My latest update on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) University-Based Training (UBT) program brings many great stories to report of graduates obtaining jobs and advancing their careers in the field. We are on track with the numbers we promised ONC we would train in our original proposal for funding, and are pleased to have the added infrastructure that the grant has afforded us. A shortened version of this posting has been adapted for the ONC Health IT Buzz Blog, but I feel compelled to tell the whole story here, keeping the material that ended up on the ONC’s virtual cutting-room floor.
About Our Program
The overall goal of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) biomedical informatics graduate program is to prepare students for operational, research, and leadership roles in the application of information, usually supported by information technology (IT), to improve individual health, health care, public health, and biomedical research. Students funded by the UBT Program are expected to focus on professional and leadership roles in the implementation of the electronic health record (EHR), health information exchange, and quality measurement and improvement.
The OHSU UBT Program offers financial assistance for the Graduate Certificate (UBT Type 1 students) and Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBI) (UBT Type 2 students) programs that have been in existence for nearly ten years. In addition to financial assistance, the UBT funding requires additional specific courses (pertinent to the student’s workforce role, in place of electives) and requires students to complete a practicum (Certificate) or internship (MBI).
In the fall academic quarter of 2011, OHSU matriculated 18 Certificate and 5 MBI students. These new students commit 103 of our 135 (76.3%) Type 1 positions and all 13 (100%) of our Type 2 positions funded by OHSU’s UBT grant. Our total commitment of positions between the two programs is 116/148 (78.4%) students. The competition for funded UBT positions has been intense, especially in the Certificate program, where 327 applications have been received for the 103 committed positions (31.5% acceptance rate). Virtually all of those who have applied to the program are well-qualified, and some who were not funded have chosen to enroll as self-funded (i.e., tuition-paying) students.
The OHSU UBT program offers all six workforce roles covered by the UBT initiative. The most popular workforce roles chosen by students in the OHSU program so far have been clinician/public health leader (52, with 46 clinician and 6 public health), health IT subspecialist (29), health information management (HIM) and exchange (21), programmer/software engineer (6), privacy and security (5), and research and development (3). Of note for the HIM and Exchange role, those completing our Commission on the Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management (CAHIIM)-accredited curriculum for this role are eligible to sit for the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) certification exam.
OHSU offers its Certificate and MBI programs both on-line and on-campus. In the UBT program, we chose to have Certificate students complete the program on-line, while MBI students were required to be full-time on-campus students. Both programs are national in scope, with students from 24 different states and the District of Columbia. Slightly over half of the students are from Oregon (54), with the other states with the largest enrollment being California (10), Washington (8), New York (4), Maryland (3), North Carolina (3), Texas (3), and Virginia (3).
Equally diverse as the geography of the students are their degrees and career backgrounds. The highest degrees for students include bachelor’s degrees (44), master’s degrees (43), MD degrees (20), PhD degrees (5), other physician degrees (2 NDs and 1 MBBS). The most common master’s degree is an MBA (9).The occupational background of our students is also heterogeneous. The most common prior careers are medicine (21) and nursing (15). Many other health care professions are represented as well, including public health, pharmacy, nurse midwifery, occupational therapy, physician assistant, speech communications, health information management, and emergency medical technician. Other highly represented occupations include business administration and management (13), computer science and information technology (9), health care administration and management (8), and library and information science (2). The variety of other occupations includes accounting, chemistry, economics, education, law, and mathematics. Three have or previously had faculty positions in higher education.
During the same time that our UBT program has been funding students, non-UBT students have also been matriculating and graduating from our programs. Since the UBT program started in the fall of 2010, 84 non-UBT students have matriculated in our Certificate program. During that same time, 32 Certificate students have graduated. Likewise, since UBT funding started, 50 non-UBT MBI students have matriculated and 13 have graduated.
A total of 25 graduates have completed our UBT Certificate program (18.5% of committed total). Another 15 are finishing up graduation requirements that should be completed before the end of the next academic quarter, while another 20-25 will be graduating at the end of the next quarter. One student has completed the UBT MBI program, with most of the first cohort of 8 students on track to complete the program on time in the spring of 2012.
Of the UBT Certificate graduates, 11 are in the clinician leader workforce role; followed by four in the HIM and exchange role; three each in the public health leader, programmer/software engineer and HIT subspecialist roles; and one in the research and development role. Six of these graduates have chosen to continue their studies by enrolling as part-time students in our MBI program.
All of our UBT graduates, and many of our currently enrolled students, have completed their practicum (Certificate) and internship (MBI) experiences. Project and settings have been diverse, from health care institutions, health information organizations, companies, and federal agencies. Health care institutions where our students have done practicum and internship activities include OHSU, Portland VA Medical Center, OCHIN (a Portland, OR-based organization that provides Epic EHR services to “safety net” clinics in several states), Kaiser Permanente (Portland, OR), Multnomah County Health Department (Portland, OR), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA), Duke University Health System (Durham, NC), University of Utah Medical Center (Salt Lake City, UT), and Allina Health System (Minneapolis, MN). Health information organizations where students have had experiences include the Oregon HIT Extension Center (OHITEC), the Oregon Health IT Oversight Committee, and the New York Clinical Information Exchange (NYCLIX). Companies where students have had experiences include Healthways (Franklin, TN), Communication Software (Portland, OR), and Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, PA). Federal agencies where students have had experiences include ONC and the Department of State Office of Medical Services. Two students have completed virtual projects with the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS).
About Our Students
A number of our graduates have obtained jobs in the HIT sector, some before they graduated. Some students already had jobs and used the UBT program to move into HIT or advance their careers within it. The backgrounds of these graduates are as diverse as our students, with those having clinical, IT, and other backgrounds obtaining HIT employment.
One early Certificate graduate was Tom Durkin. His previous career was as a schoolteacher, but he noted, “My wife’s solo practice as a physician gave me a window into the challenges of change and empathy for the struggles of HIT implementation.” After completing his practicum with the Oregon HIT Extension Center (O-HITEC), he was hired to recruit members for this regional extension center and to direct additional students doing the same. Additionally, Mr. Durkin will have the opportunity to develop his skills around the practice design and support of the three EHR products offered by OCHIN, the parent organization of O-HITEC. About his educational experience he stated, “The UBT program formed the basis for redirecting my teaching and sales background skills into the HIT field. The knowledge of how providers work combined with the intense depth of study in the EHR and the mandate for its universal adoption through meaningful use led directly to my current position. The OHSU program integrated an international experience through its distance learning course structure. This format provided a foundation for electronic communications that I use with providers throughout Oregon.”
Another early graduate was Edward Carroll. A former IT consultant, Mr. Carroll has taken a position with the Oregon Anesthesiology Group as Project Manager. Among his duties include IT support, implementation of new systems, product development, and process improvement activities. In describing his motivations for pursuing the program, he said, “The IT consulting market in Portland, Oregon was very fragmented and depressed economically. While looking around for a better industry where I could focus my energy and be more successful, I also decided to make that focus about giving back to society. I had been working in IT consulting for the healthcare industry for about 5 years, and decided that healthcare informatics met both criteria very nicely.”
An additional student with an IT background was Larry Bannister, a former software engineer who was the UBT program’s first MBI graduate. After completing his studies in June, 2011, Mr. Bannister immediately obtained a position as Test Manager for the Certification Commission on HIT (CCHIT). About his experience in the program he stated, “The main reason for pursuing a degree in biomedical informatics was to find work. The software engineering field has been decimated and I have been either unemployed or under-employed for a period of 4 or 5 years. I searched for something that would fit my background, as well, i.e., I wanted to utilize my software development and software test experience. I was a pre-med student as an undergraduate and continue to have an interest in the biological sciences. The OHSU program gave me the credibility to say that I have the background and training to do HIT. I had either developed or tested some HIT products in the past but the in-depth study of clinical topics, HIT legislation and HIT in general made me a more believable candidate to potential employers. Also, and most importantly, the networking via OHSU graduates and staff made the important connections that I needed to land my present job.”
Another graduate transitioning from the IT to the HIT industry was Lorraine Bessmer, who recently took a position as Applications Systems Analyst in the Information Security Group at Legacy Health Systems, a Portland, Oregon-based system of hospitals and clinics. She stated, “The Graduate Certificate program gave me the opportunity to expand my horizons and the UBT grant combined with a world-class program at OHSU was the perfect solution. With a full-time and demanding job, I could not have participated if I had to attend daytime classes. The knowledge and skills I gained during the program particularly in project management and in privacy and security provided me with the tools I needed to be successful in my practicum, which resulted in my job offer. I can say, I ‘wowed’ them.”
Ms. Bessmer further noted, “I was amazed at the enthusiasm and interest the instructors and staff all showed, and how everyone seems to genuinely want to make a difference in the lives of patients by providing clinicians with better tools so they can be more effective. I may sound jaded but this ‘enthusiasm’ was rare in my previous world. When I attended the student orientation last fall, I was amazed at the quality of the instructors and I knew the program was something I wanted to be a part of. I thought, ‘These are my people, I've found them!’”
Another graduate with a previous IT background was Gregg Hoshovsky, who has been hired as an analyst for St. Charles Health Care in Bend, Oregon. He joined the program because his previous job in e-commerce was “outsourced” to a different country. He recalled, “My basic desire was to move away from IT development positions and into healthcare business positions. The courses in this program helped me in understanding the uniqueness and complexities of the health care provider’s work environment. This has given me a better perspective in communicating and working with those professionals and to be in a better position to provide helpful solutions and suggestions for quality improvements. The courses in health care quality and the practice of health care were incredibly valuable for non-health care providers to understand the industry. The more basic classes like organizational behavior, the business of health care and the introduction to health care were helpful to gain a high-level perspective. I also enjoyed the public health classes.”
Another MBI student with an IT background, Court Fowler, is still a student in the program. However, his internship at OCHIN has led to a part-time job now and the promise of a full-time job upon graduation as a software developer. Mr. Fowler says of the program, “Without exception, all of the professors I have had for my classes have been highly capable, experienced individuals with a depth of knowledge they took pleasure in imparting to students. I have also come to value the Web-based learning management system that helps organize course material and facilitates communication among students and staff. Like those at other great schools, the program at OHSU provides a wealth of opportunities to which students can apply their efforts, and that hard work is well-rewarded with the credentials and confidence to take on future HIT challenges.”
Two physicians in the program have obtained positions as Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO). One is Heidi Twedt, MD, the CMIO of Sanford Health in Fargo, North Dakota. She noted, “I became CMIO of Sanford several years ago, and although I had practical knowledge of our system, I lacked formal training in informatics. This led be to your 10x10 (‘ten by ten’) course and then to the UBT Certificate program.” Dr. Twedt hopes to attain certification in the new clinical informatics medical subspecialty and values the (virtual) community nature of the program, stating, “I don't have a large number of colleagues at work to talk with on these issues. I did enjoy the chat rooms and debate occurred in that forum. I just enrolled in my first class towards the MBI.”
William Jennings, MD is CMIO of the Palmetto Health Quality Collaborative in South Carolina. He recalls, “I had a desire to formalize my education at an institution considered by most to be the leader in the field, even if it was 2800 miles away. Logistically, the distance learning program allowed me to continue practicing while formalizing my education. Professionally, it vaulted me in a few months to roles in my organization that had traditionally been obtainable only after 10 or more years of service. The education that I received allowed me to not only achieve these levels in the organization, but allowed me to surpass expectations and grow my responsibilities.”
Another physician, Jodi Kodish-Wachs, MD, serves as a Physician Consultant for Siemens Corp. in Malvern, Pennsylvania. She recalls, “After implementing and utilizing an EHR as Chair of the Department Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at a VA hospital, the dichotomy of practicing medicine in a university outpatient environment with a 7-year unfulfilled promise of an EHR was frustrating. I sought new opportunities that could satisfy my desire to improve the ability to obtain clinical information at the point of patient contact. I found I have been able to apply knowledge from every class in the UBT program to my role at Siemens. An example includes incorporating approaches from organizational behavior to address physician adoption to influencing the EHR product. The OHSU UBT clinical informatics program has exceeded my expectations. The expertise and academic openness of the professors is exceptional. Networking and employment opportunities are abundant. My new knowledge is directly applicable to both clinical medicine and industry. This led to my transition from clinical practice to employment with a vendor. I use my new information daily, applying it to the current use and future development of EHR solutions. My OHSU UBT program experiences have been invaluable to my new career in clinical informatics.”
The success of students with clinical backgrounds is not limited to physicians. Jessica Alexander is a nurse and Certificate student who serves as a nurse informaticist in OHSU Hospital. Another graduate (Certificate), Seana Zagar, works for OCHIN and is a social worker by background who now serves as Manager of Behavioral Health Product Development.
Another graduate working in HIM used the HIM & Exchange curriculum to successfully obtain her RHIA credential. Niki Newland stated, “The HIM program at OHSU has enhanced my professional life. I am staying in my current position as HIM supervisor for Providence Home Health, but have worked with my manager to revise my job description to move toward managing data quality and compliance, coding and coding education, and all parts of the revenue cycle. This directly reflects the work I did as a student at OHSU, and I find myself using the skills I learned while in the program in my work every day. The current role of the Data Quality and Compliance Coordinator is being rolled into my role of HIM Supervisor, and I have been given more responsibility when it comes to organizing and managing data that comes from quality reviews. Because I was pursuing further education and have been so successful at it, I have been granted more opportunities to participate in quality assurance and improvement work, assisting with state, CMS and Joint Commission audits and audit preparation while I was in school, and becoming the point person in Home Health HIM for those audits now that I have graduated and passed the exam.”
An additional graduate with previous experience in the healthcare industry is Jack Dainton, who used the UBT program to advance to a new position with his employer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, Park City, UT). Mr. Dainton’s new position title is Corporate Account Manager. The definition of his position is “to enhance the delivery and quality of patient care by providing patient centered care management solutions that will improve disease management outcomes”. He noted, “In this role I am part of a team that is attempting to take the aspects of HIT and social media and figure out how Pharma can work with these entities to interact with prescribers and patients to effectively improve health outcomes. The original and still current intent of my degree in biomedical informatics was to help me transition into an area of health care that is going to play a defining role in the success of our health care system as it continues to transform. As it turns out, my current employer, GlaxoSmithKline, also realized value in my education.”
Mr. Dainton further stated about the program, “Many employees within GSK apply for and receive educational tuition reimbursement. My employer was impressed that I applied for and received grant funding from outside of the organization and though that it showed a level of personal development and perspective that further differentiated me from other who are also continuing their education. The funding also allowed me to pursue my certificate in an accelerated fashion by providing the financing that I personally would not have been able to afford.”
He did his practicum experience at the University of Utah Health Information Services Department, noting, “This exposed me to the application of HIT in a very diverse and complex health care system. This knowledge provided me perspective on the challenges involved in maintaining an existing system, while implementing changes to improve the system to meet safety and quality goals.”
Mr. Dainton also said, “What I found most satisfying about the program was the level of passion that all students had in the area of Informatics and the realization that we are being trained in an area that is rapidly evolving and going to have serious impact on the success of the health care system in the US. I was also surprised by the level of bonding and camaraderie that took place with fellow classmates even though we had never met and our relationships were formed and existed primarily on-line or via conference calls. Since the UBT grant program at OHSU required an accelerated learning schedule, I did find the task of balancing my work life with my school commitments to be challenging, but in hind sight, very worth the effort.”
Overall, the OHSU UBT program has been a gratifying experience for students, faculty, and staff alike. There have certainly been some challenges, most notably students trying to complete the Graduate Certificate program in one year, often while holding down a job and/or family commitments, whereas most students usually take twice as long. In addition, not every student has found employment opportunities waiting at the end of their studies. While many new jobs have been created in HIT, graduates are not always a match for what is available where they want to stay living. The depressed economy has also made health care organizations and others cautious about new hiring.
Nonetheless, there are clear opportunities for the future, not only for UBT graduates but for all who are pursuing education and training in informatics. Regardless of the evolution of the HITECH program and health care reform, the health care industry will need to continue its adoption of IT. With the growing need for safety and accountability of health care, information will be a critical component for health care delivery, and no one will be better trained to perform and lead those efforts than those trained in informatics. With the development of the new clinical informatics subspecialty for physicians, and other certifications likely to follow for others in HIT, there will be professional recognition for this work as well.
Showing posts with label ONC university-based training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ONC university-based training. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
First Year of the OHSU University-Based Training (UBT) Program
It has been a little over a year since Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) was awarded two grants from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Workforce Development Program. Activity on these projects has been a major part of the work in our department, and certainly of my time, over this period. In this posting, I will report on our University-Based Training (UBT) Program. In a later posting, I will report on our work on the other funded project, the Curriculum Development Centers/National Training & Dissemination Center Program.
OHSU was one of nine universities (or consortia thereof) awarded a UBT grant. We have met all of our goals and timelines so far for the project. The gist of our funded proposal was to enroll students into our Graduate Certificate and Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBI) programs, with additional course requirements based on the specific ONC workforce roles. As OHSU is on an academic quarter system, Graduate Certificate (classified by ONC as Type 1) students are expected to complete the program in an accelerated part-time status in four quarters (one year) while MBI (classified by OC as Type 2) students are expected to complete the Master's program in six quarters (one and a half years) as full-time students. We were awarded $3.08 million to fund 135 Type 1 and 13 Type 2 students over three years through 2013. The "ad" on this page links to the Web page describing the program.
We accepted 12 Type 1 students to start in the summer quarter of 2010, with 11 of those students expected to graduate in June, 2011, along with two additional students who completed the program in an accelerated manner. We will also have one Type 2 student graduating in June, 2011. These 14 graduates will be eligible (and encouraged!) to attend the OHSU June 6, 2011 Commencement.
We have an additional 74 Type 1 students in the pipeline who started the program in the fall (34), winter (26), and spring (14) quarters. These students, along with eight Master's students, are for the most part on track to graduate on time.
The students we have accepted have a great deal of geographic and occupational diversity. Similar to our distance learning program in general, our UBT students reside all across the United States. (We actually have distance learning students living in 40 states as well as six countries.) Our UBT students reside in 20 different states, with some over-representation in our region, probably reflecting proportions of applicants. Those states with more than one student in our UBT program include:
Moving forward, we are on track to have an additional 34 Type 1 graduates at the end of the summer quarter in early September, 2011. On September 9-10, OHSU plans to hold an informatics program reunion event, celebrating the 15 year anniversary of our first informatics degree program and the first graduates of our UBT program. Additional students will graduate later this year and into 2012, including our initial cohort of MBI students.
All told, we have committed 78 of our 135 (57.8%) Type 1 slots and eight of our 13 (61.5%) Type 2 slots. We are taking the summer quarter off for new admissions and will be admitting Type 1 and Type 2 students starting again in the fall quarter. We will award the rest of our funded slots during the 2011-2012 academic year, aiming to have everyone complete the program by the end of grant in April, 2013. During this time, our existing program is still operational, and those not awarded UBT funding can still enroll as self-funded students.
We have also implemented practicum (for Graduate Certificate students) and internship (for Master's students) programs . These programs are being administered by an Internship Coordinator whom we have hired. Students are required to find their own practicum or internship, although we help them however we can. The hosting organizations so far include health care organizations, regional extension centers, and vendors.
Another hire is our career counselor, who will help students identify and apply for jobs. We also hope this individual will collaborate with the internship coordinator as well as lay the foundation for continued relationships with employers beyond the end of the UBT funding.
All told, we are pleased with what we have accomplished in the ONC UBT program. We hope this will lead to a sustainable increased interest in biomedical informatics education and careers beyond the end of the grant itself.
OHSU was one of nine universities (or consortia thereof) awarded a UBT grant. We have met all of our goals and timelines so far for the project. The gist of our funded proposal was to enroll students into our Graduate Certificate and Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBI) programs, with additional course requirements based on the specific ONC workforce roles. As OHSU is on an academic quarter system, Graduate Certificate (classified by ONC as Type 1) students are expected to complete the program in an accelerated part-time status in four quarters (one year) while MBI (classified by OC as Type 2) students are expected to complete the Master's program in six quarters (one and a half years) as full-time students. We were awarded $3.08 million to fund 135 Type 1 and 13 Type 2 students over three years through 2013. The "ad" on this page links to the Web page describing the program.
We accepted 12 Type 1 students to start in the summer quarter of 2010, with 11 of those students expected to graduate in June, 2011, along with two additional students who completed the program in an accelerated manner. We will also have one Type 2 student graduating in June, 2011. These 14 graduates will be eligible (and encouraged!) to attend the OHSU June 6, 2011 Commencement.
We have an additional 74 Type 1 students in the pipeline who started the program in the fall (34), winter (26), and spring (14) quarters. These students, along with eight Master's students, are for the most part on track to graduate on time.
The students we have accepted have a great deal of geographic and occupational diversity. Similar to our distance learning program in general, our UBT students reside all across the United States. (We actually have distance learning students living in 40 states as well as six countries.) Our UBT students reside in 20 different states, with some over-representation in our region, probably reflecting proportions of applicants. Those states with more than one student in our UBT program include:
- Oregon - 39 (49%)
- Washington - 7 (9%)
- California - 4 (5%)
- New York - 4 (5%)
- Texas - 3 (4%)
- Maryland - 3 (4%)
- Tennessee - 2 (3%)
- Utah - 2 (3%)
- Virginia - 2 (3%)
- Minnesota - 2 (3%)
- Wisconsin - 2 (3%)
- Medicine (Physician) - 16 (20%)
- Nursing - 13 (16%)
- Business/Management - 10 (13%)
- Liberal Arts/Humanities - 6 (8%)
- Computer Science - 6 (8%)
- Public Health - 4 (5%)
- Biochemistry/Biology/Chemistry - 4 (5%)
- Finance/Accounting - 2 (3%)
- Health Information Mgmt - 2 (3%)
- Healthcare Management/Administration - 2 (3%)
- Bachelors - 34 (44.1%)
- Masters - 24 (31.1%)
- MD - 16 (20.8%)
- PhD - 3 (3.9%)
- Other healthcare doctorate - 1 (1.3%)
Moving forward, we are on track to have an additional 34 Type 1 graduates at the end of the summer quarter in early September, 2011. On September 9-10, OHSU plans to hold an informatics program reunion event, celebrating the 15 year anniversary of our first informatics degree program and the first graduates of our UBT program. Additional students will graduate later this year and into 2012, including our initial cohort of MBI students.
All told, we have committed 78 of our 135 (57.8%) Type 1 slots and eight of our 13 (61.5%) Type 2 slots. We are taking the summer quarter off for new admissions and will be admitting Type 1 and Type 2 students starting again in the fall quarter. We will award the rest of our funded slots during the 2011-2012 academic year, aiming to have everyone complete the program by the end of grant in April, 2013. During this time, our existing program is still operational, and those not awarded UBT funding can still enroll as self-funded students.
We have also implemented practicum (for Graduate Certificate students) and internship (for Master's students) programs . These programs are being administered by an Internship Coordinator whom we have hired. Students are required to find their own practicum or internship, although we help them however we can. The hosting organizations so far include health care organizations, regional extension centers, and vendors.
Another hire is our career counselor, who will help students identify and apply for jobs. We also hope this individual will collaborate with the internship coordinator as well as lay the foundation for continued relationships with employers beyond the end of the UBT funding.
All told, we are pleased with what we have accomplished in the ONC UBT program. We hope this will lead to a sustainable increased interest in biomedical informatics education and careers beyond the end of the grant itself.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Update on the ONC Workforce Development Program
It's hard to believe that it has only been a little more than seven months since the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) announced the awardees for its Workforce Development Program. A tremendous amount has been accomplished since the grants were awarded on April 2, 2010. Our department at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has played a substantial role in several aspects of the program.
The ONC Workforce Development Program is devoted to building the professional workforce that will help eligible hospitals and professionals achieve meaningful use of the electronic health records (EHR). The program is based on the need for an estimated 51,000 such professionals who will work in twelve workforce roles. Half of these workforce roles are deemed to be trained in six-month certificate programs in community colleges, while the other half are to be trained in 1-2 years in university-based programs.
The overall program consists of four specific initiatives:
1. Community College Consortia - 84 community colleges, grouped into five regional consortia, have been funded to offer six-month certificate programs in the six community workforce roles.
2. Curriculum Development Centers - Because the community colleges do not have curricula for these programs, five universities have received awards to develop curricular components that are to be developed into courses by the community colleges. One of the five universities (OHSU) was additionally designated the National Training and Dissemination Center (NTDC), tasked with developing the Web site for dissemination of the materials and carrying out training activities for community colleges, including a training event that took place in August, 2010.
3. Competency Examination - An examination to test the competencies gained by graduates of the community college programs for the six workforce roles trained in their programs is being developed.
4. University-based Training (UBT) programs - Additional training funds were awarded to nine universities (including OHSU) for longer-term university-based training.
As noted above, OHSU has been playing a major role in the ONC Workforce Development Program. We are one of the five Curriculum Development Centers and also serve as the NTDC. In addition, we are also one of the nine universities funded under the UBT program.
The work in all of these programs has been substantial over the past seven-plus months. Led by the NTDC, the Curriculum Development Centers have delivered the first version of the 20 curricular components, which are available to the community college programs on the NTDC Web site. The NTDC also put on the training event over August 9-11, 2010 in Portland, OR that brought together over 200 community college faculty, the five Curriculum Development Centers, and some of the ONC leadership.
The Curriculum Development Centers project has spawned another exciting project that will, in the long run, benefit the entire informatics field. This is the development of an educational version of the VA VistA EHR system along with teaching exercises in using and configuring EHRs. The lack of EHR access has always been a problem in informatics education, as vendors have been reluctant to make their systems more readily available. (This is in contrast to companies like IBM and Apple that make development tools available to computer science students for free or at substantial discounts, which makes sense, as it trains a new generation of students in their wares.) This project will rectify this problem and hopefully get vendors to consider ways to be more open with their systems for educational purposes.
OHSU is likewise very busy with its UBT training grant, which will fund 135 Graduate Certificate and 13 Master of Biomedical Informatics over three years. The certificate students are admitted on a rolling basis each quarter (OHSU is on an academic quarter system) and must make the commitment to complete the program in one year. While not requiring full-time study, this pace does require more concentrated commitment than typical part-time students. The program is on-line with no on-campus requirement. We have enrolled 47 certificate students to date and plan to continue admitting 20-30 students per quarter until the funding is completely committed (probably in early 2012). Unfortunately, the number of qualified applicants has vastly exceeded the resources of the grant (about 100 applicants per quarter), although most are offered admission on a self-funded (i.e., paying tuition) basis.
The master's students are admitted in two cohorts, one that started in the fall of 2010 and another that will begin in the fall of 2011. This program is full-time and on-campus.
One novel feature of both programs is the requirement of a practicum (certificate) or internship (master's). We believe that hands-on, real-world experience is essential for learning informatics, even those in on-line programs. We had experience in remote students doing practicums and internships prior to the grant and feel ready to scale up to all of the students funded by the UBT grant. To this end, we have hired a Practicum/Internship Coordinator who will handle the organization and logistics of the program.
We also plan to use the resources of the grant to hire a Career Counselor. This addresses another challenge that informatics programs have faced, which is having the resources to provide career guidance. We have found that generic career advising centers can be helpful to a point, but there is much advice specific to informatics, especially for the students of diverse backgrounds and interests who enroll in our program.
We also hope that in the long run, these enhancements will carry over into our regular program, especially once the ONC UBT grant ends in 2013. I am optimistic that informatics education will continue to be pursued by a variety of students to carry on the work that will not end once the HITECH program finishes. Informatics is and will continue to be a great career option for those wanting to work at the intersection of health disciplines and information technology. As I always say, informatics is more than EHRs, and there will also be continued opportunities in other areas in bioinformatics, other aspects of clinical informatics, public health informatics, and more.
The ONC Workforce Development Program is devoted to building the professional workforce that will help eligible hospitals and professionals achieve meaningful use of the electronic health records (EHR). The program is based on the need for an estimated 51,000 such professionals who will work in twelve workforce roles. Half of these workforce roles are deemed to be trained in six-month certificate programs in community colleges, while the other half are to be trained in 1-2 years in university-based programs.
The overall program consists of four specific initiatives:
1. Community College Consortia - 84 community colleges, grouped into five regional consortia, have been funded to offer six-month certificate programs in the six community workforce roles.
2. Curriculum Development Centers - Because the community colleges do not have curricula for these programs, five universities have received awards to develop curricular components that are to be developed into courses by the community colleges. One of the five universities (OHSU) was additionally designated the National Training and Dissemination Center (NTDC), tasked with developing the Web site for dissemination of the materials and carrying out training activities for community colleges, including a training event that took place in August, 2010.
3. Competency Examination - An examination to test the competencies gained by graduates of the community college programs for the six workforce roles trained in their programs is being developed.
4. University-based Training (UBT) programs - Additional training funds were awarded to nine universities (including OHSU) for longer-term university-based training.
As noted above, OHSU has been playing a major role in the ONC Workforce Development Program. We are one of the five Curriculum Development Centers and also serve as the NTDC. In addition, we are also one of the nine universities funded under the UBT program.
The work in all of these programs has been substantial over the past seven-plus months. Led by the NTDC, the Curriculum Development Centers have delivered the first version of the 20 curricular components, which are available to the community college programs on the NTDC Web site. The NTDC also put on the training event over August 9-11, 2010 in Portland, OR that brought together over 200 community college faculty, the five Curriculum Development Centers, and some of the ONC leadership.
The Curriculum Development Centers project has spawned another exciting project that will, in the long run, benefit the entire informatics field. This is the development of an educational version of the VA VistA EHR system along with teaching exercises in using and configuring EHRs. The lack of EHR access has always been a problem in informatics education, as vendors have been reluctant to make their systems more readily available. (This is in contrast to companies like IBM and Apple that make development tools available to computer science students for free or at substantial discounts, which makes sense, as it trains a new generation of students in their wares.) This project will rectify this problem and hopefully get vendors to consider ways to be more open with their systems for educational purposes.
OHSU is likewise very busy with its UBT training grant, which will fund 135 Graduate Certificate and 13 Master of Biomedical Informatics over three years. The certificate students are admitted on a rolling basis each quarter (OHSU is on an academic quarter system) and must make the commitment to complete the program in one year. While not requiring full-time study, this pace does require more concentrated commitment than typical part-time students. The program is on-line with no on-campus requirement. We have enrolled 47 certificate students to date and plan to continue admitting 20-30 students per quarter until the funding is completely committed (probably in early 2012). Unfortunately, the number of qualified applicants has vastly exceeded the resources of the grant (about 100 applicants per quarter), although most are offered admission on a self-funded (i.e., paying tuition) basis.
The master's students are admitted in two cohorts, one that started in the fall of 2010 and another that will begin in the fall of 2011. This program is full-time and on-campus.
One novel feature of both programs is the requirement of a practicum (certificate) or internship (master's). We believe that hands-on, real-world experience is essential for learning informatics, even those in on-line programs. We had experience in remote students doing practicums and internships prior to the grant and feel ready to scale up to all of the students funded by the UBT grant. To this end, we have hired a Practicum/Internship Coordinator who will handle the organization and logistics of the program.
We also plan to use the resources of the grant to hire a Career Counselor. This addresses another challenge that informatics programs have faced, which is having the resources to provide career guidance. We have found that generic career advising centers can be helpful to a point, but there is much advice specific to informatics, especially for the students of diverse backgrounds and interests who enroll in our program.
We also hope that in the long run, these enhancements will carry over into our regular program, especially once the ONC UBT grant ends in 2013. I am optimistic that informatics education will continue to be pursued by a variety of students to carry on the work that will not end once the HITECH program finishes. Informatics is and will continue to be a great career option for those wanting to work at the intersection of health disciplines and information technology. As I always say, informatics is more than EHRs, and there will also be continued opportunities in other areas in bioinformatics, other aspects of clinical informatics, public health informatics, and more.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
New Talk and Department Web Site
This week I had the opportunity to kick off our OHSU Biomedical Informatics Conference Series that takes place on Thursdays at 11:30 am. I presented an overview of the HITECH program, OHSU's role in it, and how it impacts not only clinical informatics, but other areas of informatics as well, such as bioinformatics, clinical research informatics, public health informatics, and consumer health informatics. A video of the talk and PDF of my slides (with references) are available.
We also launched our new department web site this week. All of our old URLs still work, including those to the site and to information about our ONC scholarship funding.
We also launched our new department web site this week. All of our old URLs still work, including those to the site and to information about our ONC scholarship funding.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Welcoming Unprecedented Numbers to the OHSU Informatics Educational Program
The beginning of the academic year is always an exciting time, and this year is exceptionally exciting, due to the unprecedented enrollment in our program. While numbers do not tell the entire story, they clearly show a field in ascension. While much of the growth is fueled by our University-Based Training (UBT) Grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), there is growth in all areas of our program.
This week we welcomed an total of 95 new students to the OHSU biomedical informatics graduate program. This matriculating class includes 4 PhD, 25 Master's, and 66 Graduate Certificate students. Of the 25 Master's students, 19 are in the clinical informatics track and 6 are in the bioinformatics and computational biology track. Of the 19 in the clinical informatics track, 10 are on-campus and 9 are distance-learning students. Of the 10 on-campus master's students, 8 are funded by our new ONC UBT grant. All of the Graduate Certificate students are distance-learning students, with 36 funded by the UBT grant.
These new students bring our total student body to approximately 350 students who are actively enrolled in the program. This includes 15 PhD, 83 Master's, and approximately 250 Graduate Certificate students. The 8 Master's and 36 Graduate Certificate students starting the UBT program join 12 other Graduate Certificate students who started in the summer quarter. This brings our total UBT enrollment to 56 students. Applications are now being accepted for those who wish to apply for Graduate Certificate UBT funding starting in the winter quarter. We are well on our way to educating 148 students over three years in the UBT grant.
All of these students will aspire to join our alumni, which consists of 272 people who have received 281 degrees, certificates, and fellowships (as of June, 2010). Our program has awarded 5 PhD, 63 Master of Science, and 74 Master of Biomedical Informatics degrees. We have also awarded 120 Graduate Certificates. Many of these alumni work in a variety of health care, industry, academic, and other settings.
I suppose I am biased, but I am incredibly optimistic for the future of biomedical informatics education. This field is truly establishing an identity as leading the charge to improve health, healthcare, biomedical research, and public health through better use of information. This involves not only electronic health records, but also other information systems in areas such as genomics, telemedicine, knowledge management, and clinical and translational research. Because of this, I am confident that our current students will find many rewarding career opportunities in all of these areas. I am also certain that informatics education will continue to be appealing long after the ONC funding ends, as students will be attracted to careers in this growing field in the long run.
Addendum
For those who better visualize numbers in a more tabular form, here is a summary (sorry Blogspot does not allow multiple levels of indenting):
Matriculating class, Fall, 2010 - 95
-PhD -4
-Master's - 25
--6 Bioinformatics Track
--19 Clinical Informatics Track
---10 on-campus (8 UBT)
---9 distance learning
-Graduate Certificate - 66
--(36 UBT)
Total enrollment - about 350
-PhD - 15
-Master's - 83
--60 distance learning
--23 on-campus
-Graduate Certificate - about 250
Alumni (as of June, 2010)
-People - 272
-Fellowships only - 19
-Degrees - 262
--PhD - 5 (2-3 more just about done)
--Master's - 137
---Master of Science - 63
---Master of Biomedical Informatics - 74
--Graduate Certificate - 120
This week we welcomed an total of 95 new students to the OHSU biomedical informatics graduate program. This matriculating class includes 4 PhD, 25 Master's, and 66 Graduate Certificate students. Of the 25 Master's students, 19 are in the clinical informatics track and 6 are in the bioinformatics and computational biology track. Of the 19 in the clinical informatics track, 10 are on-campus and 9 are distance-learning students. Of the 10 on-campus master's students, 8 are funded by our new ONC UBT grant. All of the Graduate Certificate students are distance-learning students, with 36 funded by the UBT grant.
These new students bring our total student body to approximately 350 students who are actively enrolled in the program. This includes 15 PhD, 83 Master's, and approximately 250 Graduate Certificate students. The 8 Master's and 36 Graduate Certificate students starting the UBT program join 12 other Graduate Certificate students who started in the summer quarter. This brings our total UBT enrollment to 56 students. Applications are now being accepted for those who wish to apply for Graduate Certificate UBT funding starting in the winter quarter. We are well on our way to educating 148 students over three years in the UBT grant.
All of these students will aspire to join our alumni, which consists of 272 people who have received 281 degrees, certificates, and fellowships (as of June, 2010). Our program has awarded 5 PhD, 63 Master of Science, and 74 Master of Biomedical Informatics degrees. We have also awarded 120 Graduate Certificates. Many of these alumni work in a variety of health care, industry, academic, and other settings.
I suppose I am biased, but I am incredibly optimistic for the future of biomedical informatics education. This field is truly establishing an identity as leading the charge to improve health, healthcare, biomedical research, and public health through better use of information. This involves not only electronic health records, but also other information systems in areas such as genomics, telemedicine, knowledge management, and clinical and translational research. Because of this, I am confident that our current students will find many rewarding career opportunities in all of these areas. I am also certain that informatics education will continue to be appealing long after the ONC funding ends, as students will be attracted to careers in this growing field in the long run.
Addendum
For those who better visualize numbers in a more tabular form, here is a summary (sorry Blogspot does not allow multiple levels of indenting):
Matriculating class, Fall, 2010 - 95
-PhD -4
-Master's - 25
--6 Bioinformatics Track
--19 Clinical Informatics Track
---10 on-campus (8 UBT)
---9 distance learning
-Graduate Certificate - 66
--(36 UBT)
Total enrollment - about 350
-PhD - 15
-Master's - 83
--60 distance learning
--23 on-campus
-Graduate Certificate - about 250
Alumni (as of June, 2010)
-People - 272
-Fellowships only - 19
-Degrees - 262
--PhD - 5 (2-3 more just about done)
--Master's - 137
---Master of Science - 63
---Master of Biomedical Informatics - 74
--Graduate Certificate - 120
Saturday, May 15, 2010
ONC-Funded Scholarship Program for OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program Open for Applications
Applications are now being accepted for scholarship funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) to study in the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) biomedical informatics graduate program. This funding comes from the ONC's University-Based Training Program, and is part of their Health IT Workforce Development Program that aims to rapidly expand the workforce through predominantly short-term educational opportunities. In the case of OHSU, this will involve tuition scholarships for 135 students in our Graduate Certificate program and 13 students in our Master of Biomedical Informatics (MBI) program over the next three years. The latter will also receive a stipend and student health insurance while enrolled in the program. Enrollment for both programs will begin in Fall 2009.
Despite this funding, very little else about OHSU's larger informatics programs will change. The ONC scholarships add funding for a large number of students as well as some additional academic requirements centered around six health IT job roles. Each of these job roles has requirements for additional courses that either already exist or will shortly be added to the curriculum. Students not funded by the ONC scholarships will still be able to study in the program as they always have. For more information, click on the "ad" to the right or go directly to www.ohsuscholarships.info.
More details about the program are available on the OHSU Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology (DMICE) Web site. To qualify for funding, students must be US citizens or permanent residents; must not have been enrolled in an informatics educational program on December 17, 2009 or earlier; must commit to study in one of six ONC-designated job roles; and must commit to completing the Graduate Certificate program in one year or the MBI program full-time and on-campus over 1 1/2 years.
The OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program offers a variety of certificates and degrees in three tracks: clinical informatics (CI), bioinformatics and computational biology (BCB), and health information management (HIM). The CI and HIM tracks are focused on the healthcare and public health arenas, while the BCB track is focused on translational bioinformatics and personalized medicine. The ONC funding is limited to the CI and HIM tracks.
The certificate and degree programs are implemented on a building-block model, where courses at any level can be carried to programs at higher levels. The most basic program is the Graduate Certificate program, which is offered for the CI and HIM tracks. (The HIM Graduate Certificate is CAHIIM-accredited and allows graduates to sit for the examination for the RHIA credential.) OHSU offers two master's degree programs which differ only in the culminating project being a thesis (Master of Science) or a capstone or internship (MBI). The master's degree programs are offered for the CI and BCB tracks (although HIM Graduate Certificate graduates can easily move into the CI master's programs). OHSU's PhD program is offered for the CI and BCB tracks. All CI and HIM track programs up to and including the master's degree programs are available both on-campus and via distance learning. The BCB track and PhD program are only available on the OHSU campus.
The introductory course in the CI track (BMI 510 - Introduction to Biomedical and Health Informatics) was also adapted to be the original course in the AMIA 10x10 ("ten by ten") program, which aims to education 10,000 professionals in informatics by the year 2010. It has been the most subscribed course in the 10x10 program, and about 15% of graduates have gone on to further study in the OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program.
Why study biomedical informatics at OHSU? We have a long-standing program that is one of largest in active enrollment as well as alumni. Our 230+ alumni have taken a variety of jobs in healthcare organizations, academia, industry, government, and other settings. We also have a full-time faculty who are not only passionate about teaching but also accomplished researchers and thought leaders in the field. Finally, our program is a real graduate program and not a continuing education program.
Despite this funding, very little else about OHSU's larger informatics programs will change. The ONC scholarships add funding for a large number of students as well as some additional academic requirements centered around six health IT job roles. Each of these job roles has requirements for additional courses that either already exist or will shortly be added to the curriculum. Students not funded by the ONC scholarships will still be able to study in the program as they always have. For more information, click on the "ad" to the right or go directly to www.ohsuscholarships.info.
More details about the program are available on the OHSU Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology (DMICE) Web site. To qualify for funding, students must be US citizens or permanent residents; must not have been enrolled in an informatics educational program on December 17, 2009 or earlier; must commit to study in one of six ONC-designated job roles; and must commit to completing the Graduate Certificate program in one year or the MBI program full-time and on-campus over 1 1/2 years.
The OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program offers a variety of certificates and degrees in three tracks: clinical informatics (CI), bioinformatics and computational biology (BCB), and health information management (HIM). The CI and HIM tracks are focused on the healthcare and public health arenas, while the BCB track is focused on translational bioinformatics and personalized medicine. The ONC funding is limited to the CI and HIM tracks.
The certificate and degree programs are implemented on a building-block model, where courses at any level can be carried to programs at higher levels. The most basic program is the Graduate Certificate program, which is offered for the CI and HIM tracks. (The HIM Graduate Certificate is CAHIIM-accredited and allows graduates to sit for the examination for the RHIA credential.) OHSU offers two master's degree programs which differ only in the culminating project being a thesis (Master of Science) or a capstone or internship (MBI). The master's degree programs are offered for the CI and BCB tracks (although HIM Graduate Certificate graduates can easily move into the CI master's programs). OHSU's PhD program is offered for the CI and BCB tracks. All CI and HIM track programs up to and including the master's degree programs are available both on-campus and via distance learning. The BCB track and PhD program are only available on the OHSU campus.
The introductory course in the CI track (BMI 510 - Introduction to Biomedical and Health Informatics) was also adapted to be the original course in the AMIA 10x10 ("ten by ten") program, which aims to education 10,000 professionals in informatics by the year 2010. It has been the most subscribed course in the 10x10 program, and about 15% of graduates have gone on to further study in the OHSU Biomedical Informatics Graduate Program.
Why study biomedical informatics at OHSU? We have a long-standing program that is one of largest in active enrollment as well as alumni. Our 230+ alumni have taken a variety of jobs in healthcare organizations, academia, industry, government, and other settings. We also have a full-time faculty who are not only passionate about teaching but also accomplished researchers and thought leaders in the field. Finally, our program is a real graduate program and not a continuing education program.
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