HHS releases $220M in health IT awards

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius have selected 15 pilot communities for wide-scale use of health IT through the Beacon Community program, with awards totaling $220 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The initial appeal for these grants was made in December 2009.

The selected Beacon Communities will use health IT resources as a foundation for bringing doctors, hospitals, community health programs, federal programs and patients together to design new ways to improve quality and efficiency, HHS said. Each Beacon Community has elected specific improvement goals in each of three areas for health systems improvement: quality, cost-efficiency and population health.

In addition, Beacon Communities will be expected to access federal programs that are working to promote health information exchange (HIE) at the community level. Close coordination with the Regional Extension Center Program, State HIE Program and the National Health IT Research Center will enable these communities to share lessons they've learned. Over time, they also will work to leverage other federal programs and resources promoting HIE at the community level, including the Department of Defense’s and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ development of a Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record for all active duty, Guard and Reserve, retired military personnel and veterans.

For example, in Tulsa, Okla., a community dealing with an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes that also has the highest rate of cardiovascular disease deaths in the U.S. will use the award to help 1,600 physicians and other providers participate in a new community-wide health information system that will help to monitor and improve care transitions as patients move from one care setting to another.

According to the agency, the Beacon projects are expected to initially create dozens of new jobs in each community paying an average of $70,000 per year for a total of 1,100 jobs up-front.

An additional $30 million is currently available to fund additional Beacon Community cooperative agreement awards. HHS said an announcement to apply will be made in the near future.

The 15 Beacon communities, their awards and strategies can be found here: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/vice-president-biden-hhs-secretary-sebelius-announce-selection-15-health-it-pilot-c