CIOs on Facing 2024 Challenges: Hire Contractors and Invest in Automation (Part 2)

CIOs continue to grapple with insufficient resources for complicated IT initiatives and they're adding more top challenges to the list. For the third year running, insufficient resources have been named a top challenge for healthcare IT organizations on our online survey of healthcare executives, all CHIME (College of Healthcare Information Management Executives) members. Inconsistent business and IT alignment on technology investments and strategic initiatives with lack of focus are making matters worse. 

The Needs of Healthcare IT Organizations Over Time 

The scope of top ranked challenges continues to grow for health IT leaders.

Partnering remains the top strategy for addressing staffing challenges 

Another year of slim budgets is forcing 66% of CIOs to hire contractors for a specific, short-term project. And 59% report they’ll contract with a partner for partial IT outsourcing to meet the growing demands for technology. More than half will reassign work and reorganize their current IT staff and nearly half are ready to hire remote talent because they can’t find what they need locally. 

• 66%: Hire a contractor for a specific, short-term project 
• 59%: Contract with a partner for partial IT outsourcing  
• 55%: Reassign work or reorganize current IT staff 
• 45%: Hire remote employee because local talent is not readily available 
  

Automation rises to the top for potential to save cost and create efficiency 

CIO priorities for driving cost savings and efficiency per 2023 and 2024 surveys.

CIO worries: 2023 and 2024 comparisons 

In 2024, health IT leaders added these free text responses when asked about additional industry pressures causing them to worry: 

• IT Management Development strategy 
• Vendor cost rising too high for rural health to afford.  3 to 10% annually is not sustainable. 
• Mergers and Acquisitions 
• Push from employees to work remotely and be paid more money 
• As a non-profit organization, we'd like to get more grant money to fill needs 
• Digital transformation 

Versus 2023 concerns

• Burnout 
• Practical use and governance of AI 
• Staying current with all the changes in the healthcare vendor market for products and services and vendor management 
• Post acute EHR vendor offerings are slow to mature and are holding us back 
• Decreased funding and increased appetite 
• Unable to implement fast enough before priorities shift 

The Key Takeaways: 

Given the answers to the most recent survey compared to those of previous years, these are key takeaways. 

• For the five years CereCore has sponsored this survey, cybersecurity, optimization (EHR/EPR and operational), regulatory compliance, and patient engagement have topped the charts.  
• Consider advisory services to expand the capacity of your team. Cybersecurity concerns of today justify new insight in form of advisors and/or intelligence. A cybersecurity strategy without either or both could be difficult to defend in times of disruption. The same is true for revenue cycle management strategy. 
• Consider new and known support models to evolve the maturity of your team. Use new operational concepts such as the clinical service desk and mature concepts such as managed services to focus your organization on core competencies and innovations. 

For more information: 

• For further explanation of the results, download the 2024 CHIME CIO Survey Results Infographic.
• For more findings, see CIOs Rank Top Healthcare IT Priorities and Pressures for 2024 (Part 1).
• Results of the survey in 2023: Part 1 and Part 2 on Managed Services, and a summary infographic. 

*The 2024 online survey and the data reported is based on responses from 29 healthcare executives, all CHIME members, sponsored by CereCore.