How Will Your WIB and HIT Stakeholders
In Your Community Benefit?
The public Workforce Investment System is charged with the mission of preparing a qualified workforce to meet the business needs of its community.
The $20 billion in health information technology (HIT) stimulus funding, provided through ARRA to incentivize physician adoption of electronic health records (EHR), will create unprecedented growth in demand for EHR systems in hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers.
Meeting this demand is not as simple as producing and selling more EHR systems. Analyzing needs, selecting and buying hardware and software, customizing installations to fit the clinical specialization, providing on-going customer support, and most importantly incumbent training, is a complex process, requiring expertise in a variety of highly specialized occupations.
HIT’s impact on future healthcare worker skill needs is not yet well understood. What we do know today is that the Department of Health and Human Services and DOL has allocated over $750 million to ensure a qualified workforce will be prepared to transform 90% of all healthcare providers by 2014—a monumental change impacting 16% of our total economy.
Our nation’s systems of WIBs and One-Stops are in a pivotal position to be a leader-- driving local initiatives to bring diverse HIT stakeholders together as a source of networking, education and collaboration on the subject of health technology’s impact on workforce development.
If successfully executed, a one-day event will provide:
1) Students, job seekers, and incumbent healthcare workers with an understanding of how electronic medical records will change healthcare job responsibilities, skill requirements, and career advancement opportunities including:
a. Access to healthcare educational and training opportunities
b. Access to hiring healthcare employers
c. Access to internships and apprenticeship opportunities
2) Healthcare employers and providers with an understanding of how accelerated adoption of electronic medical records will impact workforce planning, recruiting and staffing strategies including:
a. Access to qualified healthcare workers interested in HIT career opportunities
b. An understanding of the HITECH ACT and its impact on the healthcare technology hiring community
3) Healthcare educators with an understanding of how accelerated adoption of electronic medical records will impact changes in healthcare curriculum and training including:
a. An overview of the HITECH ACT and its impact on preparing workers for HIT careers.
b. Access to potential students interested in a HIT educational program
4) Public healthcare agencies, hardware and software vendors, HIT consultants, medical device manufactures and professional associations (the health tech infrastructure) with an opportunity to focus exclusively on workforce issues.
5) All stakeholders with HIT labor market information to guide us collectively with the right training, at the right time, to the right people.
In summary, your WIB will have the opportunity to showcase your agency, in your community, as a leader in health information technology workforce development education and training.
Why Hold the Event Now?
We are on the threshold of accelerated electronic medical records adoption as well as intense research and implementation of a nationwide education, training and job placement system to support HIT workforce development needs.
According to an HHS press release issued on March 30, 2010, ARRA funds were awarded to deliver more than 50,000 new healthcare information technology professionals to the workforce. During the first quarter of 2010, HHS and DOL established:
1. A national network of Regional Extension Centers funded for the purpose of offering technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The extension program will establish approximately 70 regional centers, each serving a defined geographic area. The regional centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers. Round I awarded $385 million to 32 agencies. Round II will be awarded for about the same amount for an additional 30+ agencies.
2. A national network of 70 community colleges has been funded with $36 million to establish a multi-instructional consortium within five geographically designated areas. Each college will create non-degree training programs that can be completed in six months. Training will begin September 2010.
3. Five prominent university Curriculum Development Centers have been established to enhance programs of workforce training primarily at the community college level. The materials developed under this program will be used by the member colleges of the five regional consortia as well as be available to institutions of higher education across the county. The curriculum will be developed by September 2010.
4. Nine major universities were funded with $32 million to produce trained professionals for project management, software engineering and related vital, highly specialized HIT implementation roles. Training will begin fall 2010.
5. In January 2010, the DOL awarded 40 agencies (WIBs, community colleges, community based organizations, healthcare providers, and public agencies) to support healthcare training and employment.
6. Beginning January 1, 2011, approximately $18 billion in HHS Stimulus funding will become available to motivate 90% of most healthcare providers in the U.S. to purchase, implement and achieve ‘meaningful use” of Electronic Medical Records.
What WIB Resources Will Be Needed to Sponsor an Event?
The WIB will need a dedicated, full-time Project Director with the following skills and experience to ensure success:
- A working knowledge of Healthcare Information Technology and its impact on workforce development.
- Sophisticated, high-level marketing skills to provide a sufficient number of sponsorships to support the cost of the event.
- Diplomacy skills to facilitate planning sessions and resolve competing stakeholder interests.
- Conference management resources to produce a professional event at an affordable cost
- Leadership ability to evangelize Health Information Technology to community stakeholders
How To Choose A Service If You Decide to Outsource the Event?
If you choose to outsource the event, you will need a resource team, led by a nationally recognized HIT content expert that has:
1. Experience in successfully designing and producing high-profile conferences exceeding 500 executive and managerial-level attendees and 40 corporate sponsorships from the business community.
2. Familiarity with WIA funding regulations, documentation, terminology and the payment/auditing culture associated with WIB service contracts.
3. Skills in designing and managing technology-oriented customized job training programs.
4. Knowledge of social media, viral marketing and Internet-based media campaigns.
5. Experience with local, state and federal HIT funding initiatives including writing successful HIT proposals and participating on workforce subgroups.
HRMS, publisher of NetAssets, provides Health Information Technology strategic workforce planning and management consulting services. For more information about HRMS services, contact Blaze Callahan at bcallahan@hrms.net
Want to learn more about HIT's impact on Workforce Development. Attend our next Webinar:
“Your webinar on Health Information Technology provided a tremendous amount of
background information that will empower local boards, community colleges, and other participants to develop their own strategies tailored to their own local conditions, I would recommend the webinar to others.” Scott Anglemyer, Executive Director, WIB of Kansas
2000-2010 HRMS
