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Workforce Development Program

Health information technology professionals are in demand.

To help meet the growing demand for health IT professionals, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funded the Workforce Development Program. The goal of the program is to train a new workforce of skilled health IT professionals who will be able to help providers implement electronic health records and achieve meaningful use. The Workforce Program consists of four initiatives: Community College Consortia, Curriculum Development Centers, Competency Exam Program, and University-Based Training.

Learn about our students and what they are saying about the workforce programs by visiting the student testimonials web page.

Health It Professionals, University-based Training Help more than 1,500 people receive certificates; Curriculum Development Centers-Development of educational materials; Community College Consortia-Help train more than 10,500 new Health IT professionals; Competency Examination Program-Basic Competency Assessment

Focuses on the following professional roles:

  • Clinician or public health leader
  • Health information management and exchange specialist
  • Health information privacy and security specialist
  • Research and development scientist
  • Programmers and software engineer
  • Health IT sub-specialist

Program of Assistance for University-Based Training

  • Quickly establish or expand health IT training programs for health IT professional roles requiring training at the university level
  • Help more than 1,500 people receive certificates of advanced study or master's degrees in health IT

Focuses on the following professional roles:

  • Practice workflow and information management redesign specialists
  • Clinician/practitioner consultants
  • Implementation support specialists
  • Implementation managers
  • Technical/software support
  • Trainers

Community College Consortia

  • Intensive, non-degree training programs that can be completed in six months or less
  • Help address the growing demand for highly skilled health IT specialists
  • Help train more than 10,500 new health IT professionals annually by 2012

Curriculum Development Centers

  • Development of educational materials for the Community College Consortia program
  • Materials available to institutions of higher education across the country

Competency Examination Program

  • Development and initial administration of a set of health IT competency examinations
  • Assess basic competency for two types of individuals
    1. Individuals trained through short-duration, non-degree health IT programs
    2. Members of the workforce with relevant experience or other types of training
2012/02/07
Health IT Journey - Stories from the Road
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