HIT Workforce Task Force - Throughout Ohio there are existing HIT/HIM education programs such as the programs at OSU, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Toledo, DeVry University, Owens Community College, Columbus State Community College, Hocking Community College, Stark, Sinclair, etc. These range from 2 year associate programs to 4 year bachelor programs to master level programs. Some are offered totally online while others are a hybrid format. Most if not all are accredited/approved through the CAHIM - a part of the American Health Information Management Association. What needs to happen here in Ohio as well as across the country is to bridge the gap between healthcare providers and work together instead of in silos in order to facilitate the education of the current and future workforce. The goal of AHIMA as well as OHIMA is the advocacy towards an interoperable electronic health record. For example, AHIMA is working with CAST in developing a catalog of instruments to further the development of the Continuity of Care document. AHIMA was directly involved in the pre-work for the HISPC project for RTI. AHIMA has recently opened membership to those of other disciplines such as nursing, IT professionals, etc., in order to broaden our scope. Please review their website at www.AHIMA.org.

I have uploaded 2 pdf files from AHIMA that list the Knowledge Clusters for the HIT and HIA education CAHIM-sccredited programs.