HHS to award $80 million for health IT training
By CC Times, Published November 25, 2009

The U.S. Health and Human Service (HHS) Department has announced plans to award $80 million in grants to develop and strengthen the health information technology workforce. About $70 million will go toward community college training programs and $10 million to develop educational materials to support those programs.

Both programs will support the immediate need for skilled health information technology professionals who will enable the broad adoption and use of health IT throughout the U.S., according to HHS.

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

“Ensuring the adoption of electronic health records, information exchange among health care providers and public health authorities and redesign of workflows within health care settings all depend on having a qualified pool of workers,” said David Blumenthal, HHS’ national coordinator for health information technology. “The expansion of a highly skilled workforce developed through these programs will help health care providers and hospitals implement and maintain EHRs and use them to strengthen delivery of care.”

Participating community colleges will create intensive, non-degree training that can be completed in six months or less by individuals with some background in either health care or IT fields, according to HHS. Colleges will coordinate their efforts through five regional consortia that span the nation.

The curriculum development program will make high quality educational materials available to colleges so the training programs can be established quickly to meet workforce needs.

Any U.S. non-profit institution of higher learning currently engaged in providing training in health IT that is interested in drafting curriculum or establishing a consortium that includes community colleges may apply for the grants. Information about grant applications will be available soon here.