ONC Fact Sheet: Health IT Workforce Development Program
Published on ONC site 12/3/2010.

Health information technology professionals are in demand.

As the nation moves toward a more technologically advanced health care system, providers are going to need highly skilled health IT experts to support them in the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records.

To help address this growing demand, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has funded the Health IT Workforce Development Program. The goal is to train a new workforce of health IT professionals who will be ready to help providers implement electronic health records to improve health care quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness.

About the Workforce Development Program
ONC has awarded $84 million in funding for the following Health IT Workforce Development Program activities:

• Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals:Five regional groups of more than 70 community colleges in all 50 states have $36 million in grants to develop or improve non-degree health IT training programs that can be completed in six months or less. Programs established through this grant will help train more than 10,500 new health IT professionals annually by 2012.

• Program of Assistance for University-Based Training:Nine grants totaling $32 million have been awarded to colleges and universities to quickly establish or expand health IT training programs for health IT professional roles requiring training at the university level.  Over the course of the grant, these programs will help more than 1,500 people receive certificates of advanced study or master’s degrees in health IT. All of the certificate programs can be completed in one year or less, and all of the master’s degree programs can be completed in two years or less.

• Curriculum Development Centers:  $10 million has been awarded to five universities for the development of educational materials for the Community College Consortia program. The materials will also be made available to other schools across the country.

• Competency Examination Program:A two-year, $6 million grant has been awarded to fund the development of competency exams for health IT professionals.

For More Information About:

• Community College Consortia, visit healthit.hhs.gov/communitycollege
• University-Based Health IT Training, visit healthit.hhs.gov/programs/UniversityTraining
• Curriculum Development Centers, visit healthit.hhs.gov/curriculumdevelopment
• Competency Examination Program, visit healthit.hhs.gov/competencyexam
• Health IT, visit healthit.hhs.gov

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