Delta College Health Information Technology program still taking applicants for program

From MLive.com:

Delta College’s Health Information Technology program is looking for new students to sign up before thefederal funding that helps support the program runs out.

The program is designed for people with a health care or health information technology background to get training in three areas: clinician-practitioner, implementation manager and technical software support.

The program began in 2010 after Delta received $1.41 million out of $14.6 million given to 17 Midwestern community colleges to offer the medical history training. The money came from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We are encouraging applications still,” said Sharon Leenhouts, health information technology program coordinator. “We can only give the scholarships until the resources have been exhausted.”

Leenhouts said the program has had about 30 graduates and another 270 currently in the program.

The program has open entry and open exit, so students can take courses whenever they want. But Dave Case, lead faculty with the Health Information Technology Department, said the program is designed to take about six months. An example of a student in the program, Case said, would be a nurse or medical assistant interested in improving their credentials.

“It adds to their resume, to their employability and their advancement,” Case said. “Our local hospitals are rapidly incorporating technology.”

The clinician or practitioner consultant track is for students who already are licensed professionals or have significant experience in federal, state or local public health agencies. The implementation managers track teaches students to manage health information technology systems and mobile adoption support teams. The third track, technical and software support, teaches students how to maintain and support technology systems in clinical and public and personal health information settings.