Health Law and Regulation

HHS has plans to make available $80 million in grants to help develop and strengthen the HIT workforce. The grants that will be made available include $70 million for community college training programs and $10 million to develop educational materials to support these programs. Both programs will support the immediate need for skilled HIT professionals who will enable the broad adoption and use of HIT throughout the United States.

Authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the grants are the first in a series of programs to help strengthen and support the HIT workforce. Additional details regarding the grant programs for these and other key resource and training areas will be announced over the next several weeks.

The Community College program will establish intensive, non-degree training that can be completed in six months or less by individuals with some background in either healthcare or IT fields. Participating colleges will coordinate their efforts through five regional consortia that span the nation. Graduates of this training will fill a variety of roles that both assist healthcare practices during the critical process of deploying IT systems and support these practices on an ongoing basis. The curriculum development program will make high quality educational materials available to the community colleges so these training programs can be established quickly to meet these workforce needs. Any United States non-profit institution of higher learning currently engaged in providing training in HIT that is interested in drafting curriculum or establishing a consortium that includes community colleges may apply for the grants.

“Ensuring the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), information exchange among healthcare providers and public health authorities, and redesign of workflows within healthcare settings all depend on having a qualified pool of workers,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS’ National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. “The expansion of a highly skilled workforce developed through these programs will help healthcare providers and hospitals implement and maintain EHRs and use them to strengthen delivery of care.” Dr. Blumenthal also added that, “critical to achieving the goal of the Heath Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and supporting meaningful use of HIT is the availability of a skilled workforce that understands the unique technology and management needs within a clinical setting. These newly funded programs are designed to equip the most qualified and advanced IT workforce in the world with the tools they need to modernize our health system.”

Click here to learn more about the workforce plans and other HITECH grants programs.

Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November 24, 2009

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