Health IT attracts new students on campus

Among the waves of students heading to college this fall are a number of students and information technology workers who have signed up for new courses and certificates that will train them to become health information technology professionals working for healthcare providers.

They are the vanguard of a campaign to begin to turn around the shortfall of 50,000 skilled IT workers that the Office of the National Coordinator has estimated is needed to assist healthcare providers over the hurdles of adopting and maintaining electronic health records. To take advantage of the demand, community colleges and universities have inaugurated non-degree programs designed to prepare students to be practice workflow redesign specialists, clinician consultants, software support and other IT roles considered most critical to support physicians and small hospitals.