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."