The government is poised to announce nearly $1 billion in grants to boost the use of health information technology, a measure the White House contends will help control skyrocketing costs of healthcare.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has called a press conference for noon Friday to announce details of the intiative.
The money, part of stimulus funding contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designated for projects that spur the adoption and use of healthcare information technology by hospitals and primary care physicians and train people for careers in healthcare and information technology.
The White House contends that the conversion of the country’s healthcare system from paper to digital will stem the skyrocketing costs of healthcare.
According to a recent report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, national health expenditures in 2009 are projected to have reached $2.5 trillion and grown 5.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent in 2008.
While healthcare reform is debated in Congress, the government's work on bolstering healthcare information technology has continued with several programs funded through the HITECH piece of ARRA, which provides incentives for physician practices, hospitals and integrated healthcare organizations to adopt healthcare IT and demonstrate meaningful use.
Sebelius will announce more than $750 million in awards for states and healthcare providers, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will announce more than $225 million in Department of Labor grants that will be used to train 15,000 people in job skills needed to support careers in healthcare, information technology and other high-growth fields.
The healthcare IT industry expects an unprecedented demand for new workers as the country ramps up its efforts to convert healthcare from a largely paper-based system to a digital one.
The White House said grant recipients had identified about 10,000 openings for skilled workers likely to become available within the next two years. Industry experts believe the need will be greater.
"The need for IT is going to explode," said Andrew Vaz, national director of life sciences for Deloitte Consulting, during a panel discussion last fall in Boston.
John Glaser, CIO of Partners HealthCare in Boston, who spoke on the panel and serves as adviser to the government's Office of the National Coordinator for health information technology, joined other industry insiders in saying the healthcare IT boon could create as many as 50,000 new jobs.