“Ensuring the adoption of electronic health records to use to exchange information among healthcare providers and public health authorities and to redesign workflows within healthcare settings, all depends on having a qualified pool of workers,” said Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
The agency has plans to make $80 million in grants available to help develop and strengthen the HIT workforce. The grants include $70 million for community college training programs and $10 million to develop educational materials to support these programs. These grants are the first in a series of programs to help strengthen and support the health IT workforce.
The Community College program will establish intensive, non-degree training that can be completed in six months or less by individuals that have a background in healthcare or in the IT fields. Participating colleges will coordinate their efforts through five regional consortia that will span the nation.
