CHICAGO – Leaders of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) are working with the federal government on ways to increase the much needed healthcare IT workforce.
AHIMA President Bonnie Cassidy said Monday that the organization is working proactively to grow jobs for members while helping to fill the estimated 50,000 new positions that will be needed to implement the U.S. health system’s transition to electronic health records (EHR).
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According to Cassidy, AHIMA collaborated with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to develop the HIT Pro competency exams announced last week that will, for a limited time, be offered free to qualified U.S. citizens.
“We are doing everything we can to increase job opportunities for members as we recruit more qualified workers into the HIM profession,” said Cassidy. “By collaborating with ONC on the front end to develop curricula and testing opportunities, we go a long way to satisfying the growing demand over the next ten years.”
Cassidy said six new Health Information Technology Professional (HIT Pro) competency exams were released this month to help address the need for healthcare IT professionals. The HIT Pro exams assess basic competency of individuals seeking to demonstrate their proficiency in certain health IT workforce roles integral to the implementation and management of electronic health information, she said.
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HIT Pro is a component of the Workforce Development program of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. The exams are being funded by an ONC grant and developed through a partnership between Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), AHIMA, and Pearson VUE. Each of the six exams pertains to a specific HIT workforce role instrumental in the process of achieving meaningful use of EHR systems.
According to Cassidy, the purpose of the Workforce Development program is to ensure there are enough qualified workers to support the healthcare industry and efforts to implement EHRs and health information exchanges (HIE). All six of the HIT Pro competency exams launched last week and corresponding classes are now available for interested professionals and job seekers looking to change into growth careers.
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