Blumenthal given health IT funding authority
David Blumenthal, MD, head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), has been given authority over most of the health IT funding sections in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
According to a notice in the Aug. 18 Federal Register, Blumenthal now has authority over sections 3011 through 3017 of Subtitle B—Incentives for the Use of Health IT. One section—3012(c)(5), under which the HHS Secretary may provide financial support to health IT regional extension centers, was excepted.
The areas affected under Sebelius’s directive include:
According to a notice in the Aug. 18 Federal Register, Blumenthal now has authority over sections 3011 through 3017 of Subtitle B—Incentives for the Use of Health IT. One section—3012(c)(5), under which the HHS Secretary may provide financial support to health IT regional extension centers, was excepted.
The areas affected under Sebelius’s directive include:
- Sec.3011: Funding to strengthen the health IT infrastructure;
- Sec. 3012: Funding to assist health IT implementation;
- Sec. 3013: State grants to promote health IT;
- Sec. 3014: Competitive grants to states and Indian tribes for the development of a loan program to facilitate the widespread adoption of certified EHR technology;
- Sec. 3015: Demonstration program to integrate IT into clinical education;
- Sec. 3016: Increasing the use of IT by healthcare professionals; and
- Sec. 3017: General grant and loan provisions.