Program Overview

Posted by hcc-superadmin on Monday, 12/21/09 at 12:00 pm

Health Career Connection (HCC) has two primary programs:

Comprehensive Summer Internship Program

HCC places talented, diverse undergraduate students in summer internships that provides them with invaluable exposure, experience, and mentoring to pursue health careers. The Program includes:

A paid, full-time 10 week placement in a host organization. Interns work under the direction of a preceptor that serves as the primary supervisor and mentor. Interns work on meaningful projects that are educational for the student and benefit the organization and its community. Interns also learn about the how the organization is structured and operates and about the roles of administrative and clinical professionals.
Workshops on key professional and personal development topics including: leadership, advocacy, cultural competence, life and career planning and graduate education preparation.
Site visits to a diverse set of intern host organizations to provide exposure to multiple settings and leaders
Peer support and network among interns within and across regions who share similar interests, passions and career decision dilemmas but come from diverse backgrounds and experiences
Mentoring from HCC’s team
Connections to top graduate schools in public health and medicine for assistance with preparation
Support from HCC’s network of alumni and professionals during and after the internship

HCC recruits nationally and within regions for interns. HCC’s key focus is finding the best fit between intern passions, goals and capabilities and organizations needs and learning opportunities.

HIT Fellowship Program

HCC also provides paid, full-time Health Information Technology (HIT) Fellowships in California for recent graduates and individuals interested in pursuing hands on experience and careers in Health IT. In partnership with the CA Health Workforce Alliance, HIMSS Southern California and leading employers and associations, 3 and 6 month HCC HIT Fellowships connect talented candidates to employers building their HIT workforce. The goal of the program is to help organizations achieve meaningful use of Electronic Health Records and contribute to California’s need for 10,000 additional HIT professionals over the next 5 years and to help Fellows gain practical hands on experience implementing electronic health records and secure employment upon program completion.

Fellows work full-time on teams implementing electronic health record in clinic settings, assist organizations with assessments and other projects that integrate Health Information Technology (HIT) into physician offices and bring them to meaningful use.

They also participate in webinars by California eHealth Collaborative. The presentations are from national subject matter experts speaking on a variety of topics related to the development and operation of health information exchange. To learn more about the HCC HIT Fellowship program, please visit the HIT Fellowship section.