Health IT Workforce Initiatives

To address the growing demand for a highly skilled health IT workforce, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funds the Health IT Workforce Development Program. The program includes training for health workers now employed in rural practices and facilities, with broad opportunities for distance learning.

• Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals: Five regional groups of more than 70 community colleges in all 50 states have $68 million in grants to develop or improve non-degree health IT training programs that can be completed in six months or less. You can contact a participating community college close to your community to recruit health IT professionals to your organization. The programs focus on training students for the following professional roles:

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

• 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. The colleges and universities focus on training students for 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

For More Information

For more health IT workforce information, see the following resources.

• The Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) developed a Health IT jobs board. This website offers ONC graduates the opportunity to post their resumes and search for jobs that will match their emerging skill set. Potential employers can access a database of qualified employees who have graduated from the workforce development and certification programs. In addition, the HIMSS Education and Workforce Development section provides several resources about workforce development.
• Career One Stop, My Next Move, and Registered Apprenticeship Program were all created by the United States Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to connect job seekers with employers. In addition, ETA created an Electronic Health Record Competency Model as a resource to support workforce development efforts to prepare the US healthcare system to support quality healthcare outcomes through effective use of information technologies.
• The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Workforce section provides general information on the health workforce in rural communities and strategies to overcome workforce barriers.
• The Rural Assistance Center's Health Care Workforce section provides rural health care workforce guides and answers several FAQs about the rural health IT workforce.