ARRA spurs collegiate interest in health IT
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is cited as a catalyst behind an increasing interest in health informatics and information management at the college level, according to the current issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Claire Dixon Lee, executive director of the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education, is quoted as saying that the commission has accredited 270 programs (53 at the bachelor’s level) and that she expects the number of programs to rise to 300 by the end of this year.
The move to toward EHRs is leading to broad curricular changes, the Chronicle reported, because healthcare providers are looking for IT workers “with a strong understanding of healthcare delivery systems, and from public health agencies that need specialists who can make sense of data, such as medical reimbursement records.”
Claire Dixon Lee, executive director of the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education, is quoted as saying that the commission has accredited 270 programs (53 at the bachelor’s level) and that she expects the number of programs to rise to 300 by the end of this year.
The move to toward EHRs is leading to broad curricular changes, the Chronicle reported, because healthcare providers are looking for IT workers “with a strong understanding of healthcare delivery systems, and from public health agencies that need specialists who can make sense of data, such as medical reimbursement records.”