The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) have announced joint support for legislation that calls for a trained work force capable of innovating, implementing, and using health communications and information technology (IT). Introduced by Congressman David Wu (D-OR), HR 1467 or the ''10,000 Trained by 2010 Act,'' would authorize the National Science Foundation to award grants to institutions of higher education that would develop and offer educational and training programs for healthcare workers and professionals in applied health and medical informatics.

The House bill, introduced Friday, March 9, is co-sponsored by Reps. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), Barton Gordon (D- Tennessee), and John Gingrey (R-Georgia). It was referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology.

This news follows last week's announcement that AMIA was awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant to foster the development of applied clinical informatics as a medical specialty.
In 2005 AMIA created "10x10," a program with a goal of training 10,000 healthcare professionals in applied health and medical informatics by 2010. Dr. William Hersh, Director of the "10x10" program at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) has been at the forefront of implementing this vision. Dr. Hersh served as a subject matter expert and source of information for Representative Wu and his staff as they crafted legislation to address the training needs of the nation's healthcare work force.

"This legislation is critical for an adequate development of an informatics research infrastructure and educated work force necessary to achieve major improvements in the safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of care," states Don E. Detmer, MD, MA, President and CEO of AMIA.

AMIA and AHIMA have been focused on developing the information management and informatics work force for some time. In recent years AHIMA has addressed work force issues by advancing an agenda for electronic health information management, creating a virtual educational laboratory to provide training for students, and developing a framework for education that encompasses the new roles required by the electronic workplace.

"We congratulate the sponsors of H.R. 1467 for their insight that a workforce capable of implementing and using health IT and managing electronic information to the required standards, is essential to meeting the goal of an improved, interconnected healthcare system," adds Linda Kloss, MA, RHIA, CEO of AHIMA.

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