An estimated 50,000 new health IT professionals will be needed to help U.S. health care providers make the shift to electronic health records and meet meaningful use criteria.
Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments.
The federal government has invested millions of dollars to develop a skilled health IT workforce, but private-sector groups also are stepping up efforts to help bolster the field of health IT professionals.
In an iHealthBeat Special Report by Kelly Wilkinson, experts discussed some of the ways private-sector groups are helping to train new health IT professionals.
The Special Report includes comments from:
- Helen Figge, senior director of career services for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society;
- Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com, a provider of specialized career websites; and
- Bill Rudman, executive director of the American Health Information Management Association Foundation and vice president of education and workforce development for AHIMA (Wilkinson, iHealthBeat, 10/21).
The complete transcript of this report is available as a PDF.
Running Time: 5:00