News Summary

The University of Minnesota Institute for Health Informatics is leading a consortium that has been awarded more than $5 million to train health professionals in the vitally important field of health informatics.

As health care systems transition from paper to digital records – in the form of patients’ electronic health records, prescriptions, best treatments/therapies and more – the field of health informatics has grown exponentially, which has simultaneously boosted the demand to train quality professionals in the field.

Quotes

“This is the first cross-institutional, Minnesota-based, private-public consortium that has regional reach and impact focused exclusively on the preparation of university graduates for health informatics technology roles. The consortium institutions represent the most mature and highly regarded university undergraduate, graduate and certificate health informatics programs in the Minnesota. This also really builds on the University of Minnesota’s history of more than 35 years of training graduate students in health informatics.” -- Principal investigator of the grant in the Institute for Health Informatics’ lead faculty, Julie Jacko, Ph.D., who is also on the faculty in the School of Nursing and School of Public Health

“Data and data management is becoming an integral part of daily life, especially in health care,” said Ray Gensinger, chief medical information officer at Fairview Health Services. “As Fairview and the University of Minnesota move forward on this and other joint initiatives, a knowledgeable health care community is imperative to make transformational changes in health care.”

“Collaboration between the consortium and community partners is crucial,” said Andrew Nelson, M.P.H., executive director of HealthPartners Research Foundation. “We share a common vision to optimize health through a wide network of research partnerships. Together, we have the power to transform health and health care.”

Full Text

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (April 22, 2010) – The University of Minnesota Institute for Health Informatics is leading a consortium that has been awarded more than $5 million to train health professionals in the vitally important field of health informatics.

As health care systems transition from paper to digital records – in the form of patients’ electronic health records, prescriptions, best treatments/therapies and more – the field of health informatics has grown exponentially, which has simultaneously boosted the demand to train quality professionals in the field.

The $5,145,705 million grant comes as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and was awarded by the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. A total of nine institutions were awarded stimulus funds for health information, but only two were awarded more than $5 million – the University of Minnesota and Texas State University. The principal investigator of the grant is the Institute for Health Informatics’ lead faculty, Julie Jacko, Ph.D., who is also on the faculty in the School of Nursing and School of Public Health.

Consortium Members

The University Partnership for Health Informatics (UP-HI), funded by this grant, will help the University of Minnesota – in partnership with the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota-Crookston (other members of the consortium) – train new professionals and advance widespread adoption and meaningful use of health information technology.

Other University of Minnesota faculty with key roles in the grant include:

• Co-PI and assistant professor Terrence Adam, M.D., Ph.D., from the College of Pharmacy and the Institute for Health Informatics
• Co-PI and assistant professor Bonnie Westra, Ph.D., R.N., from the School of Nursing
• Associate professor Sandy Potthoff, Ph.D., from the School of Public Health
• Layne Johnson, Ph.D., from the Health Science Library and the Institute for Health Informatics
• Assistant professor Rui Kang, Ph.D., from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

These faculty members will contribute to the effort through curricular development, course delivery, student recruitment, and program development and evaluation.

UP-HI is leveraging and enhancing existing certificate and degree programs among the consortium members. Specifically, UP-HI is inclusive of the following programs:

• IHI’s Master in Health Informatics, Master of Science in Health Informatics, and Minor in Health Informatics
• School of Nursing Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice Specialty Certificate in Nursing Informatics
• School of Public Health Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Certificate, and Master of Science in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration
• Master of Science in Computer Science

Professor Adel Ali, Ph.D., is the lead investigator from the University of Minnesota-Crookston; through him and his team, UP-HI will leverage the UMN-Crookston Health Informatics Minor for Software Engineers and the Health Informatics Specialist Certificate.

Professor and Dean Marty Witrak, Ph.D., R.N., is the lead investigator at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS); through her and her team, UP-HI will leverage the CSS Nursing Informatics Certificate, the Health Information Management and Exchange Specialist Certificate, and the MS in Health Information Management.

Consortium Goals

Combined, the consortium will train professionals in six different specialties that take 6-24 months to complete. Courses begin fall 2010. These professionals will improve the efficiency of the health care system and save money for both health care providers and patients, Jacko said.

“This is the first cross-institutional, Minnesota-based, private-public consortium that has regional reach and impact focused exclusively on the preparation of university graduates for health informatics technology roles,” Jacko said. “The consortium institutions represent the most mature and highly regarded university undergraduate, graduate and certificate health informatics programs in the Minnesota. This also really builds on the University of Minnesota’s history of more than 35 years of training graduate students in health informatics.”

The grant comes on the heels of historic health care reform, requiring the country to convert to electronic health records by the year 2014. The result will likely be a glut of new jobs in hospital and health care systems for IT professionals.

“Data and data management is becoming an integral part of daily life, especially in health care,” said Ray Gensinger, chief medical information officer at Fairview Health Services. “As Fairview and the University of Minnesota move forward on this and other joint initiatives, a knowledgeable health care community is imperative to make transformational changes in health care.”

The roles which the UP-HI programs target for training will support ongoing development, implementation, and use of health IT in a wide range of settings, including health centers, hospitals, and research centers.

“Collaboration between the consortium and community partners is crucial,” said Andrew Nelson, M.P.H., executive director of HealthPartners Research Foundation. “We share a common vision to optimize health through a wide network of research partnerships. Together, we have the power to transform health and health care.”