HIT Certificate Program Reaches Over 1,000 Graduates

The University of Texas at Austin Health Information Technology (HIT) Certificate Program has reached a milestone.

Earlier this year the number of students to graduate from the program has exceeded 1000. Approximately 50 to 55 students graduate from each class and the program is offered three times each year.

Graduates are primarily made up of recently graduated university students. Since the program was founded in 2010 the number of students from varying backgrounds has increased. A number of physicians, nurses, attorneys, business executives and technology professionals with otherwise established careers have elected to learn about health information technology through the program.

Michael Stearns, MD contributed as one of the program’s founders. He helped identify goals for students that would position them for roles with health information technology companies and healthcare provider organizations. Many of the students have gone on to work for well-known electronic health record companies including Epic, Cerner and many others. Others have been hired by large healthcare organizations including Baylor Scott and White, Ascension Health and others.

Dr. Michael Stearns has been an invited lecture at the program and provide students with numerous lectures on emerging and important topics. Most recently he has provided the students with an overview of the Quality Payment Program that was created based on the MACRA legislation.

The program differentiated itself from the beginning from other similar programs with its focus on medical informatics, healthcare workflows impacted by information technology, and business practices of medicine.

Students are provided with access to a laboratory that features working versions of multiple electronic health record vendor products. In addition the vendors have provided support and experts from each company have provided demonstrations of their applications. The laboratory also allows the students to practice exchanging health information between EHR platforms.