47% of healthcare companies believe IT staff shortage is one of the key reasons for poor clinical productivity.
- Approximately, 66% of healthcare services providers say a lack of IT staff causes delays in accomplishing daily IT operations.
- IT staff shortages have a direct impact on patient care, hospital operations management, and increased burnout for healthcare service providers.
- According to an online report, the IT staff augmentation market is expected to reach USD 857.2 billion by 2031. This will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.2% from 2024 to 2031.
When Does Your Healthcare Organization Need IT Staff Augmentation?
You might need to augment your existing IT team in the following scenarios:
#1 When You Need Specialized IT Professionals
In case, you want to adopt new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented or virtual reality, blockchain, IoT, or any other technology, you would need an IT expert. And if you don’t have that expertise in your existing team, you might need to go for IT staff augmentation services.
#2 To Ensure Cybersecurity and Compliance
The healthcare industry deals with sensitive patient data that needs to be securely stored. By hiring specialized professionals, like cybersecurity experts, you can implement advanced security measures, conduct regular security audits, and also ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements. IT specialists can also help you with making the most of your patient data to improve patient care, optimizing operations, and supporting research.
Around 59% of healthcare service providers consider cybersecurity as one of the three common challenges healthcare organizations face.
#3 To Manage Fluctuating Workloads and Evolving Project Requirements
Augmenting IT teams or experts to your current IT department can help you manage fluctuating workloads or handle increased demands without requiring you to hire them for a long period. You can scale up or down your IT team by augmenting new staff at any time. It is quite helpful in case of emergency situations, such as Public health crises or unexpected events that can create sudden surges in demand for IT support.
#4 For Cost Optimization
IT staff augmentation for healthcare eliminates the requirement for hiring full-time IT experts for which an organization needs to invest extra. In the case of IT staff hiring, the company can simply use a pay-as-you-go model. Healthcare staff augmentation services offered by a renowned technology company also ensure faster onboarding so that the experts can quickly start their work of addressing critical IT needs and accelerating project timelines.
#5 To Fulfill Talent Gaps
The healthcare industry is continuously evolving; for any organization that wants to run its operations smoothly while ensuring updated tech infrastructure, it is imperative to have experts with proficiency in advanced technologies. IT staff augmentation provides access to a wider pool of talent. It also provides temporary coverage when in-house IT staff members are on leave or when there are open positions.
Also Read: Project Outsourcing vs. Staff Augmentation: Which Staffing Model is Right for Startups?
6 Major Benefits of IT Staff Augmentation in Healthcare
IT staff augmentation in healthcare is just like adding specialized skills to your IT teams. It renders immense benefits that are as follows:
#1 Cost-Effectiveness
When you choose to augment the IT team of your healthcare organization, you only have to pay for the service you need. For instance, if you need an AI specialist only to develop and train an AI model for your healthcare software, there is no need to hire an in-house expert. You have to pay as you go and don’t need to worry about salaries, benefits, and training. It reduces the overhead required for setting up additional office space, equipment, and other infrastructure.
#2 Direct Access to Specialized Skills
Healthcare IT needs specialized professionals who have in-depth knowledge of EHR systems, telemedicine, remote platforms, data analytics, and cybersecurity. Healthcare IT staff augmentation provides direct access to specialized developers or experts without worrying about the lengthy recruitment process and the cost involved with the same.
#3 Flexibility and Scalability
With temporary IT staffing, healthcare companies can quickly scale their IT teams up or down to meet their evolving project needs. It ensures you have the right resources at the right time. This type of augmentation also eliminates the hassle for healthcare companies to get involved in long-term contracts.
#4 Boosts Efficiency and Maximizes Productivity
Augmenting IT teams for healthcare reduces the burden on your existing IT team and allows them to focus on core responsibilities and strategic initiatives. It also leads to faster project completion as the hired IT staff utilize their expertise to perform complex jobs, which would otherwise take a lot of time.
#5 Adherence to Data Security and Compliance
Healthcare companies deal with large amounts of confidential patient data. By augmenting your existing IT teams with cybersecurity experts, you can ensure top-level security. These experts implement robust security measures and data encryption techniques to ensure compliance with regulations like HIPAA and GDPR.
Read More: The Importance of Data Privacy and Security in Healthcare Apps
#6 Streamlined Operations
By augmenting the right IT experts for your healthcare, you can ensure well-managed operations, which can make healthcare services more accessible and ensure streamlined internal operations. It can also improve patient care with efficient and easy access to patient records and telehealth services while providing data analytics for designing personalized treatment plans and informed decision-making.
You May Also be Interested in: Flexible Staffing vs Recruitment – Which is Beneficial for Your Company
Challenges You Might Face While Augmenting IT Staff in Healthcare
Healthcare organizations planning for IT staff augmentation may experience the following bottlenecks:
#1 Difficulty with Team Integration
The augmented experts may take a lot of time to integrate with your in-house team. This integration is necessary to understand your company’s workflow, way of working, and efficient project development or management.
Solution: To overcome this challenge, it is crucial you hire IT staff from a reputed IT staff augmentation company. Moreover, provide the hired experts with proper training as a part of the onboarding process.
#2 Lack of Communication
Differences in language, unclear management directives, and technical jargon can cause errors and misinterpretations. It can impact the performance of your augmented IT staff.
Solution: Address this challenge by establishing clear communication channels, ensuring a shared understanding of project requirements, and promoting open communication.
#3 Inability to Maintain Data Security and Compliance
The next big challenge associated with IT staff augmentation in healthcare is not being able to maintain the required data security standards and compliance defined by the organization.
Solution: An effective solution to this problem is that your current IT staff should provide security training, oversee data handling, and enforce strict access controls for the newly augmented staff.
#4 Working for the Same Goal
A healthcare organization that chooses to augment its IT team with experts may find it challenging to ensure the newly hired staff understands long-term organizational objectives and works together with the existing team to achieve those goals.
Solution: Ask your in-house team to conduct training sessions to ensure augmented staff understand and contribute to the company’s broader goals.
#5 Differences in Time Zones
Augmented IT staff working in a different time zone can create a roadblock to open and real-time collaboration and communication.
Solution: You can try scheduling meetings during overlapping work hours and utilize highly efficient project management tools to ensure receiving regular updates and assigning and tracking tasks.
Also Read: Direct Hire vs. Contract Hire vs. Freelance Hire: Which is Better for Businesses?
Quick Tips for Choosing the Right IT Staff Augmentation Company
Here are some tips to keep in mind before you extend your existing healthcare IT team:
- Clearly outline the technical skills, experience, and domain expertise you are looking for.
- Mention the project duration, team size, and the duration of involvement you expect from the IT team.
- Focus on how well the augmented IT staff can fit into your business culture.
- Research and shortlist reputed companies that offer trusted IT staffing services. For this, check the company’s portfolio and case studies. Also, review their client testimonials.
- Verify what communication channels the company uses to facilitate smooth collaboration between the client and IT staff.
- Check what’s the process the company follows to source, screen, and evaluate its IT experts’ expertise.
- Ask about the onboarding process that needs to be followed for augmenting their IT staff.
- Ask them what project management methodology they use.
- Ensure the company is conversant with the latest data privacy regulations and compliance.
- Make sure the company prioritizes data security and privacy. Ask them about the techniques they use for the same.
- Consider a company that offers the flexibility to scale up or down the team to meet your evolving project requirements.
- Thoroughly review the company’s terms of contract.
- Choose the one that provides you value and maximizes ROI.
What Specialist You Can Hire to Augment Your IT Team?
Depending on your specific IT team requirements, you can hire any IT specialist for your healthcare organization. From .net, Java, Golang, Python, Blockchain, AI, ML, Generative AI
React Native, Flutter, iOS, Android, Cloud, Azure, to AWS, DevOps, and Data, you can extend your IT team by hiring an expert from a reputed service provider.
Bonus Content
Let’s take a look at the top technologies that you can integrate into your healthcare applications, software, and solutions that can streamline your processes, offer healthcare services, and improve patient care.
Blockchain in Healthcare
Integrating this technology into healthcare can help you enhance data security and privacy, improve interoperability, streamline tracking of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, simplify claims processing, and ensure patient-centric management of healthcare services.
AI in Healthcare
With artificial intelligence integration in healthcare and augmenting IT staff with AI expertise, you can improve diagnostics, personalize healthcare services, accelerate drug discovery and development, and offer automated support services by virtual assistants.
IoT in Healthcare
Augment IT staff with IoT expertise to ensure remote patient monitoring, build smart hospitals, improve medication adherence, get real-time insights, and offer immediate response to emergency situations.
AR/VR in Healthcare
IT Staff with expertise in augmented reality and virtual reality can enable your healthcare professionals to do surgical training and planning efficiently. These technologies can also help in offering virtual physical therapies and educating patients about their medical conditions and treatment options.
Cloud Computing in Healthcare
Make your healthcare solutions and applications accessible to everyone by augmenting your IT team with cloud experts. Leveraging AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platforms, these experts enhance data security and ensure scalability and flexibility while reducing costs significantly.
Predictive Analytics in Healthcare
When you augment IT staff with predictive analytics expertise, you can identify patients at high risk for developing certain conditions. The derived analytics can also help with predicting disease outbreaks, personalizing treatment plans, and optimizing resources in a better way.
Metaverse in Healthcare
Extend your IT team with developers who are proficient in Metaverse technology to facilitate immersive and interactive virtual consultations, offer medical training, educate healthcare professionals, and treat mental health conditions.
To implement all these technologies, you can augment dedicated IT staff.
Conclusion
IT staff augmentation is the talk of the town in almost every industry, including healthcare. It enables healthcare organizations to fill their talent gaps, get seamless access to specialized IT skills, ensure data security and compliance within the organization, and enjoy ample other benefits.
Give this blog a quick read to understand these benefits in detail, take a look at some interesting statistics, know when to go for IT staff augmentation, and a lot more. If you wish to augment your IT team with top-notch and highly experienced professionals, we have provided a dedicated section covering the tips to consider before getting IT staff augmentation services from any company.
