<0> Normandale Community College Only College in Minnesota to Offer Online Health IT Training for Mid-Career Professionals </0>
Health IT Booming Due to Affordable Care Act and Electronic Health Records
<0> For Normandale Community College:Barbara Mednick, 651-486-7007orSteven Geller, 952-358-8954 </0>
While the U.S. labor market is still soft, health IT is booming – in Minnesota and across the U.S. As the health care system goes digital to streamline delivery, reduce costs, and implement a new accountable care model, health IT (HIT) is growing -- creating an increasing need for highly trained professionals. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in medical records and health information technology are expected to grow by 20 percent through 2018. This is due to the recent passage of the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the federal mandate to implement electronic health records (EHRs) by 2015.
Since 2010, has been at the forefront of training HIT professionals. Made possible by a $1.2 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the college has successfully provided HIT training to 300 health care, IT and related professionals. Eighty-five percent of professionals who completed the program during the first year are employed.
“HIT is an ideal career for people who enjoy problem-solving and analysis, and are interested in working in the health care industry,” said Sunny Ainley, Health IT Program Lead for the Center for Applied Learning at Normandale Community College.
It is estimated that one in nine U.S. jobs will be in health care by 2020, with a 66 percent increase in IT staff in the next year, according to , a leading national health IT association. Despite this growing need, industry experts have predicted a hiring shortfall of thousands of HIT professionals over the next several years.
Normandale is the only college in Minnesota to offer a six-month, 100 percent online HIT training program. Providing professional level, industry-proven HIT training, the complements the education and experience of mid-career professionals with health care, IT, health information management, quality/process improvement and business analyst experience in metro and rural Minnesota.
The is now accepting applications through Sept. 17, 2012 for the third cohort of 200 participants. For more information on the MnHIT program and to apply, visit .