Healthcare IT Staffing Is Broken. Here’s What CIOs Need Instead

By Dan Schubert, CEO & Co-Founder of Revuud

Healthcare IT projects rarely stall because of technology. They stall because leaders can’t consistently access the right expertise.

That’s one of the clearest takeaways from a recent conversation on This Week Health featuring Joe Longo, Chief Digital & Information Officer at Parkland Health, and Eric Utzinger, CCO & Co-Founder of Revuud. Their discussion surfaced a reality many healthcare IT leaders know all too well:

The traditional healthcare IT staffing model is no longer built for how modern health systems actually operate.

Between AI initiatives, EHR optimization, cybersecurity priorities, analytics projects, and nonstop operational demands, healthcare IT teams need access to specialized talent faster and with more flexibility than ever before.

And yet, many organizations are still relying on staffing models that were built for a different era.

Quick Answer: What Is Healthcare IT Staffing?

Healthcare IT staffing is the process of sourcing specialized technology talent to support healthcare organizations with initiatives like EHR implementation, cybersecurity, analytics, system optimization, infrastructure, and digital transformation.

That talent may be brought in for:

• short-term projects
• part-time support
• specialized implementations
• staff augmentation
• or long-term strategic initiatives

But while the need for healthcare IT staffing continues to grow, the way many organizations access that talent hasn’t kept up.

What Is Healthcare IT Staffing?

Healthcare IT staffing refers to how health systems, hospitals, and provider organizations find and engage technology professionals to support critical IT functions.

That can include roles such as:

• EHR consultants
• application analysts
• project managers
• cybersecurity specialists
• data and analytics experts
• interoperability consultants
• ERP and revenue cycle specialists
• infrastructure and cloud resources
• AI and automation experts

Some organizations hire these professionals as full-time employees. Others engage them as consultants or contractors for a specific project, timeline, or workload need.

And that distinction matters.

Because for many healthcare organizations, the need isn’t always:

“We need a full-time person for the next 3 years.”

More often, it’s:

“We need someone with this exact expertise for the next 8 weeks.”

That’s where healthcare IT staffing becomes essential.

Why Healthcare IT Staffing Matters More Than Ever

Healthcare IT has become one of the most complex operating environments in the enterprise.

It’s no longer just about keeping systems online or supporting the help desk.

Today’s healthcare IT leaders are being asked to simultaneously support:

• AI adoption
• EHR optimization
• cybersecurity hardening
• digital front door initiatives
• interoperability projects
• analytics modernization
• operational efficiency programs
• vendor transitions
• and ongoing support for mission-critical systems

At the same time, many teams are dealing with targeted skill shortages, not just general staffing shortages.

That’s an important distinction.

As Joe Longo shared during the conversation, the challenge isn’t simply “we need more people.” It’s that healthcare organizations often need very specific expertise at very specific moments in time.

And that’s where the traditional model starts to break.

Why Traditional Healthcare IT Staffing Often Falls Short

For years, healthcare IT staffing has largely been handled through traditional staffing firms and staff augmentation vendors.

And to be fair, those firms still serve a purpose.

But many healthcare CIOs are starting to realize the model comes with real friction.

1. The same talent often shows up through multiple firms

One of the frustrations discussed in the interview was something many healthcare leaders have experienced:

You request help for a role… and then receive the same resume from multiple staffing firms, often at different price points.

That creates confusion, slows decision-making, and makes the process feel less strategic than it should.

2. Talent quality is inconsistent

Joe put it well: traditional staffing is often “individual-based,” not company-based.

In other words, you may work with the same firm and get:

• two excellent consultants
• and one complete miss

That doesn’t always mean the firm is bad. It just reflects the reality that healthcare IT staffing has historically been built around brokering individuals, not creating a transparent, repeatable talent strategy.

3. Transparency is limited

In many traditional staffing relationships, organizations don’t have clear visibility into:

• what the consultant is actually charging
• how much markup is being added
• who else is available
• or whether they’re really seeing the best-fit talent

That matters, especially in an environment where healthcare IT leaders are under pressure to move quickly and manage budgets responsibly.

4. The process is often too slow for modern project demands

Healthcare IT needs are increasingly fast-moving and specialized.

When you need someone for:

• a 6-week optimization sprint
• a 12-week implementation
• a short-term analytics project
• or a targeted AI initiative

…the old “submit resumes and wait” model starts to feel painfully inefficient.

“This is not aligning with the right partner. It’s aligning with the right individual for the need at the time.”— Joe Longo, CIO at Parkland Health

Why Health Systems Can’t Solve This with FTE Hiring Alone

A common question is: Why not just hire more full-time employees?

The short answer: because many healthcare IT needs are temporary, partial, or highly specialized.

Joe described this especially well in the conversation.

At any given time, health systems may have 100+ IT projects running simultaneously, each requiring different levels of support across different skill sets and phases.

That means leaders often aren’t trying to solve for:

• one full-time role
• one large implementation
• or one simple staffing gap

They’re trying to solve for realities like:

• 10 hours a week of specialized support here
• 20 hours a week of project support there
• a short-term need for a niche Epic or Cerner expert
• a consultant who can help get a project over the finish line

And in those situations, hiring a full-time employee often doesn’t make sense.

Healthcare IT staffing is no longer just about filling seats.

It’s about precision access to expertise.

What’s Changing in Healthcare IT Staffing Right Now

One of the most important themes from the interview was this:

Healthcare IT work itself is changing

Many of today’s initiatives are:

• faster
• more agile
• more modular
• and more specialized than the enterprise projects of the past

Instead of only seeing 18-month “rip and replace” initiatives, teams are increasingly supporting:

• shorter implementation cycles
• targeted optimization work
• AI-related deployments
• fast-moving pilots
• and point-in-time transformation efforts

Joe noted that these projects are often hitting faster and requiring very specific resources for a finite period of time.

That means the staffing model has to evolve too.

What Modern Healthcare IT Staffing Should Look Like

If traditional healthcare IT staffing is increasingly misaligned with how health systems operate, what should replace it?

The answer isn’t necessarily “never use staffing firms again.”

The better answer is:

Healthcare organizations need more flexible, transparent ways to access and manage specialized IT expertise.

That includes a few important shifts.

1. More direct access to talent

Instead of relying entirely on intermediaries, hiring managers increasingly want the ability to:

• evaluate talent directly
• ask their own questions
• assess fit themselves
• and move faster when they find the right person

That creates more confidence in the match and reduces unnecessary friction.

2. More transparency around cost

Healthcare IT leaders need visibility into:

• what talent costs
• what they’re paying for
• and how to make smarter resourcing decisions upfront

That kind of transparency becomes especially important when budgets are tight and every engagement needs to be justified.

3. More flexibility in engagement models

Not every need requires:

• 40 hours a week
• a 6-month contract
• or a traditional staffing relationship

Sometimes the right answer is:

• 10 hours a week
• 20 hours a week
• or a short-term engagement with a highly specialized expert

Modern healthcare IT staffing should support that reality.

4. The ability to build a reusable talent bench

This is one of the biggest strategic shifts.

Instead of restarting the staffing process from scratch every time a need comes up, healthcare organizations should be able to build and revisit a known network of trusted external experts.

That creates:

• more speed
• more continuity
• less onboarding friction
• and better long-term workforce flexibility

What Healthcare CIOs Need Instead

The bigger takeaway from this conversation is that healthcare IT staffing shouldn’t be treated like a one-off procurement exercise.

It should be treated like a workforce strategy.

That means moving from a model centered around:

• resume submission
• vendor gatekeeping
• inconsistent pricing
• and one-size-fits-all staffing structures

…to a model centered around:

• transparency
• flexibility
• direct access
• and better control over how specialized talent is engaged

That shift is becoming more important as healthcare IT leaders are asked to do more with less while still keeping projects moving.

And for many organizations, that’s exactly why the old model is starting to feel harder and harder to defend.

A Better Model for Healthcare IT Staffing

In the This Week Health conversation, Joe Longo described how his team didn’t force a wholesale shift overnight.

Instead, they introduced another option.

They gave hiring managers more visibility and more flexibility, then let them choose what worked best for their needs.

Over time, usage naturally increased toward the more transparent, flexible model because it better matched how real healthcare IT work gets done.

That’s an important point.

The future of healthcare IT staffing likely isn’t about replacing every existing model with one new one.

It’s about giving healthcare organizations better options for when the traditional approach doesn’t fit.

And increasingly, that’s happening more often than many teams realize.

Final Thoughts

Healthcare IT staffing is still essential, but the way organizations access specialized IT talent is changing.

The teams that adapt fastest will be the ones that stop thinking about staffing as a transactional process and start thinking about it as a strategic operating capability.

Because in today’s environment, access to the right expertise is no longer a nice-to-have.

It’s part of how healthcare organizations keep projects moving, reduce delays, and execute at the pace modern healthcare demands.

Watch the Full Conversation

Want the full conversation? Watch the interview featuring Joe Longo, Eric Utzinger, and Bill Russell from This Week Health to hear the full discussion on how healthcare IT staffing is evolving.

Watch the Interview

If you’re exploring a more flexible, transparent way to access healthcare IT talent, you can also learn more at www.revuud.com.

FAQs

What is healthcare IT staffing?

Healthcare IT staffing is the process of sourcing specialized technology professionals to support healthcare organizations with projects like EHR implementation, cybersecurity, analytics, infrastructure, and digital transformation.

What roles are included in healthcare IT staffing?

Healthcare IT staffing often includes EHR consultants, application analysts, project managers, cybersecurity specialists, interoperability experts, data analysts, ERP consultants, and infrastructure resources.

What’s the difference between healthcare IT staffing and staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation is one form of healthcare IT staffing. It typically refers to adding external resources to support an internal team, often for a specific project or short-term need.

Why are healthcare CIOs rethinking traditional staffing firms?

Many healthcare CIOs are looking for more transparency, more flexibility, faster access to specialized expertise, and more control over how external talent is sourced and managed.

When should a health system use contract IT talent instead of hiring full-time employees?

Contract or project-based healthcare IT talent is often a better fit when the need is specialized, short-term, part-time, or tied to a specific initiative rather than an ongoing full-time function.

How can healthcare organizations build a more flexible IT workforce?

Healthcare organizations can build a more flexible IT workforce by combining full-time employees with trusted external experts who can be engaged quickly for targeted needs, specialized projects, and fluctuating capacity demands.

About the Author

Dan Schubert is the CEO of Revuud, an AI-powered platform that helps healthcare organizations find, engage, and manage specialized IT talent. With deep experience working alongside healthcare IT leaders, Dan focuses on helping CIOs build more flexible, transparent, and scalable approaches to managing external IT consultants. His perspective centers on improving how health systems access expertise to execute critical initiatives faster.