Electronic Health Reporter

Healthcare jobs are plentiful, and at least through 2024, the demand for healthcare professionals, such as nurses, anesthesiologists and physicians, will only continue to rise.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that healthcare jobs are “expected to have the fastest employment growth and to add the most jobs between 2014 and 2024.” Given the healthcare industry’s propensity for increased growth, hospitals need to embrace scalable IT—for their own sake and for the sake of their patients.

Fortunately, there are options.

Healthcare organizations increasingly rely on cloud-based IT solutions, and SADA Systems has reported that the number of organizations living in the cloud could be as high as 89 percent. There’s a reason for the high percentage—cloud solutions are safe, scalable and efficient.

Hospital data safety is no small concern.

In 2008, 9.4 percent of hospitals used EHRs. By 2014, the percentage had skyrocketed to 96.9 percent. The switch to digital records was necessary, but in the rush to modernize, hospitals were left more vulnerable to data theft than other industries that had migrated more slowly.

According to Niam Yaraghi, healthcare systems are left with an additional concern. “Hospitals cannot tolerate the consequences of computer lockdowns,” writes Yaraghi. “If Walmart gets attacked, it will likely shut down for a short period of time and fix the issue … hospitals on the other hand, are dealing with patients’ lives.”

Cloud-based IT solutions provide both reliable security and almost nonexistent downtime.

Further arguments for cloud IT include the sheer number of patients hospitals see every year. Hospitals treat 136.3 million patients in the emergency room alone, according to CDC.gov, and believe it or not, that number is growing. Cloud IT accommodates growing demand seamlessly.

The aforementioned surge in healthcare labor will also necessitate a consolidated communications option for employees—cloud solutions provides that as well. With healthcare utilization likely to rise, what are hospitals doing to keep up with the demand? Hospital staffs are growing, medical specialists are gaining more expertise, and healthcare centers are getting exponentially bigger.

Check out the graphic below showing the largest hospitals in each state by number of staffed beds, for some perspective.

For managers, you may want to consider these hospital marketing strategies to expand your operation.