According to the November 2010 Rural Health Update from the California State Rural Health Association, 36 percent of California's hospital facilities and primary care or health clinics are in designated rural areas within the state. These facilities serve nearly 5.3 million residents who are more impacted by poverty and lack of health insurance than those in urban areas.
As hospitals and clinics begin to transition to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) as a result of requirements under Health Care Reform, medical workers in rural regions may not have the skills needed to implement EMR and other Health IT applications. In addition to the obvious challenges of adequate broadband access and fewer financial resources to purchase new IT equipment, rural locations lack the IT expertise found in metropolitan health care facilities and have limited resources available for training staff.
The Health Workforce Initiative at Butte College, in partnership with the California Health Information Partnership and Services (CalHIPSO), Health Services Advisory Group (HSAG), and the Tahoe Institute for Rural Health Research, piloted a Rural Hospital Incumbent Worker Health IT Training Program. Course topics included: IT Project Management, Workflow Analysis, Change Management, and Data and Health Information Exchange. Coursework for the program is completed entirely online, and participants have access to weekly support calls hosted by the California Rural Health IT network as well as personal coaching and site-specific advice from CalHIPSO.
"The reaction from the rural hospital community was overwhelming, with 138 participants from 21 hospitals/organizations enrolled in the 10-week pilot program, which is scheduled to end this month," said curriculum contributor Lynn Barr, Tahoe Institute for Rural Health. "There's interest from the Office of Rural Health Policy to replicate the model nationally."
For more information on the program, please contact Tessa Miley at 530-879-9068. For information on the Health Workforce Initiative, contact Linda Zorn at (530) 879-9069, lzorn@CCCEWD.net, or go to www.ca-hwi.org/.
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