|
PORTLAND, ORE -- Today Congressman David Wu announced legislation to advance the use of electronic records across health systems, a move that will bring efficiency to the health care industry.
"The use of electronic health systems is gaining momentum, and folks agree that it will save patients money, improve patient care and save lives," said Congressman Wu. "But while everyone is talking about adopting these systems, no one is addressing the workforce concerns. There are insufficient numbers of health information technology professionals and a lack of programs to train current doctors and nurses. A workforce capable of innovating, implementing, and using electronic health systems will be critical to the successful transition. Education will be key to digitizing the health care industry."
Congressman Wu's legislation helps the health care industry adopt electronic health systems by:
-
investing more in research to enhance the field of health care informatics so as to develop hardware and software solutions that improve patient care;
-
developing programs to train current medical professionals;
-
developing curriculum for a health care information workforce; and
-
permitting an organic approach to the establishment of information systems; one that develops incrementally over time and can adapt to the changing health care landscape rather than a knee-jerk establishment of a nation-wide information technology system.
Congressman Wu's legislation is the product of many meetings and a U.S. House Science Committee hearing he convened in Oregon earlier this year. The hearing revealed that while many are talking about creating a national health information infrastructure, very little attention has been given to workforce issues.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that 136,000 Americans were employed as health information management professionals in 2000, and to meet the expected demand, there will need to be a 49 percent increase by 2010. Oregon Health and Science University recently partnered with the American Medical Informatics Association in the 10x10 program, a large-scale workforce training initiative which aims to train 10,000 health care professionals in informatics by the year 2010.
Summary of Major Provisions, Wu Health Care IT Legislation
Authorizes the National Science Foundation (NSF) to award grants to institutions of higher education for research on innovative approaches to enhancing healthcare informatics through hardware and software solutions. The focus of this research would be in the area of clinical/healthcare informatics, public health/population informatics, translational informatics, and privacy and confidentiality.
Authorizes the NSF to award grants to institutions of higher education to establish multidisciplinary centers for Health and Medical Informatics Research Centers. Applicants may partner with government laboratories and/or for-profit institutions. These centers are designed to advance the research agenda and to train additional qualified healthcare informatics personnel and professionals – which would include physicians, nurses, information technology specialists, medical administrators and social scientists. Instructs NSF to convene an annual meeting of Center investigators to facilitate information exchange.
Authorizes the NSF to establish a program to award grants to institutions of higher education to establish or improve undergraduate and master’s and degree programs, as well as certificate programs in healthcare informatics, to increase the number of students who pursue studies in fields related to health care informatics and to provide students with experience in government or the private sector related to their healthcare informatics studies. Funds may be used for curriculum development, faculty development, equipment acquisition, student recruitment and/or the establishment of bridge programs with two-year colleges and industry internship programs for students. The provision encourages the use of distance learning when appropriate.
Authorizes the NSF to expand the activities of the Advanced Technology Education Program (centered on two-year institutions), established under the Scientific and Advanced Technology Act o 1992, to support improved education and technical training in fields related to healthcare informatics.
### |
