HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday awarded $103 million to 27 states to adopt new systems, including electronic health records, to improve Medicaid efficiency, economy and health care quality, Government Technology reports.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 granted $150 million for Medicaid "transformation grants" to be distributed over fiscal years 2007 and 2008. The remaining $47 million will be awarded later this year, and states will receive the funds over the next two years, according to Government Technology.
HHS has permitted states to use the grants to reduce the rate of errors through the implementation of EHRs, clinical decision support tools or electronic prescription programs. The funds also can be used for other Medicaid improvement programs, including efforts aimed at reducing Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse.
The 27 states awarded grants include:
- Alabama, which was awarded about $7.59 million for "Together for Quality" health information systems;
- Connecticut, which received $5 million for health information exchange and e-prescribing;
- Montana, which won about $1.48 million to enhance EHRs and clinical decision making tools;
- New Mexico, which was awarded about $1.5 million for e-prescribing and an EHR project;
- Tennessee, which received nearly $675,000 for an e-prescription pilot project; and
- Wisconsin, which received about $3 million for a health data exchange initiative (Government Technology, 1/25).