An assessment of the CCCHIT in health information technology training and education program: A case study

The purpose of this research study was to assess the effectiveness of federal funding to create HIT education certificate programs in community colleges nationwide. The major objective was to assess the level of sustainability of the HIT training and education programs created by federal funding under the Community College Consortia on Health Information Technology program (CCCHIT). These educational and training programs were funded to address the problem of the shortage of HIT workers. This study is a qualitative case study using a web-based survey to assess the community colleges that had taken part in the federal funding. Each respondent was asked to complete a number of general questions about their program, pre-existing programs, and number of trainees and staffing. Programs that continued with some level of sustainability were asked various questions about four sustainability factors of program adaptation, program evaluations, funding stability, and strategic planning. Many of the programs were sustained at some level with partially sustained being the primary level, meaning that the program was adapted to fit local circumstances. Pre-existing programs were shown to be a factor in the sustainability of programs, along with three of the four established factors of sustainability. A limited number of conclusions can be drawn from the research, as a larger population would need to be researched to show any significant data. There are many opportunities for future research in this area.