HHS is gearing up to award $50 million in task orders to establish a national Health IT Research Center, Federal Computer Week reports.
Joshua Seidman -- acting director of the "meaningful use" division at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT -- discussed HHS' plans for the research center this week during a conference sponsored by the eHealth Initiative.
He said the Health IT Research Center will provide a virtual learning community through an online portal. The center also will help users develop communities around research subjects that support the meaningful use of electronic health records.
Support for Regional Extension Centers
Seidman said the research center will serve as a resource for about 60 regional health IT extension centers.
HHS is awarding nearly $600 million in stimulus funding to establish the extension centers in communities across the country. Officials are expected to select about half of the extension centers within the next few weeks, Seidman said.
The regional extension centers aim to offer health care providers guidance on:
- Best practices in health IT privacy and security;
- EHR vendor selection and group purchasing;
- Health data exchange and interoperability;
- Health IT project implementation and management;
- Workflow redesign and work force support (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 1/26).