AHIMA Calls for Healthier Jobs Act
By
John Pulley
AHIMA, which has 63,000 members nationwide, proposes using its own workforce-development programs and professional skills test. The group says it already is involved in workforce-development initiatives that meet American Jobs Act guidelines.
A health IT professional group wants President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act to include tax incentives that would stimulate health IT job training. The group is also calling for skills testing to ensure that new workers know what they're doing.
AHIMA, the American Health Information Management Association, announced its "Health Information Jobs for America" initiative last week. The group is promoting:
- Tax credits for job training or retraining to provide the skills necessary to operate an electronic health information system.
- Competency exams for health IT professionals, with employers receiving credit for workers who pass the AHIMA-provided test in lieu of formal training.
- Additional college and graduate school training for health IT professionals, fueled by incentives to colleges and scholarships for students.
Bonnie Cassidy, AHIMA president, said the initiative "includes at its core an innovative partnership uniting the health information management profession with businesses at the frontier of health-care technology, academia and, of course, the federal government."