Mission College Health IT Grant

The HITECH portion of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided funds for institutions of higher education to train health care and information technology workers. The eHealth Workforce Development Workgroup report projects that approximately 9,000 additional highly skilled health information technology (HIT) workers with a broad range of skill sets will be required to support the move to electronic health records in California required by 2013 by the Health Reform Act.

Mission College, as part of a four-state community college consortium headed by Los Rios Community College District, has received federal funding to offer short term, online health information technology training beginning in Fall 2010.

This grant is designed to get people trained within six months in the kind of computerized health information systems that are being installed by hospitals and medical offices across the nation. The electronic systems will replace inefficient paper records and allow health providers to quickly review and update a patient’s medical history. Patients who have had to move, change doctors or required emergency medical attention know the importance of getting medical records transferred quickly and how difficult that is to accomplish in a paper-based system.

The six categories of Health IT workforce roles covered in this grant are:

Practice Workflow & Information Management Redesign Specialist

Workers in this role assist in reorganizing the work of a provider to take full advantage of the features of health IT in pursuit of meaningful use of health IT to improve health and care. Workers in this role will:

  • Document the workflow and information management models of the practice
  • Conduct user requirements analysis to facilitate workflow design
  • Develop revised workflow and information management models for the practice, based on meaningful use of an Electronic Health Records product.

Clinician/Practitioner Consultant

Workers in this role will be licensed clinical or public health professionals; the role is similar to the “Practice Workflow and Information Management Redesign Specialists” role listed above.

  • Analyze and recommend solutions for health IT implementation problems in clinical and public health settings, bringing clinical expertise directly to bear.
  • Advise and assist clinicians in taking full advantage of technology, enabling them to make best use of data in electronic form, including data in registries, to drive improvement in the quality, safety and efficiency of care.
  • Assist in selection of vendors and software

Implementation Support Specialist

Workers in the role provide on-site user support for the period of time before and during implementation of health IT systems in clinical and public health settings. The previous background of workers in this role includes information technology or information management. Workers in this role will:

  • Execute implementation project plans, by installing hardware (as needed) and configuring software to meet practice needs
  • Incorporate usability principles into design and implementation
  • Test the software against performance specifications
  • Interact with the vendors as needed to rectify problems that occur during the deployment process

Implementation Manager

  • Workers in this role provide on-site leadership and management of implementation teams for the period of time before and during implementation of health IT systems in clinical and public health settings.
  • Manage the project to achieve project implementation
  • Manage vendor relations, providing schedule, deliverable and business information to health IT vendors for product improvement.
  • Coordinate efforts across the implementation site and with their Health Information Exchange partners, troubleshooting problems as they arise.

Technical/software support staff

Workers in this role maintain systems in clinical and public health settings, including patching and upgrading of software. The previous background of workers in this role includes information technology or information management. Workers in this role will:

  • Interact with end users to diagnose IT problems and implement solutions
  • Document IT problems and evaluate the effectiveness of problem resolution
  • Support systems security and standards

Trainers

Workers in this role design and deliver training programs, using adult learning principles, to employees in clinical and public health settings. The previous background of workers in this role includes experience as a health professional or health information management specialist. Experience as a trainer in the form of an internship is also desired. Workers in this role will:

  • Be able to use a range of health IT applications, preferably at an expert level
  • Communicate both health and IT concepts as appropriate
  • Assess training needs and competencies of learners
  • Design lesson plans, structuring active learning experiences for users
  • Track training records of the users and develop learning plans for further instruction

Mission College is the only college in the San Francisco region participating in this grant and space is limited. Interested students should fill out the Interest Form and submit to the program. The anticipated start date is October 2010 with a September Orientation. There will be some scholarships and financial assistance opportunities available for students as well.