Christus Health will give Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center a grant for $600,000 to help with work-force development issues, hospital president and CEO Alex Valdez told the County Health Care Board earlier this week.

The hospital got approval from its board of directors for the grant at its last meeting, Valdez told county commissioners on the Health Care Board at a meeting on Tuesday.

About $300,000 of the funds will go toward efforts to digitize medical records at the hospital and at La Familia Medical Center, Valdez said.

Electronic records will be required for some of the hospital's medical-residency programs by 2011 or 2012, he said.

The hospital is in Phase 1 of its electronic-records plan, which should be completed by early November, Valdez said. But the full process likely won't be finished until another three years or so after that, he added.

"This is going to be a huge challenge and an incredible learning curve for our hospitals and our communities," Valdez told the commission.

One of the biggest problems with the effort will be computer training for the staff, he added, noting that many workers don't have basic computer skills.

"I think at the end of the day that will be the real challenge," Valdez said.

About $200,000 from the grant will go toward an assessment of nurses and nursing needs — such as computer training — for staff coming into the hospital, as well as toward the creation of a long-term health care planning process.

Of most concern is the aging population, which will lead to greater need for assisted living and other services that health care providers need to plan for, he said.

And that's happening at a time when about 20 percent of the hospital's nurses are age 60 or older and 40 percent of its nurses are age 50 or older, Valdez said.

"We see a big turnover wave coming," Valdez said.

The rest of the money will go to other analysis efforts, including a white paper investigation of work-force demands for health care in north-central New Mexico for the year 2020. Part of that effort will include development of a regional long-term plan, Valdez said.

The County Health Care Board also heard recommendations for several new posts and reappointments to the Health Policy and Planning Commission, which is growing from 16 members to 21.

Some of the recommendations include alternative medical providers, such as acupuncturists and chiropractors. Some of the County Health Care Board members said they'd also like to see a dentist participate on the commission.

"I want to make sure that we're bringing in some new members," said County Commissioner Liz Stefanics.

The board also unanimously approved $315,498.03 in indigent hospital and county health care claims at the meeting.

Contact Sue Vorenberg at svorenberg@sfnewmexican.com.