Social Security awards $17.4M in ARRA contracts for EMRs

Fifteen healthcare providers and networks have received $17.4 million in contract awards funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to provide EMRs to their agency, Michael J. Astrue, commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), has announced.

The awards will require recipients, with a patient’s authorization, to send Social Security EMRs through the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), according to the SSA.

For the last year, the SSA has been testing health IT to obtain EMRs. Disability applications processed with EMRs from test sites in Massachusetts and Virginia have significantly reduced processing times, the organization stated. The SSA said it expects to receive more than 3.3 million applications in fiscal year 2010.

Contracts were awarded to the following organizations:
    • CalRHIO, San Francisco - $1.6 million;
    • CareSpark, Kingsport, Tenn. - $1.3 million;
    • Center for Healthy Communities, Wright State University, Healthlink, Dayton, Ohio - $999,000;
    • Central Virginia Health Network/MedVirginia, Richmond, Va. - $1.1;
    • Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC), Duluth, Minn. - $977,000;
    • Douglas County Individual Practice Association, Roseburg, Ore. - $502,000;
    • EHR Doctors, Pompano Beach, Fla. - $1 million;
    • HealthBridge, Cincinnati - $1.4;
    • Lovelace Clinic Foundation, Albuquerque, N.M. - $1 million;
    • Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, Wis. - $998,000;
    • Memorial Hospital Foundation & Memorial Hospital of Gulfport Foundation, Gulfport, Miss. - $1.1 million;
    • Oregon Community Health Information Network (OCHIN), Portland, Ore. - $284,000;
    • Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Ind. - $350,000;
    • Science Applications International (SAIC), Reston, Va. - $1.5; and
    • Southeastern Michigan Health Association, Detroit - $2.9 million.

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