Healthcare industry remains hot with electronic records playing HUGE role

Healthcare continues to be a prime source of job growth throughout the United States, with employment projections in the near future to remain as healthy as healed patients. Of the top five fastest-growing industries across the country in 2012, healthcare ranked first or second in seven of nine regions, never falling below third in the others, according to Fierce Enterprise Communications. In addition, Bureau of Labor Statistics predictions expect to see see another 20.5 million jobs created in the industry through 2020, with healthcare support, personal services, social assistance and health care practitioners each to see sectional growth of at least 25 percent. Of the industry's total jobs, at least 2.5 percent are expected to be directly linked to electronic health records and similar information technology positions, according to EHR Intelligence. The technology has actually been limited by a lack of skilled applicants, according to a survey from Industrial Relations- nearly half of EHR participants in a recent survey reported delaying projects in lack of a qualified candidate, while a full 75 percent revealed they needed to outsource the work itself.