WINTERVILLE--Having successfully launched new online training for prospective Health Care and Information Technology professionals in September, Pitt Community College is now seeking students for the second round of classes that begins Nov. 15.

    Earlier this year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology chose PCC to lead a regional consortium tasked with addressing the growing need for Health Information Technology (HIT) training. As part of the project, five universities developed a curriculum that provides students with the knowledge, skills and aptitudes needed to use, install and maintain electronic health records.

    As a result of federal health care reform legislation, all medical records must be converted to an electronic format by 2014. Electronic health records are expected to improve the quality and efficiency of medical care by making information exchanges possible between health care providers and public health authorities.

    According to Ashley Deaver, Student Support Specialist for the PCC Member College, HIT professionals are in high demand and good-paying jobs await them. She said PCC has made it a goal to train more than 300 new HIT professionals by 2012, adding that 39 students started the college's first round of HIT training on Sept. 30.

    "PCC is very pleased with the number of students that have expressed interest in the program and hopes to have many more who will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity," Deaver said. "We plan to start a new class every six weeks."

    Students must have either a Medical or Information Technology background to enroll in the HIT program. The classes are available online, which means they are accessible 24 hours a day and do not require students to attend class on campus.

    Tuition is $360 with reimbursement possible upon successful completion of the program within the six-month allotted time frame and while funding is still available.

    The program is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of National Coordinator under award number 90CC0078.

    For more information, visit http://hwtp.pittcc.edu.

    The HIT Workforce Training Program is intensive, online, six-month non-degree education designed to provide a qualified pool of workers with both a medical and information technology body of knowledge to ensure the adoption of the electronic health records (EHRs), information exchange across health care providers and public health authorities, and the redesign of workflows within health care settings to gain the quality and efficiency benefits of EHRs, while maintaining privacy and security of medical information.

    The Program will be flexibly implemented to provide each trainee with skills and competencies that he/she does not already possess. Focus will be on individuals who have either medical or information technology knowledge and education. Training will provide these individuals knowledge, skills, and aptitudes necessary to implement an electronic health records system.

    For more information, click here.

    Funding for this Program is provided by the Office of the National Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services support, under grant number 90CC0078. Said grant was issued under the authority of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 2009 (p.L. 111-5), Title XIII.