"If they come up through clinical, people are seen as more valuable than a displaced IT worker trying to pick up the clinical side of the equation," he said.

Marx's clients have also turned to consultants and adopted creative approaches to hiring.

"One CIO got them from finance. Within six months they can get them up and running," Marx said, noting that some employers see SQL database programming skills as helpful when using products from health IT vendor Cerner.

Even with health care providers looking to increase IT headcounts, hospitals are looking for candidates with training on EHR products from certain companies.

"At least for now organizations are sticking with people with specific vendor package experience. They're not looking at people as interchangeable," Marx said.