Kryptiq Partners with Oregon Institute of Technology to Close Gap in Skilled Health IT Workforce

PORTLAND, July 28, 2009 – As the U.S. healthcare industry moves toward online, interoperable technology, an estimated 200,000 trained IT experts will be needed to implement and maintain these systems.  Kryptiq Corp. has partnered with the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) Health Informatics Program www.oit.edu/healthinformatics to help address this need.  Through donation of its Connect IQ® technology, Kryptiq is equipping OIT’s future IT experts with experiential training in technology to improve efficiency and facilitate healthcare connectivity.

As conversations at the national level still debate how America should prepare a skilled health IT workforce, Oregon has already made strides in 2009 toward this end.  For example, language for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocates funds for workforce training, was taken from the 10,000 Trained by 2010 Act, proposed by Oregon Congressman David Wu.

Wu’s actions at the federal level are reinforced by regional education efforts, including the collaboration between Kryptiq and OIT. Upon graduation from OIT’s program, students are prepared to support healthcare connectivity technology already used today by thousands of physician practices around the country. 

“By teaching health professionals to effectively use health IT, we can put thousands of Americans back to work in available, well-paying jobs and improve the efficiency and quality of our health care system,” said Congressman Wu.  “Close collaboration between private industry and our higher education institutions to improve health IT training will ensure that our investments in the health IT workforce pay dividends for years to come.”

The Health Informatics Program at OIT Portland and Klamath Falls, is on track to become one of the nation’s premier undergraduate programs. This is due both to the classroom training and to the technology used in its Simulation Lab, including electronic medical records, practice management systems, and Kryptiq’s Connect IQ Suite.  In the program, students learn how to design, implement and manage electronic health record and other IT systems and to create solutions for real-world healthcare problems.

“In this current labor shortage, our professors are training students on technology that’s used every day, on the job, in physician practices,” said Michael Kirshner, program director for health informatics at OIT. “This partnership with Kryptiq ensures our curriculum is hands-on, relevant and using real-world applications.”

“Training new professionals on 21st century technology will permanently move us away from inefficient, paper-based systems in healthcare,” said Luis Machuca, president and CEO of Kryptiq. “In partnership with visionary organizations such as OIT and other industry leaders, together we will advance the use of efficient technology in healthcare, and create new jobs in the industry.”

About Kryptiq Corporation
Kryptiq facilitates a first-of-its-kind, open collaborative network for healthcare that connects physicians with each other and their patients.  Physicians and their staffs are using affordable and pragmatic technologies from Kryptiq to increase revenue capture, improve efficiency, and measure and enhance patient services. 

More than 30,000 physicians use products in the Connect IQ® suite as part of this nationwide network to mobilize vital healthcare data. With Kryptiq’s software such as secure messaging, patient portal, ePrescribing, patient revenue capture and document management, physician offices improve their patient communication and accelerate operational and revenue performance of the practice. For more information on the company, visit www.kryptiq.com.

About Oregon Institute of Technology
Founded in Klamath Falls, Ore., in 1947, OIT is one of seven distinguished institutions belonging to the Oregon University System. OIT’s applied technology education model fosters an environment of experiential, high-touch learning so students are world-ready and employment-ready when they graduate. OIT graduates have a 95 percent success rate (those either employed or continuing education). Oregon Institute of Technology earned the No. 10 spot among Baccalaureate Colleges in the West in the 2008 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S.News & World Report, the nation's leading source of service journalism and news. The university also ranked fourth in the Western ranking of the Top Public Baccalaureate Colleges. For more information about OIT, visit www.oit.edu.

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Public Relations Contact:                                                   
Kahlin Kurilik
YRG for Kryptiq
503-222-0626