Oregon Health & Science University has been awarded $5.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to advance the widespread adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (HIT) by educating professionals to work in this rapidly growing field.  

Through this recovery act funding, OHSU will provide financial aid for nearly 140 new students to enroll in and complete the university’s online Graduate Certificate Program in Biomedical Informatics.  The funding also will allow at least 12 students to enroll in and complete OHSU’s on-campus master's degree program.  All financial aid under this grant is for students in graduate-level programs requiring a minimum of a bachelor’s degree for admission.

Students receiving financial aid will be required to choose among six career paths:
•    Clinician/public health leader
•    Health information management and exchange specialist
•    Health information privacy and security specialist
•    Research and development scientist
•    Programmers and software engineer
•    Health IT sub-specialist

The eight-course graduate certificate program is entirely online and and can be completed in two to three academic quarters.  Students who are funded through this program will receive support for their tuition expenses and must complete its requirements within one year.

The master’s degree program requires about 1½ years of full-time study. The funding will not only provide these students with tuition support, but includes a stipend and student health insurance.

The National Training and Dissemination Center will support a total of five Curriculum Development Centers, one of which will be housed at OHSU. Together, the five centers will develop curricula for the five community college consortia being established to train community college students in HIT.  These curricula will also be made available to institutions of higher education throughout the nation.  The National Training and Dissemination Center will house the curricula on a dedicated Web site, train community college faculty in its use, and collect and disseminate feedback on its content.

The Curriculum Development Center at OHSU is a partnership between OHSU and four local community colleges — Portland Community College, Mt. Hood Community College, Lane Community College and Umpqua Community College.OHSU and community college faculty will collaborate to tailor the curricula for community college students.

for more information:  http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/about/news_events/news/ohsu-awarded-money-to-expand-h.cfm

 

posted by Kathy Wilcox