The Texas economy stands to save as much as $14.2 billion annually if it can effectively implement and maintain an interoperable electronic health information infrastructure (IEHI) including electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchanges (HIEs), according to a 2004 study from the center for Information Technology Leadership. Texas employer, provider, consultant, EHR vendor, and technology company needs for well-trained HIT professionals to achieve these savings are expected to number in the thousands.
The Texas Health Information Technology (HIT) Workforce Development project, funded by a Wagner-Peyser grant and supported by the Texas Workforce Commission, will perform a state-wide workforce needs assessment from all industry stakeholders and an educational program inventory from all higher education institutions.
As more and more health information is generated, maintained and exchanged using computers, it is becoming vital that the state have a well-trained HIT workforce. This workforce will be responsible for ensuring the data is reported correctly, is utilized to generate new knowledge for research or other purposes, and that it can be deployed to help Texas healthcare providers keep patients healthier and more productive.
This project will help determine the HIT-related skills and knowledge required by the various employers in Texas and develop a cross-cutting plan to fill the identified needs. This project will position Texas to successfully deploy an electronic health information infrastructure to gain the projected economic benefits, provide jobs for thousands of Texans and ensure Texas higher educational institutions are providing the training needed in our state and across the nation
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The project will also complete a statewide educational program inventory of current health information related offerings, planned programs, and/or the capacity to increase existing programs. This will include collecting data such as health information curriculum content, number of students registered and graduated, graduation rates, and other information from all institutions of higher learning in Texas.
To see a list of educational institutions in Texas which offer HIT-related programs, please click here.
The 2012 Texas HIT Internship program will be established by the project at the Texas HIT Regional Extension Centers (HIT RECs) and with other HIT Employers in Texas to assist in training new HIT professionals.
The RECs are located in Houston, Bryan-College Station, Irving and Lubbock.To see more information on our internship programs, including the application form, please click here.
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