Leverage your network: a strategy to make the Stimulus Plan work for you…
It is possible to make lemonade…A familiar ingredient in the refreshing alternative to economic woe: the Business section of your local newspaper…
- Today it is the Philadelphia Inquirer that offers a glimpse into what's happening in the regional job market. The article that attracted my attention refers to the Information Technology (IT) efficiencies that are funded in the 2009 Economic Stimulus Package. Read the full article in the Philadelphia Inquirer to learn more about the $2 billion in loans and grants, plus $17 billion in Medicare reimbursement for health-related IT spending.
- So what, you may ask…WIIFY (What's in it for you?) - Good question… These funds are targeted to go to doctors, medical practices, and hospitals – those who need to adopt the IT efficiencies called for to improve our health care system. These are small businesses who are likely to hire outside consultants to implement these changes to their business models.
- A local employer poised to benefit from this legislation is NextGen Healthcare Information Systems Inc., a medical-records-system provider owned by California-based Quality Systems Inc. that employs 500 at its Horsham headquarters.
- Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D., Phila) wrote the new legislation that steered the funds toward practitioners rather than insurance companies. Financial incentives to doctors and hospitals will be available as early as October 2010, so these small businesses will be looking for guidance ASAP.
Another ingredient in the lemonade is networking: conduct online and off-line networking to find partners, perform competitive analysis, and identify links to decision-makers…
- Lots of information available is available on this topic – see the archives of Career Acceleration Notes, as well as recommended websites and blogs
- If you missed-it, read or listen to the NPR Marketplace report on Social Networks and Layoffs
- A few key points from the NPR program: * Hyper-networking combines online and off line networking *Jobs are not being posted *Decision-makers are using Google in-place of gossip to vet prospects
Posted by Karen P. Katz
