by Gwen Darling

Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced awards totaling $84 million to help universities and junior colleges train and develop more than 50,000 new health IT professionals. The program targets six key health IT roles:

* Clinicians/Public health leaders
* HIM specialists
* Health information privacy and security specialists
* Research and development scientists
* Programmers and software engineers
* Health IT sub-specialists

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Each role will require specific educational preparation. Six roles will require university-based training, and six will require six months of intense training, most likely in a community college or distance-learning setting.

Upon graduation, it is anticipated that those trained to fulfill these rolls will be able to support nationwide deployment of certified EHR technology and to provide support for the appropriate and secure use and disclosure of electronic health information to improve health, health care delivery, and protection of individuals' privacy.

Welcome news, definitely! Especially to those of you who are knee (neck?) deep in healthcare IT workforce development and wondering where all of those warm bodies will come from to support your upcoming implementation.

Even better: This initiative is designed to churn out qualified IT professionals within one year or less. So theoretically, 'round about this time next year, tens of thousands of newly-minted healthcare IT grads will show up to orientation with their shiny new briefcases, ready to jump in and solve all of your "meaningful" problems, allowing you to finally get a good night's sleep. Right?

Well...unfortunately...NO! As necessary and ultimately valuable as these educational programs will be, a year's worth of online or resident courses alone is not going to be enough to produce the kind of "plug and play" team member who allows you to finally ditch the Ambien.

So what's it going to take to bridge this gap between theory and real life application? YOU--your time, your insight, your experience and your involvement in the process.

Somewhere in your backyard, there's a university or community college that is now quickly ramping up to teach your future workforce how to help you. Who better to assist them than you? While I'm not suggesting that you quit your day job, I have no doubt that your input and participation would be gratefully welcomed in all sorts of capacities--as a guest lecturer, a mentor, an advisor, or even as the provider of a coveted scholarship or internship.

And think about it: How meaningful would it be to have the chance to cherry-pick your new hires from the throngs of appreciative/loyal students?

Gwen Darling is the CEO of Healthcare IT Central, a career center for healthcare IT job seekers and employers. She's also the founder and editor of Healthcare IT Today, a blog about healthcare IT career development, and writes and blogs for Healthcare Informatics magazine. She can be reached at GwenDarling@HealthcareITCentral.com.