This month HHS awarded almost $1 billion centering around three different grant areas with money coming from the ARRA. The HITECH Act mandated initiatives to increase the adoption of EHRs through to 2015. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health information Technology (ONCHIT) within HHS is driving the initiatives. In the big picture, personal health records will be electronic, interoperable, and secure. The big picture problem is who is going to install, train, and support all of these systems and how will we connect all these systems to share secure personal health records? HHS is banking on $1 billion as the solution.
State HIE Awards– states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) at the state level. 40 awards totaling $385,978,640 were awarded.
Regional Extension Center Awards – organizations creating regional centers to support health professionals implementing and using health information technology. Outreach of the centers is expected to deliver support services for at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals in the next two years. The initial 32 non-profit organizations were awarded $375,173,281.
Job Training Awards – training programs for secure and well-paid health jobs to meet the growing employment demand for health workers. Services will be available through local Department of Labor Career Centers while training will be offered through community colleges and other education providers. There were 55 awards to colleges, community colleges, universities, institutes, hospitals, state and county departments, and non-profit organizations totaling $226,929,446.
Read the press release from HHS and DOL. Subscribers can look for a directory in the subscribers only section very soon as we compile information on the awardees. Learn more about a subscription to this site.