Sebelius pumps stimulus money into health IT for needy

From Fairbanks to Pawtucket, Honolulu to Tuscaloosa, millions from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was released, Tuesday, to health information organizations across the country, by Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, for electronic health record and health information technology programs in needy communities.

Christa Peterson, left, takes a blood sample from Cindy
Johnston at the Volunteers in Medicine clinic in Eugene, OR.
Oregon's health information network, OCHIN, is a big bene-
ficiary of money from the Recovery Act. (AP Photo/Kevin Clark)

The $27.8 million infusion of cash to programs like Greene County [NC] Health Care's EHR implementation, or Los Angeles' AltaMed Health Services' HIT grant, is part of the $2 billion allotted to HHS from the Recovery Act, "to expand health care services to low-income and uninsured individuals through its health center program," HHS announced.

Sec. Sebelius pointed out that funding implementation and quality improvement to HIT efforts in these communities is "a key focus of our reform efforts," and part of President Obama's overall health care reform policy.

"The enhancements should result in measurable improvements in patient outcomes and reductions in health disparities," says the Georgia Association for Primary Health Care, one of the grant recipients. "These projects," the GAPHC website continues, "will centralize services that include the implementation of practice management systems, disease registry systems, care management systems, care management systems, clinical messaging systems, personal health record systems, electronic health record systems and health information exchanges."

According to the Health Resources and Services Administration - the part of HHS that "is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable - " the following communities are benefiting from these allotments:

Electronic Health Record Implementation Initiative Grants, FY 2009
Organization	City	State	Amount
Clinica Sierra Vista	Bakersfield	Calif.	$1,865,625
Colorado Coalition for the Homeless	Denver	Colo.	$1,865,625
Community Integrated Services Network of Pennsylvania	Wormleysburg	Pa.	$1,400,001
Family Health Centers of San Diego, Inc.	San Diego	Calif.	$1,865,625
Greene County Health Care, Inc.	Snowhill	N.C.	$1,865,625
Hawaii Primary Care Association	Honolulu	Hawaii	$750,000
Illinois Primary Care Association	Springfield	Ill.	$750,000
Michigan Primary Care Association	Lansing	Mich.	$1,863,409
Near North Health Service Corporation	Chicago	Ill.	$746,671
Neighborhood Health Care Network	Saint Paul	Minn.	$832,768
Total:			$13,805,349

High Impact - Electronic Health Record Implementation Initiative Grants, FY 2009
Organization	City	State	Amount
Alaska Primary Care Association, Inc.	Anchorage	Alaska	$750,000
Coastal Family Health Center, Inc.	Biloxi	Miss.	$1,369,546
Community Health Centers of Arkansas	North Little Rock	Ark.	$458,003
Dena’ Nena’ Henash dba Tanana Chiefs Conference	Fairbanks	Alaska	$1,373,240
Georgia Association for Primary Health Care	Decatur	Ga.	$1,400,000
INConcertCare, Inc.	Urbandale	Iowa	$1,371,125
OCHIN	Portland	Ore.	$1,400,000
Whatley Health Services, Inc.	Tuscaloosa	Ala.	$750,000
Total:			$8,871,914

Health Information Technology Innovation Initiative Grants, FY 2009
Organization	City	State	Award
Alta Med Health Services Corporation	Los Angeles	Calif.	$746,250
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care	Pawtucket	R.I.	$746,250
Health Choice Network, Inc.	Miami	Fla.	$555,000
Southbridge Medical Advisory Council, Inc.	Wilmington	Del.	$555,262
Total:			$2,602,762

Electronic Health Record Quality Improvement Grants, FY 2009
Organization	City	State	Award
Colorado Community Managed Care Network	Denver	Colo.	$250,000
Community Health Center	Middletown	Conn.	$400,000
El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Health Center	Tucson	Ariz.	$621,874
The Institute for Family Health	New York	N.Y.	$615,706
OCHIN	Portland	Ore.	$621,875
Total:			$2,509,455

Source: HRSA and HHS

For more info: The Public Health Information Network (PHIN), a national organization very much involved in the electronic exchange of health information, recently held its annual conference in Atlanta, GA, and touched on many of the successes of the nascent EHR industry.

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