HHS releases $80 million to train HIT workforce

November 24, 2009 | Diana Manos, Senior Editor

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WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services will release $80 million in grants to help develop and strengthen the health information technology workforce.

The grants consist of $70 million for community college training programs and $10 million to develop educational materials to support the programs, said David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health information technology, during a Tuesday morning press call.

Both programs will support the immediate need for skilled HIT professionals who will enable the broad adoption and use of healthcare IT throughout the United States, he said. The funding is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is the first that will fund a series of programs to help strengthen and support the healthcare IT workforce.

Additional details regarding the grant programs will be announced over the next several weeks, Blumenthal said.

"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," he said. "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."

According to Blumenthal, 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. Participating colleges will coordinate their efforts through five regional consortia.

Graduates 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 workforce needs, Blumenthal said.

Any U.S. non-profit institution of higher learning currently engaged in providing healthcare IT training that is interested in drafting curriculum or establishing a consortium that includes community colleges may apply for the grants.

"Critical to achieving the goal of the Heath Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and supporting meaningful use of healthcare IT is the availability of a skilled workforce that understands the unique technology and management needs within a clinical setting," Blumenthal said. "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."

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daveIT says: Proposed curriculum

January 14, 2010 | 11:45PM GMT

This is a subject of high interest to me. I appreciate the two fold goal of providing employment and staffing key IT technician positions that will be instrumental in upgrading healthcare information technology systems. My background is in applied technology education. I have taught computer subjects at the high school and adult level. I have taught A+ and Network+ and I have both certifications. I feel that these two certifications are fundamental. I can attest that six months is not a very long time to achieve a meaningful IT training and or a certification goal. The program will most likely have to be full-time to be viable. Even with a full-time committment, you might have to develop a "boot camp", or fast-track program. This program can be successful, but it will have to be planned ideally with input and buy-in from experienced healthcare IT CIO's who will ultimately be hiring graduates from the proposed program. There should be accountability and transparency for those who design the program so results can be measured. This could be a vocational program with direct ties to the healthcare industry. The classes could be mentored and taught by healthcare IT executives from local hospitals that have already optimized their use of information technology. And depending on your goals, you may need to have selection criteria for entry into the program. The A+ and Network+ certifications could be minimum requirements for entry into the program. Then the program might address basic Cisco routing which is becoming important to hospitals for telemedicine, etc. Managing server technology would also need to be addressed somehow. Basic network troubleshooting methodology should also be addressed. Everything should be within the context of the healthcare setting and should touch on issues related to compliance (i.e. hippa)and security. Backup and disaster recovery topics should also be addressed. Virtualization and cloud computing should also be addressed as these technologies become mainstream and offer substantial benefits to healthcare IT systems. Perhaps our IT systems could be designed to be easier to use and maintain. And we need to design cost effective systems according to a budget plan. I hope these thoughts are helpful and thank you for allowing me to share my comments.

Dave Duggan
IT Consultant