Estimates based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Education, and independent studies indicate a shortfall over the next five years of approximately 50,000 qualified health Information Technology (health IT) workers required to meet the needs of hospitals and physicians as they move to adopt electronic health care systems.
The HITECH section of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) included funding for health information technology workforce training, and new technology research and development. Many of the key workforce provisions are outlined in Section 3016 (.pdf 125 kb). This section mandates the Health and Human Services Secretary, in consultation with the director of the National Science Foundation, provide assistance to higher education institutions to expand or establish medical health informatics education programs, including certification, undergraduate, and master’s degree programs for both healthcare and IT students.
Under that authority, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has awarded $84 million in funding for the Health IT Workforce Development Program.
The Community College Consortia is a component of the Health IT Workforce Development Program, administered by ONC. The consortia comprises five regional groups of more than 70 member community colleges in all 50 states. These community colleges received $36 million in grants to develop or improve non-degree health IT training programs that students can complete in six months or less.
Cooperative agreements were awarded in April 2010 for a two-year project period. ONC estimates that by the end of the two-year project period, the participating community colleges will have collectively established training programs with the capacity to train at least 10,500 students annually for health IT jobs.
Florida community colleges that have received grants to support workforce development as part of a Consortia are listed below with a link to each program for more information.
The state designated role of the Agency is to monitor how the unmet need for HIT workforce growth and level of training impacts adoption of electronic health records and health information exchange. The Agency will continue to work with Regional Extension Health Centers and Florida’s post-secondary educational institutions to encourage new applicants of varied backgrounds, and to promote the design of curriculum that produces a flexible and highly trained workforce.