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Across most business sectors, executives have been trying to cut costs and improve their company's productivity by calling on information technology specialists to simplify document management, record processing and other administrative tasks utilizing emerging equipment and know-how.

While the IT industry has fared better than most during the recession, the continued demand for these professionals has prompted one government organization to offer further support for job-seekers in the field.

Last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that two new grant programs will become available to support and train skilled IT workers employed by healthcare providers.

Health officials have specifically noted that information technology can improve care for millions of Americans by ensuring safety and promoting efficient care through the use of electronic health records (EHR).

According to Dr David Blumenthal, the national coordinator for health information technology, "To realize the widespread adoption of EHRs and achieve the vision of a transformed health system that IT can facilitate, the workforce needs to be expanded and properly trained to facilitate rapid uptake of health IT by healthcare providers."

To this end, ONC will make available $32 million to assist university-based certificate and degree programs for health IT training and $6 million to develop a health IT competency examination program through the new grants.

ONC will provide between eight and 12 awards to academic programs which make trained health IT staffers available for professional roles, preferably in one year or less. Additionally, the organization will fund the development of a set of competency exams which assess the professional skills of those trained in short-duration or non-degree health IT programs.

The new programs, titled Information Technology Professionals in HealthCare: Program of Assistance for University-Based Training Programs as well as Information Technology Professionals in Healt Care: Competency Examination for Individuals, are authorized by the stimulus package.

"The workforce development program is expected to generate highly skilled professionals in key roles to meet 85 percent of the estimated need for expansion of the health IT workforce, who will in turn help healthcare providers and hospitals implement and maintain electronic health records and use them to strengthen the delivery of care," said Blumenthal.

At the end of November, Blumenthal's office made $70 million in HHS grants available to community college IT training programs and $10 million for the development of educational materials used within the new programs.

Alternate sources of funding

While the government grants will likely aid healthcare organizations as they pursue new avenues of health information exchange (HIE), some independent consultants believe private funding will prove more useful.

Chris Giancola, a consultant with the technology firm CSC Healthcare Group, recently authored a report to help address the financial challenges of developing HIE, HealthLeaders Media reports.

"You really need to start with looking at private funding and obtaining that rather than securing a grant first. Look at grant money as the gravy," Giancola writes.

According to his report, healthcare organizations should target prominent payer and provider organizations to secure private funding, create propositions that clearly demonstrate the benefits of HIE development to all insured participants and determine how the costs will be allocated among those covered.

Job Prospects

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of computer scientists and database administrators is expected to grow by 17 percent over the next nine years.

Job growth is expected to be the fastest in healthcare organizations as well as computer systems design establishments and software publishing firms.