As a previous owner of an HIT consulting firm, and the current owner of Healthcare IT specific job boards, one of the questions I am routinely asked is the difference between EPIC Certification and EPIC Credentials.

As the Healthcare IT Consultant and Hiring markets have been white hot recently, EPIC consultants and employees have been in high demand for quite some time.  EPIC Systems offers software for a wide variety of clinical application.  Healthcare IT employees and consultants can become certified or credentialed in many different applications.  Here is the list from EPIC’s website:

•Ambulatory EMR

•Connecting Independent Physicians

•Connectivity

•Departments and Ancillaries

•EHR Certification

•Enterprise Reporting

•Haiku

•Inpatient Clinicals

•Integrated Foundation

•Interoperability

•Managed Care

•PHRs & Portals

•Practice Management

•Reg/ADT & Hospital Billing

•Specialties

Obviously, there are differences between certification and credentials.

EPIC Credentialing

Getting EPIC credentialed enables you to become an EPIC trainer. The credentialing process requires you to train with EPIC or an affiliated provider of EPIC services. Unlike EPIC certification, EPIC credentials are only valid for the institution for which you’re credentialed. If you move on to another institution, you have to become re-credentialed. The process requires not only training, but that you actually present sample lessons and gain EPIC’s approval.

EPIC Certification

EPIC certification is a somewhat complex process. Because there’s such a dynamic learning curve for EPIC software, you must spend several weeks in training (how many weeks depend on which EPIC discipline you choose). You may have to travel to Wisconsin to be trained at EPIC’s headquarters. Additionally, you’ll have to periodically get continuing education to ensure you’re on top of the latest changes and updates. However, once you’re EPIC certified, you can take that certification with you to any institution for which you decide to seek employment. You must be certified separately in each application, and you may want to choose multiple disciplines to make yourself more marketable.

Whether you choose credentialing or certification, the process will likely take several months. However, gaining one of these valuable designations is the first step to a financially and professionally rewarding career.

You can check out our current EPIC openings here.

Why visit the mainstream job boards that offer careers for every occupation?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your ONE job board designed with YOU and only YOU in mind?

Well, we’ve done it!

Now not only do we have the fastest growing Healthcare IT Consulting Job Board, HIT Consulting Jobs, for those Health IT Professionals wanting to do consulting work; we just launched HIT Perm Jobs for the Health IT Professional who wants to be an employee of a hospital or health system without the travel!

If you are a consultant, please visit us at www.hitconsultingjobs.com.

If you are an employee seeking long-term jobs, please visit us at www.hitpermjobs.com

You spoke, we listened.  We developed these sites to grow with YOU and for YOU! Visit us today; register, upload your resume and come along with us for your continued success!

Healthcare IT Employers, we listened: Hospitals, Health Systems, Recruiting and Consulting Firms.

You said you didn’t want to visit multiple sites in order to find Health IT Consultants or Perm Employees, or both; well now you don’t have too! HIT Consulting Jobs created its sister job board, HIT Perm Jobs, with you in mind. Two separate and distinct sites to attract the “right” talent, but only one Username, Password, and Account to utilize both!!

Whether you need Healthcare IT Consultants or Healthcare IT Employees, we have the job board(s) for you! *Contact us today to find out about trial postings on both sites!

-Sheila Rogers

Sheila Rogers is Founder and CEO of HIT Consulting Jobs and HIT Perm Jobs.  She can be reached at 214-929-8959, or via email at sheila@hitpermjobs.com.

Have you ever thought of using a video resume for landing one of your next Health It Jobs?

Usually spanning one to three minutes long, a video resume can be an excellent complement to a traditional resume. It allows job applicants to highlight certain skills such as leadership, presentation, and creative abilities. Video resumes are commonly circulated in professions that are influenced by appearances, such as singing, dancing, and acting. However, they are now successfully being used in more conventional fields like Information Technology, and more even specialized groups like Healthcare Information Technology.

Today, quality digital recording devices are readily available, making a video resume couldn’t be easier.

Here are some of the advantages of a video resume for a consultant:

• You can review a consultant’s communication skills

• You will see how a consultant presents their technical skills orally

• You will learn about a consultant’s personality

Here are some of the advantages of a video resume for a Hiring Manager:

• It may open doors to a targeted employer

• It can set you apart from other potential consultants

• It may move forward a stalled phone interview process

A video resume IS NOT a replacement to a written one, but will complement a written resume nicely. Click on

www.hitconsultingjobs.com

to upload your video resume.

-Sheila

Sheila Rogers is Founder and CEO of HIT Consulting Jobs.  She can be reached at sheila@hitconsultingjobs.com.

<Brian Hudson from Kforce Healthcare submitted this blog to be published.  I think it is great.  I hope you do also.  Thanks, Brian! – Sheila>

Having spent time in many healthcare demand markets, primarily on the clinical side…it is exciting to be involved in the HIM and Revenue Cycle Management side of the Healthcare profession. It is also unique to see how C-Level leaders and Revenue Cycle professionals are attacking the impending coder shortage and technology changes ahead.

Many factors play into the continued coder shortage, including ICD-10, demographics of an aging coder population, and technology and QA requirements that have pushed many coding professionals to the side.

I often discuss the pros and cons of different strategies that face Healthcare executives in managing the impending coder shortage. Since reimbursement risks affect all parties in the healthcare service supply chain, Executives are faced with two choices on how to proceed with their human capital plan to support implementation and execution:

1. Choose to focus on developing in-house capabilities
2. Outsource coding to a trusted partner

As successful risk managers, many executives do not realize the risk or cost of trying to develop in-house capabilities. Not until there are issues and lost revenues with poor coding, backlog of DNFB, or other concerns do executives begin to see the significant investment of time and resources with no guarantee of on-time delivery or success. Recruiting, hiring, managing, training and retaining coders in this time of rapid change has never been so difficult or COSTLY. Healthcare organizations are not structured to support rising salaries or market demands that are occurring in the HIM space. This is especially true with productivity declines that will put added burden on healthcare executives responsible for reimbursement and revenue cycle.

Productivity will be stalled or decline every time there is staff attrition or while employees are learning proper coding in ICD-10. The learning curve will be quite a journey – almost a “learn as you go” scenario. With ICD-10’s expanded code set there is more to know and consider creating significant billing and patient issues. Michael Arrigo, Managing Partner of No World Borders states that “One of the most important risk mitigation strategies for ICD-10 will be choosing and empowering leaders. We need to help leaders make the business case for dealing with ICD01- as an innovation and quality improvement program as well as a regulatory compliance effort.”

In my work with leading healthcare executives who are facing the coder shortage, they value a specialist like Kforce Healthcare who can provide a solution to managing the impending coder shortage. It is ironic that in an industry like healthcare – that is so specialized, that often outsourcing or specialization is looked down upon as a necessary evil. According to Veronica Hoy, “Outsourcing may seem like a more expensive alternative, but it’s important to consider the value of this type of expertise. When you factor in costs of benefits, training, retention strategies, investment in training resources, productivity loss, attrition and the opportunity costs of lost time, outsourcing emerges as a potentially more economical and value-added alternative.”

Leaders need to have a forward thinking approach to ICD-10 implementation and the reality of the coder shortage and productivity drains that will arise. Many successful leaders are already utilizing the expertise and specialization available to them in the market and investing accordingly. These leaders have adopted a strategy of success for the whole organization – not just a plan to get it done. In the white paper produced by the ACHE – Cost Cutting in Health Systems Without Compromising Quality – it is pointed out that “challenging times require leadership to both create the changes needed in the new environment and to keep the organization steady in its pursuit of its noble mission”. Having a specialist and a partner such as Kforce Healthcare can ensure a successful mission.

-Brian Hudson / Kforce Healthcare / October 2011

I ran across an article the other day that scared me.  Ponemon Institute LLC, sponsored by Informatica, surveyed 462 IT personnel working for U.S.-based healthcare organizations concerning the use of real data in the development and testing environment.  Some of the statistics they discovered were alarming, including:

• despite the sensitivity of real data used for application development and testing, the majority of organizations do not protect it
• many healthcare organizations admit real data has been lost or stolen
• the main consequences of the data loss or theft were:

• disruption to operations – 59%;
• regulatory action – 56%;
• reputation loss – 36%;
• lawsuits – 15%;
• revenue loss – 15%; and
• patient or customer turnover – 14%.

And while 38% admit to losing real data - 78% of healthcare organizations would not know if sensitive data was lost or stolen! Wow!

I have attached a link to the results here.

-Sheila Rogers

Sheila is Founder and CEO of HIT Consulting Jobs.  She can be reached at 214-929-8959, or via email at Sheila@hitconsultingjobs.com.