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H H S Department of Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Health Information Technology and Quality
Improvement

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Health IT Workforce Roles

To better understand the workforce needs, the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT convened a panel of technical experts, including educators and industry representatives.  The experts identified six specific Health IT Competency workforce roles, which will be critical as providers begin to implement EHRs in large numbers, and for which training can be completed in six months or less if individuals bring appropriate backgrounds to the training.

In safety net providers, where resources may be limited, one person may fulfill several of these roles or these roles may be shared across multiple providers.

  • Clinical/Practitioner Consultant
    Workers in this role assist in reorganizing the work of providers to optimize the features of Health IT that are designed to improve healthcare, and bring to bear the background and experience of licensed clinical and/or public health professionals.

  • Implementation Manager
    Workers in this role provide on‐site management of mobile adoption support teams for the period of time before and during implementation of health IT systems in clinical and public health settings.

  • Implementation Support Specialist
    Workers in this role provide on‐site user support for the period of time before and during implementation of health IT systems in clinical and public health settings. These individuals will provide support services, above and beyond what is provided by the vendor, to be sure the technology functions properly and is configured to meet the needs of the redesigned practice workflow.

  • Information Management Redesign Specialist
    Workers in this role assist in reorganizing the work of providers to optimize the features of health IT that are designed to improve health care. Individuals in this role may have backgrounds in health care (for example, as a practice administrator) or in information technology, but are not licensed clinical professionals.

  • Technical Support & Software Support Staff
    Workers in this role provide ongoing support of the technology deployed in clinical and public health settings. Workers in this role maintain systems in clinical and public health settings, including patching and upgrading of software. They also provide one‐on‐one support, in a traditional “help desk” model, to individual users with questions or problems.

  • Trainer
    Workers in this role design and deliver training programs, using adult learning principles, to employees in clinical and public health settings.