ONC Announces $80 Million in Workforce Training Grants
David Blumenthal, National Director of Health Information Technology, announced on a telephone press briefing the morning of November 24, 2009, $80 million in grants to train a new health IT workforce at the rate of 10,000 per year starting in 2010.
$70 million will support the launch of non-degree intensive training of up to six months for people to help prepare, implement, and maintain healthcare professionals on “meaningful use” of electronic health records. Trained workers would also help design and implement new workflows to integrate the use of electronic health records in practice settings.
$10 million will support the development of educational materials. Blumenthal said there was a “fairly well-documented” shortage of healthcare IT workers amounting to as many at 50,000.
Deputy National Coordinator Chuck Friedman explained that a total of 70 community colleges will be divided among five regional consortia through which the funds will flow. There will be support for both in-class and online educational training programs. While these 70 community colleges will not necessarily serve the same areas as the Regional Extension Centers, both programs are based on distribution of the population across the country.
Both a formal press release and the FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement and Application Instructions) will be published within hours or days based on final necessary government approvals.
Blumenthal’s Health IT Buzz Blog post: “Preparing the Digital Health Workforce of Tomorrow, Today”
HHS Press Release: ”HHS Announces Plans to Make $80 Million Available to Support Health IT Workforce: Grants Will Support Community College Training Programs, Curriculum Development, Additional Programs to be Announced in Coming Weeks” – November 24, 2009
For Funding Announcement documents from ONC, see November 25, 2009 post on e-Healthcare Marketing.
See October 4, 2009 post on e-Healthcare Marketing called “ONC Previews Workforce Needs for EHR Rollout” for additional background information and the six roles envisioned in August 2009 stakeholders meeting.
