ELEVATED IT HEALTH

PEOPLE
One of challenges for many rural organizations is finding and keeping people with certain talents. In the IT industry, 60% of workers were fully remote in 2022, this is an increase from 45% in 2019. In addition, recent surveys suggest that over 1/3 of current IT professionals would leave their non-remote positions for fully remote work. For rural entities with limited resources, the financial pressure of keeping IT resources, who now have more options, gets greater every day.

AVAILABILITY
Even if a rural hospital has a full complement of IT staff, these individuals' availability is often much less than the hospital's 7/24/365 needs. In addition, the range of IT skills needed, both from a strategic and operational perspective, can also be in short supply.

CAPABILITY
For many aspects of healthcare, the IT systems and tools available to address these needs have become more complex and cloud-focused. Burdened by limited funds and limited staff, many rural organization's are falling behind in IT at the same time that IT is growing in importance to their sta and their patients. Add the increased security risks that come with these changes, rural healthcare organizations have much to contemplate and balance in this new environment.

FUNDING
All the challenges above come with more or new costs in a time when budgets are already strained. While there are options for assistance via federal or state programs, efforts to navigate the challenging paths to these sources can deter even the most committed.