This year 44% of healthcare IT leaders plan to increase contingent IT hiring, up from 42% who planned to increase contingent hiring in 2015, according to a TEKsystems’ healthcare IT survey. Also, 54% plan to keep temporary hiring the same, up from 52% in 2015, while 2% plan to decrease contingent IT staff, compared to 6% last year.

Additionally, 48% plan to increase hiring for full-time IT staff in 2016, up from 43% in 2015; 49% expect hiring to stay the same, down from 52%; and 3% plan to decrease hiring, down from 5%.

The survey also asked about the approximate makeup of current IT departments. In 2016, departments comprised 76% full-time IT staff and 24% contingent IT staff, similar to 75% and 25% respectively in 2015.

The survey found 62% of healthcare IT leaders expect salaries to increase IT staff working on security, 58% for project managers and 55% for programmers and developers.

The report also found 41% of respondents expect their organization’s healthcare IT budget to increase in 2016, down from 51% who said the same entering 2015 and the lowest percentage since TEKsystems’ first annual IT forecast survey for 2013. Despite this deceleration, nearly seven out of 10 IT leaders express confidence in their ability to satisfy overall organizational IT demands.

“The forecast results speak to the cyclical nature of IT investments healthcare organizations have undertaken over the past several years,” said Ryan Skains, executive director of TEKsystems Healthcare Services. “In 2014, regulatory changes drove spending up, but now healthcare leaders have grown past the threshold of building applications or interoperability coding and are looking to get a return on investment. Despite reports that there will be fewer budget increases this year, confidence is at a historical high.”

TEKsystems, part of the Allegis Group, is the largest IT staffing firm in the US.