While training office staff and clinicians is one of the larger costs of electronic health record (EHR) implementation, training is crucial to realizing the full potential of your EHR. You can also use the following training materials, training tips, and educational opportunities to ensure your organization is ready for EHR implementation.

Training Materials

• The Health IT Workforce Curriculum Components website offers free health IT training materials. You can set up a profile and use the materials to create training programs for office staff and clinicians in your organization.
• Stratis Health produced a Training Plan to help health care organizations identify special considerations for EHR implementation training. The tool describes the types of training that may be necessary during EHR implementation and provides a table to ensure each staff member is trained accordingly.
• The National Health IT Collaborative for the Underserved’s Workforce Development & Training section provides several resources for health IT training, including a workforce needs assessment for safety net providers, a healthcare workforce training matrix tool, and a resource list of health IT educational and credentialing organizations.

Training Tips

• The Health Resources and Services Administration suggests numerous factors that should be considered when developing a comprehensive training plan and offers guidance on training plan implementation.
• Designing Effective Training , an article published in the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) offers a five-step approach to health information technology (IT) training. Tips for Trainers , another article published in the Journal of AHIMA, provides several tips and insights on health IT training.
• The California HealthCare Foundation’s Training Strategies: EHR Deployment Techniques is an analysis of training strategies for EHR adoption. The analysis provides training strategies and insights from the field.

Educational Opportunities

• The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funds the Health IT Workforce Development Program. The program includes community college and post-graduate training for health workers with broad opportunities for distance learning. For more information on ONC-sponsored training activities, see Does the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology offer any health information technology training?
• The Healthcare Information Management Systems Society’s eLearning Academy is a comprehensive source for high quality distance education.

In addition to the training resources above, Regional Extension Centers (RECs) are located in every region of the country to help health care providers select, implement, and become adept and meaningful users of electronic health records (EHR). Contact your local REC to inquire about available training resources. For more information about RECs, see Where can I find local electronic health record implementation support?