On Friday, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT released the first set of health IT professional examinations, which are designed to measure skill levels for certain competencies that have been identified as essential for health IT positions, Government Health IT reports.
Details of Exams
The exams will help employers and health care providers identify training needs for current staff members and define other personnel needs. Higher education institutions can use the exams to evaluate their health IT training programs (Sullivan, Government Health IT, 5/23).
The exams align with ONC's community college training program and assess competencies such as:
- Clinician/practitioner consulting;
- Implementation management and support;
- Practice workflow and information management redesign;
- Technical/software support; and
- Training (Tocknell, HealthLeaders Media, 5/23).
More than 27,000 health IT workers will be eligible to receive a voucher to take an exam at no cost at one of the 230 testing centers nationwide. Participants in the community college programs -- as well as other individuals with relevant education, experience or training -- will be eligible to receive vouchers (Government Health IT, 5/23).
Work Force Development Initiatives
The health IT exam program is one component of ONC's work force development initiatives, which are funded by the 2009 federal economic stimulus package and intended to address the estimated shortage of 50,000 health IT professionals nationwide.
Other initiatives in the work force development program include university-based training programs and a curriculum development program (HealthLeaders Media, 5/23).