All the attention of late has been on the final rule for meaningful use of EHRs, but the health IT training made possible by funding under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has a far-reaching impact beyond the healthcare industry.
As part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Health IT Workforce Program is creating much-needed jobs across the country at a time when the economic recovery has stalled. Through ARRA, the Department of Labor awarded $225 million in grants to train 15,000 people in 55 training programs in 30 states for high-skilled jobs in healthcare, among other rapid-growth industries.
Southwestern Virginia, Appalachia country, got a boost with the recent announcement of a $4.7 million grant to develop skilled workers in health IT. Virginia Tech will lead 24 other partners in the training efforts. Not only will displaced workers get a new lease on their professional life, hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers will get more skilled workers to handle the demand for healthcare services.
Consider that Southwestern Virginia has the second highest unemployment of any other region in the commonwealth, according to Virginia Performs, a commonwealth initiative. Before the economic recession hit in 2008, the region was already in the throes of a higher rate of unemployment because of the loss of its manufacturing base and limited economic growth. So you can understand the excitement associated with the size of the grant, its intent and its impact on the employment prospects and healthcare systems in the region.
The stalled economic recovery has made a lot of people unhappy with the federal government. Your average Joe wouldn’t know anything about grants and programs like the Health IT Workforce Program and the DOL awards that are truly making a difference at the community and regional levels. They won’t see that every highly skilled health IT worker that goes into the healthcare industry is creating a higher quality of life in the area or that higher quality of care is being dispensed in the local hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities and other healthcare organizations. But we who are knowledgeable about these programs should educate the general public about their benefits. In this case, the federal spending will truly make a difference at the grassroots level.
