ICC Rolls Out State’s Only Complete Health IT Workforce Training Program

TUPELO—Health information technology (HIT) workforce training classes begin this month at Itawamba Community College (ICC) in Tupelo, the only community college in Mississippi offering all six HIT priority workforce roles.

ICC is among more than 70 community colleges in the United States sharing $36 million from a federal grant funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to develop and improve non-degree health IT programs before the electronic health records mandate in 2014. The Information Technology Professionals in Health Care: Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals Cooperative Agreement Program was developed by national industry leaders after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a shortfall over the next five years of approximately 50,000 qualified HIT workers required to meet the needs of hospitals and physicians as they move to EHR adoption.

The Office of National Coordinator (ONC) awarded ICC approximately $686,000 to administer the program as a financial assistance mechanism for the HIT workforce. Grant funding could possibly be available through April 2012.

“The purpose of the grant is to train a competent workforce to support the implementation and maintenance of the EHR,” said ICC program coordinator Lori Little, RHIT (registered health information technician). “The work required to reach this goal is expected to create a high demand in several types of health IT professionals to support this project. We’d like to offer accessible training to qualified students.”

The cost is $50 per course, with stipends available for eligible students who complete the program in its entirety. Eligibility requires a certification, diploma or degree in any medical area, IT background, or a minimum of one year of verifiable work experience in the health or IT field. Other requirements include completion of the WorkKeys test if applicable and a student affidavit.

The educational component is designed to be completed online in six months or less, allowing each student to focus on one of six HIT priority workforce roles:

• Practice workflow and information management redesign specialist,
• Clinician/practitioner consultant,
• Implementation support specialist,
• Implementation manager,
• Technical/software support staff, and
• Trainer.

The programs will be flexibly implemented to provide each trainee with skills and competencies that are lacking, said Little.

Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Columbia University, Oregon Health Sciences University, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham developed the federally funded HIT Workforce Training Program curriculum. Components may vary, depending on the workforce role. Course titles include:

1.      Introduction to healthcare and public health in the United States.

2.      The culture of healthcare.

3.      Terminology in healthcare and public health settings.

4.      Introduction to information and computer science.

5.      History of HIT in the United States.

6.      Health management information systems.

7.      Working with HIT systems.

8.      Installation and maintenance of HIT systems.

9.      Networking and health information exchange.

10. Fundamentals of health workflow process analysis and redesign.

11.  Configuring electronic health records (EHRs).

12.  Quality improvement.

13.  Public HIT.

14.  Special topics course on vendor-specific systems.

15.  Usability and human factors.

16.  Professionalism/customer service in the health environment.

17.  Working in teams.

18.  Planning, management and leadership for HIT.

19.  Introduction to project management.

20. Training and instructional design.

Training goals include providing IT education to workers with medical/clinical experience, and providing medical/clinical education to those with an IT background. Job placement assistance will be provided for participants who complete the program, and ICC will seek to sustain the program after federal funding ends. 

“At the end of ICC’s intensive non-degree education program, we should have a pool of qualified workers with both medical and IT knowledge to ensure the electronic health record project will provide the quality and efficiency benefits needed, while maintaining privacy and security of medical information,” said Little.

Hinds Community College (HCC) in Raymond is offering some roles; all 15 community colleges across the state are jointly marketing the program for ICC and HCC.

A schedule for 2011 classes is available online at www.iccms.edu  For more information on the application process, program content, and course descriptions, visit ICC’s website at www.iccms.edu, or contact Mallory Pennington at (662) 620-5145 or Lori Little at (662) 620-5122.

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