HHS helps support rural hospitals' switch to EHRs
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced nearly $20 million in new technical support assistance to help critical access and rural hospital facilities make the transition from paper-based medical records to certified EHR technology.
Some 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, based in the District of Columbia, stand to benefit from this assistance, which can help each of them qualify for substantial EHR incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid, HHS stated.
The funding, provided under the HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), comes through the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) regional extension centers (REC) program. RECs offer technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support and accelerate healthcare providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentives programs.
The money is being awarded to 46 of the 60 RECs located throughout the country. The intent of the project is to provide additional technical support to critical access and rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in selecting and implementing EHR systems primarily within the outpatient setting.
The awards announced are:
Some 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, based in the District of Columbia, stand to benefit from this assistance, which can help each of them qualify for substantial EHR incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid, HHS stated.
The funding, provided under the HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), comes through the Office for the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) regional extension centers (REC) program. RECs offer technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support and accelerate healthcare providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentives programs.
The money is being awarded to 46 of the 60 RECs located throughout the country. The intent of the project is to provide additional technical support to critical access and rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in selecting and implementing EHR systems primarily within the outpatient setting.
The awards announced are:
- Alaska eHealth Network - $168,000;
- Alabama Regional Extension Center - $432,000;
- HIT Arkansas - $420,000;
- Arizona Health-e Connection - $240,000;
- California Regional Extension Center (North) - $336,000;
- California Regional Extension Center (South) - $180,000;
- Colorado Regional Extension Center - $456,000;
- National Indian Health Board - $312,000;
- Rural and North Florida Regional Extension Center - $168,000;
- South Florida Regional Extension Collaborative - $36,000;
- Hawaii Health Information Exchange - $144,000;
- IFMC Health IT Regional Extension Center - $1,044,000;
- Illinois Health IT Regional Extension Center - $720,000;
- Purdue University - $396,000;
- Kansas Foundation for Medical Care - $1,140,000;
- University of Kentucky Research Foundation - $360,000;
- Lousiana HealthCare Quality Forum - $768,000;
- Massachusetts Technology Collaborative - $132,000;
- HealthInfoNet - $264,000;
- Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption - $432,000;
- Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health IT - $1,488,000;
- Missouri HIT Assistance Center - $660,000;
- Regional Extension Center for Health IT in Mississippi - $540,000;
- Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation - $816,000;
- Wide River Technology Extension Center - $120,000;
- LCF Research - $204,000;
- New York eHealth Collaborative - $120,000;
- Health Bridge - $288,000;
- Ohio Health Information Partnership - $516,000;
- Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality - $744,000;
- O-HITEC - $384,000;
- Quality Insights of Pennsylvania (East) - $180,000;
- Quality Insights of Pennsylvania (West) - $144,000;
- South Carolina Research Foundation - $156,000;
- South Dakota Regional Extension Center - $576,000;
- Qsource - $480,000;
- North Texas Regional Extension Center - $108,000;
- West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center - $912,000;
- CentrEast Regional Extension Center - $384,000;
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston - $612,000;
- Health Insight - $480,000;
- Virginia Health Quality Center - $84,000;
- Vermont Information Technology Leaders - $108,000;
- WI-REC - $564,000;
- Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension Center - $828,000; and
- West Virginia Health Improvement - $204,000.