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  • BoA grants focus on healthcare training
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    2
    Apr2012
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    Bank of America (BoA) is offering a $150,000 grant  to help extend health information technician training to healthcare providers in western Massachusetts.

    Under the initiative, the money will be used to provide additional training through the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County and its Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Massachusetts, according to the Republican.

    Workers who are eligible for the program will range from community health employees to nurses who will be able to subsidize their salaries through the on-the-job training. The partnership includes Baystate Health, Sisters of Providence Health Systems, Holyoke Medical Center and other regional healthcare providers.

    The program, called the Transitions to Practice or T2P, is intended to last as long as three years.

    William Ward, president of the Regional Employment Board, told the news agency that while the BoA money will train approximately 25 workers, he hopes the initiative will be used by as many as 125 workers in the future. Ward said he hopes the organization can leverage the BoA grant to get an additional $250,000 in federal funds.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities for medical records and health information technicians are expected to increase by 21 percent through 2020.

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  • Connecticut’s jobless rate continues to fall
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    30
    Mar2012
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    It appears as if Connecticut is on its way to a full economic recovery with the latest unemployment figures showing a drop in the jobless rate over the past two months, with demand on the rise for workers with experience in the skilled trades and health sciences.

    The New Haven Register reports that the state added another 4,900 jobs in February, which pushed Connecticut's unemployment rate down from 8 to 7.8 percent. The biggest gains were seen in the transportation and health services sectors, with both adding approximately 2,200 each from January to February.

    "It appears the region’s mild winter continues to help job growth in Connecticut across many industries, including construction, manufacturing and trade," Andy Condon, Director of the Office of Research for the state Department of Labor, told the news source.

    State employment officials said they expect the trend in job growth to continue, projecting Connecticut's economy to add between 9,700 and 14,700 through the end of the year.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job opportunities in the healthcare industry for medical records and health information technicians are expected to increase by 21 percent through 2020.

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  • FDA head touts benefits of electronic health records
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    Mar2012
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    The head of the Food and Drug Administration drug division is touting the benefits of electronic health records (EHR), saying  those with health information technician training will be able to help patients better understand and follow their healthcare treatment plans.

    Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the implementation of EHRs will also help doctors prescribe the right drugs and make sure that federal health regulators learn more quickly about possible problems with pharmaceuticals after they enter the market.

    Woodcock said that as of now, drug companies only have to forward reports of adverse drug effects. She said the new technology will also help the FDA track the use  of "off-label" treatments.

    "The drug may be dispensed and used for a condition totally unrelated to what the drug was approved for," Woodcock noted. "In some cases, it's highly appropriate, some cases wildly inappropriate. We don't have a really good method to distinguish these."

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities for medical records and health information technicians are expected to be very good, especially for those with advanced computer software training, through the end of the decade.

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  • Survey: Despite EHR, Healthcare Industry Still Buried in Paperwork
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    Mar2012
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    A new survey on the state of healthcare reform has found that despite an effort to hire more workers with health information technician training, the industry is still buried in paperwork.

    The Anoto survey found that while a growing number of healthcare organizations are implementing electronic health records systems (EHR), as required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), many of them are not decreasing their reliance on paper-based products and services.

    As the medical industry moves towards adopting EHR, there is a growing belief that the technology will improve the quality of patient care in the long-term, however, the survey found that a majority of those asked, nearly 80 percent, are still using paper records.

    "The survey results are clear: healthcare remains a paper-driven industry and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future," Pietro Parravicini, senior vice president area manager Americas for Anoto, stated.

    In addition, the survey found that many of those asked will be in need of workers with health information technician training in order to avoid a disruption in care delivery.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities for medical records and health information technicians are expected to increase by 20 percent through 2018.
     

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  • Pennsylvania, Ohio hope federal funding will create more skilled trade, healt...
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    Mar2012
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    There may be more jobs opening up soon for workers with experience in the skilled trades and those who have attended a health sciences school in Ohio and Pennsylvania with both states in line to receive federal funding to boost industry growth in healthcare development and energy.

    In Ohio, the Senate has included $150 million in its transportation bill for a proposed uranium plant in Pike County, according to the Dayton Daily News.

    The money was inserted to the bill by Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman, who have both backed federal loan guarantees for the Maryland-based USEC to build the American Centrifuge Project in Piketon.

    Brown said that the project is not just an important job creator, but is also "a critical component of our national security. That’s why we see bipartisan support in the Senate for continued research and development."

    USEC has been trying to secure $2 billion in federal loan guarantees to commercialize the plant, which will be used to enrich uranium for nuclear energy. If approved, the project is expected to create 4,000 temporary jobs for those with knowledge of the skilled trades during the construction phase, and 400 permanent positions.

    Employment officials in Pennsylvania are also betting on federal funding to help spur job creation in the health sciences and biotechnology field.  The Times-Tribune reports that the U.S. Department of Commerces has offered $1 million to help the Jessup Building Park Technology Incubator in Scranton attract more biotechnology business to the area.

    The Economic Development Administration grant will be used to fund the last piece of the $8.3 million project, which was put on hold during the economic downturn due to lack of funding.

    A portion of the new incubator at the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Company will be used to offer below-market value rent to help struggling businesses and will be marketed to attract the region's biotechology industry in an attempt to bolster the region's healthcare sector.

    Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce President Austin Burke said officials hope to have the building occupied by the end of the year.

    "The technology incubator facility is another tool to help build an entrepreneurial culture and create job opportunities," Burke said.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment opportunities for health science technicians are expected to increase by 29 percent through 2018.

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