"They're working in the marketing department, HR, sales, distribution, logistics, finance and accounting. They're working in product development," Foote said. "They're out there building product and making money for the company."

Lt. Col. Eric McClung, CIO for the U.S. Army's Pacific Regional Medical Command (PRMC), said that instead of looking for technologists, he often looks for healthcare workers who'd like to move into IT because it's easier to overlay technical skills on someone with a healthcare background than the other way around.

"Healthcare's a little more challenging," he said. "As it relates to the informatics workforce, just get me an interesting, willing person with a healthcare background and my organization will overlay the IT knowledge required."

For McClung, having a professional organization such as HIMSS and CHIME is invaluable because of the CIO skill sets he gains -- everything from vendor management to peer networking. McClung laments the fact that leadership over his command changes every two to three years, so being able to stay connected to the outside community of healthcare professionals through professional organizations keeps him abreast of the latest technologies and workflow practices.

Keith Fraidenburg, vice president of education & communications at CHIME, agreed that IT workers with business knowledge are more in demand, particularly for leadership positions.