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HITECH & the HIT Workforce

Adapted slides from 2010 AMIA Fall Symposium Panel. Courtesy Charles Friedman – Chief Science Officer; ONC.

Patricia A. Abbott, PhD, RN, FAANJohns Hopkins University

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Regional extension centers

Workforce training

Medicare & Medicaid Incentives and penalties

State grants for health Information exchange

Standards & certificationframework

Privacy & Securityframework

Adoption of EHRs

Meaningful Use of EHRs

Exchange of healthinformation

•Increased transparency and efficiency•Improved individual and population health outcomes•Improved ability to study and improve care delivery

Adapted from: Blumenthal D. Launching HITECH. N Engl J Med. 2010 Jan 4. http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=2669

ONC/CMS Program to Get to Meaningful Use

SHARP: Research to enhance HITBeacon Community program

Focal Point

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HELP WANTED! • Advance to meaningful use requires trained “health IT practitioners”

• Shortfall of at least 51,000 in 12 key workforce roles

• ARRA/HITECH Section 3016 requires funding of institutions of higher education

More Health IT for Practitioners: More “Practitioners” for Health IT

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HITECH & Education

1. Identified 12 key roles (not jobs) looking to the future and aligned with the HITECH program• 6 roles compatible with community college

education• 6 roles compatible with university based training

2. Validated the roles at a multi-stakeholder workshop3. HHS designed and funded four grant/cooperative

agreement programs ($118 Million)• Community College Consortium• Curriculum Development Centers• Competency Examination for HIT• University Based Training

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How the Gears Mesh

CommunityCollege

Consortia (5):Implement program

at 84 member colleges150 trainees/yr/college

CompetencyExam (1):

Development andImplement exam program

CurriculumDevelopmentCenters (5):20 courses

designed fordissemination 6 Roles

6 Roles

University Based Training Programs (9)

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__hitech_programs/1487

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Current Status

• Curriculum Development Centers (Hopkins, Duke, Columbia, OHSU, & Alabama at Birmingham)– Twenty 3-“credit” courses – Open Sourced June 2011

• VistA for Education – Free/Open Veterans Health System CPRS on DVD or Cloud

• 20 Course Blueprints (ONC Website):

• National Competency Exam– Beta: May, 2011– Live Launch: September 2011– First 27,500 exams – free of charge

• University Based Training Programs (9)– Heavy enrollments/high demand

http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_11673_949472_0_0_18/curriculum-component-blueprints-11-2010.pdf

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Snapshot of CC Students

Slide courtesy of N. Morganti: PI – Region C

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Snapshot of CC Students

Slide courtesy of N. Morganti: PI – Region C

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For More Information:

http://healthit.hhs.gov/

Patricia Abbott, PhDpabbott2@jhmi.edu