On Friday, the Obama administration announced plans to award nearly $1 billion in grants to help states and health care providers implement health IT systems, Healthcare IT News reports (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 2/12).
Funding for the awards comes from last year's federal economic stimulus package (Johnston, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek, 2/12).
The grants aim to extend health IT access to more than 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014, administration officials said. The funds also will bolster training programs for careers in health care and IT (Zengerle, Reuters, 2/12).
Officials said the program could generate future savings by helping health care providers cut back on paperwork and repeated tests.
Allocations
Of the total awards, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will grant:
- $386 million to 40 states or state-designated entities for advancing statewide health information exchanges; and
- $375 million to help 32 not-for-profit organizations develop regional health IT extension centers.
In addition, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will award about $225 million for job training in health IT and other related fields (
AP/Miami Herald, 2/12). Administration officials estimate that up to 15,000 people will receive training though the program (Romm, "
Hillicon Valley,"
The Hill, 2/12).