Health Informatics Comes to MHCC

What is "Health Informatics"?

In February 2009, the government passed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) within which is a component called the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH).

HITECH “sets forth a plan for advancing the appropriate use of health information technology to improve quality of care” (HHS, 2010). Section 3016 of the HITECH Act, entitled “Information Technology Professional in Health Care”, authorizes:

“assistance to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to establish or expand health information technology education programs, including certification, undergraduate and masters (sic) degree programs for both health care and information technology students to ensure the rapid and effective utilization and development of health information technology (in the United States healthcare infrastructure).” (Title XIII, Section 3016).

In essence, the stimulus bill gave educational institutions the opportunity to create training to satisfy the immediate need of workers to support implementation of electronic health records nationwide.

To control the development of curriculum nationwide, the Department of Health and Human Services established the position of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Informatics (ONC) which is presently led by Dr. David Blumenthal. Using a five region structure, ONC directed the creation of components (similar to courses), and the roles (similar to job titles) for which people could be trained in a 6-month training regimen. The result was 20 concepts and 6 roles which could be accomplished at the community college level.

Who is the ONC?

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Informatics provided grants to universities to participate with their local community colleges to create brand new course materials specifically to provide HI training as fast as possible. Universities who are participating in this program include:

• Duke University
• Johns Hopkins University
• Columbia University
• University of Alabama - Birmingham
• Oregon Health & Science University  

Other universities have indicated a desire to participate as well presenting opportunity for future educational growth. The initial training mandates the community colleges to create 55,000 workers trained to support the medical industry in six "roles".

• Clinician / Practioner Consultant
• Implementation Manager
• Implementation Support Specialist
• Practice Workflow & Information Management Redesign Specialist
• Technical / Software Support
• Trainer

What's happening at MHCC?

Mt Hood Community College is one of about 150 community colleges nation-wide who are participating in the ONC training program. Beginning in September 2010, MHCC will offer classes towards a 6-month certification in Implementation Support Specialist and in Technical / Software Support.

Ideally, the initial participants in the HI program should be individuals with previous experience and/or training in either health care or computer technology. These requirements will soften as the program expands.

We are creating 10 brand new classes based on the ONC design. Most classes will be 3 credit units, although some a 4 or 2 units; just like a normal college class.

But wait, there's more!

With a few exceptions, none of the classes have required textbooks and instead use online resources. This save you hundreds of dollars in education expenses.

Will these classes be "for credit"?

Yes. All Health Informatics classes offered at MHCC will earn college credit. However, as of this writing (August 2010), there is no degree to which these classes can be applied. Due to the accelerated nature of the President's request, we have focused on creating the training now and will build the degree later. Presently, we anticipate the first Health Informatics degrees to emerge as early as fall 2011. Be sure to discuss this with your advisor.

What Next?

If you are interested, we need to know who you are. It is important that you contact Dr Wayne Machuca, Program Advisor at MHCC at Wayne.Machucan@mhcc.edu.

And watch this space. As classes get created and scheduled, we will provide you with more information on enrollment, registration, and participation.

Where can I find more information?

Google-ing "Health Informatics" is always best. But here are a few sites to look at as well:

• Informatics Professor -- A blog by Dr Bill Hersh of OHSU
• Bioinformatics.com -- A job site to get started
• Bureau of Labor Statistics -- A working definiton for career pathways
• Marth Nemko -- An older article from US News

Recommended Schedule

To satisfy all of the requirements for the Implementation Support Specialist Certificate and the Technical/Support Specialist Certificate, the following classes are available:

Winter 2011 

Spring 2011