HHS to award $80 million for HIT workforce training

HHS has set aside $80 million in federal stimulus funding to develop and support the nation's health IT workforce. The agency will award $70 million in grants to community colleges for health IT training programs, while the remaining $10 million will support development of educational materials for the classes.

"The expansion of a highly skilled workforce developed through these programs will help healthcare providers and hospitals implement and maintain EHRs and use them to strengthen delivery of care," national health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal said just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. "These newly funded programs are designed to equip the most qualified and advanced IT workforce in the world with the tools they need to modernize our health system."

The community college grants will fund intensive, non-degree programs that students with some IT or healthcare background could complete in six months or less in order to fill immediate job openings. Five regional educational consortia will coordinate training plans, according to HHS.

For more information:
- read this HHS press release [1]
- take a look at this Healthcare IT News story [2]

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HRSA grants will support EMRs at safety-net clinics [4]