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Monday, February 15, 2010

The White House Blog

This is a big step in saving headaches, saving trees, and saving on costs of duplicating tests, because the Doctor(s) involved in a case need the same tests, this way there is a way for all Doctors to access all tests for the same patient.  I am in Pennsylvania and I have had some tests mainly x-rays, MRI, and fluoroscope, and my Doctors all had access to them with their viewer setup. Which I thought was brilliant.  I would love to see this system available all around the country. The next time I see the Doctor I will find out what the system is called, and add it to the blog.......

 

Going Beyond Paper and Pencil: Investments in Health IT

Keeping track of huge piles of paperwork is not an easy task for anyone. Imagine doing that for our entire health care system. In effect, that is what is going on with our current paper and pencil system of medical record keeping -- until now.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, part of our mission is to ensure quality health care for all Americans. And today I am excited to announce that we are delivering on this in the form of over $750 million in new grants that are part of a federal initiative to build capacity to enable widespread meaningful use of health IT, helping doctors adopt electronic medical records.

As part of the Recovery Act, the legislation President Obama signed into law last year to help strengthen the economy, these grants benefit both patients and doctors by cutting costs, eliminating paperwork, and helping doctors deliver high-quality, coordinated care. They also help eliminate errors that come with having a paper and pencil system and save patients from having to fill out the same form dozens of times.

You can find examples of this from across the country.  At one health system, they used electronic health records to identify older women who hadn’t received an osteoporosis screening and mail them personal letters encouraging them to get screened.  Screenings went up 300%. 

At another health system, only a third of their diabetes patients were receiving the recommended foot and eye exams.  They started tracking these patients using electronic health records, and within five months, the share of patients getting the recommended exams doubled to around two out of three.

Yet despite all these benefits, only 20 percent of doctors and 10 percent of hospitals have even basic electronic health records today.  That’s because even though many doctors around the country can see the potential benefits, there are also obstacles.

That’s where these grants come in. We want to spread the benefits of health information technology to our entire health care system. Led by our National Coordinator for Health IT, Dr. David Blumenthal, our grants team has identified major areas where we can begin to implement new technology to make delivering health care more efficient and more effective. Read Dr. Blumenthal’s blog about it here.

Electronic health records will provide major technological innovation to our current health care system by allowing doctors to work together to make sure patients get the right care at the right time and want to be clear that in all our Health IT investments, patient privacy is our top priority.
Kathleen Sebelius is Secretary of Health and Human Services





The White House
Office of the Press Secretary

Sebelius, Solis Announce Nearly $1 Billion Recovery Act Investment in Advancing Use of Health IT, Training Workers for Health Jobs of the Future

Grant Awards to Help Make Health IT Available to Over 100,000 Health Providers by 2014, Support Tens of Thousands of Jobs Nationwide
WASHINGTON, DC - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (IT) and train workers for the health care jobs of the future. The awards will help make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in health care and information technology. This Recovery Act investment will help grow the emerging health IT industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.
The over $750 million in HHS grant awards Secretary Sebelius announced today are part of a federal initiative to build capacity to enable widespread meaningful use of health IT. This assistance at the state and regional level will facilitate health care providers' efforts to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful manner that has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for all Americans. Of the over $750 million investment, $386 million will go to 40 states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) at the state level, while $375 million will go to an initial 32 non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs) that will aid health professionals as they work to implement and use health information technology - with additional HIE and REC awards to be announced in the near future. RECs are expected to provide outreach and support services to at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals within two years.
"Health information technology can make our health care system more efficient and improve the quality of care we all receive," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. "These grant awards, the first of their kind, will help develop our electronic infrastructure and give doctors and other health care providers the support they need as they adopt this powerful technology."
The more than $225 million in DOL grant awards Secretary Solis announced will be used to train 15,000 people in job skills needed to access careers in health care, IT and other high growth fields. Through existing partnerships with local employers, the recipients of these grants have already identified roughly 10,000 job openings for skilled workers that likely will become available in the next two years in areas like nursing, pharmacy technology and information technology. The grants will fund 55 separate training programs in 30 states to help train people for secure, well-paid health jobs and meet the growing employment demand for health workers. Employment services will be available via the Department of Labor's local One Stop Career Centers, and training will be offered at community colleges and other local education providers.
“The Recovery Act’s investments are making a positive difference in the lives of America’s working families,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “The investments announced today will ensure thousands of workers across the nation can receive high-quality training and employment services, which will lead to good jobs in healthcare and other industries offering career-track employment and good pay and benefits.”
The HHS and DOL awards are part of an overall $100 billion investment in science, innovation and technology the Administration is making through the Recovery Act to spur domestic job creation in growing industries and lay a long-term foundation for economic growth. In addition to the 10,000 jobs the DOL grantees expect to fill with freshly trained workers, the health IT extension centers are expected to hire over 3,000 technology workers nationwide in the months ahead. Overall, the Administration investments in health IT and training will help significantly expand an emerging industry expected to support tens of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs nationwide.
A complete listing of the state HIE, REC and job training grant recipients is as follows: State HIE Awards:
State HIE Awardee Award Amount
Alabama Medicaid Agency $ 10,564,789
Arizona Governor's Office of Economic Recovery $ 9,377,000
Arkansas Dept of Finance and Administration $ 7,909,401
California Health and Human Services Agency $ 38,752,536
Colorado Regional Health Information Organization $ 9,175,777
Delaware Health Information Network $ 4,680,284
Government of the District of Columbia $ 5,189,709
Georgia Department of Community Health $ 13,003,003
Office of the Governor (Guam) $ 1,600,000
The Hawaii Health Information Exchange $ 5,602,318
Illinois Department of Health care and Family Services $ 18,837,639
Kansas Health Information Exchange Project $ 9,010,066
Cabinet for Health and Family Services (Kentucky) $ 9,750,000
State of Maine/Governor's Office of Health Policy & Finance $ 6,599,401
Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation $ 10,599,719
Michigan Department of Health $ 14,993,085
Minnesota Department of Health $ 9,622,000
Missouri Depart of Social Services $ 13,765,040
Nevada Department of Health and Human Services $ 6,133,426
New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services $ 5,457,856
Lovelace Clinic Foundation, New Mexico $ 7,070,441
New York eHealth Collaborative Inc. $ 22,364,782
Commonwealth of the NMI, Department of Public Health $ 800,000
North Carolina Department of State Treasurer $ 12,950,860
Ohio Health Information Partnership LLC $ 14,872,199
Oklahoma Health Care Authority $ 8,883,741
Pacific Ecommerce Development Corporation (American Samoa) $ 600,000
State of Oregon $ 8,579,992
Governor's Office of Health Care Reform Commonwealth of Pennsylvania $ 17,140,446
Oticina del Gobernador La Fortaeza (Puerto Rico) $ 7,770,980
Rhode Island Quality Institute $ 5,280,000
State of Tennessee $ 11,664,580
Utah Department of Health $ 6,296,705
Vermont Department of Human Services $ 5,034,328
Virgin Islands Department of Health $ 1,000,000
Virginia Department of Health $ 11,613,537
Health Care Authority (Washington) $ 11,300,000
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources $ 7,819,000
Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services $ 9,441,000
Office of the Governor (Wyoming) $ 4,873,000
Total Award Amount $ 385,978,640
Regional Extension Center Awards:
RECs Awardee Award Amount
Altarum Institute, Michigan $ 19,619,990
Arkansas Foundation For Medical Care $ 7,400,000
CIMRO of Nebraska $ 6,647,371
Colorado RHIO $ 12,475,000
District of Columbia Primary Care Association $ 5,488,437
Fund for Public Health New York $ 21,754,010
Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge (Ohio-Kentucky) $ 9,738,000
Health Choice Network, Inc.,Florida $ 8,500,000
HealthInsight, Utah-Nevada $ 6,917,783
Iowa IFMC $ 5,508,019
Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc. $ 7,000,000
Key Health Alliance (Stratis Health), Minnesota – North Dakota $ 19,000,000
Lovelace Clinic, New Mexico $ 6,175,000
Massachusetts Technology Park Cooperation $ 13,433,107
MetaStar, Inc, Wisconsin $ 9,125,000
Morehouse School of Medicine, Inc., Georgia $ 19,521,542
New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) $ 26,534,999
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill $ 13,569,169
Northern California Regional Extension Center $ 17,286,081
Northern Illinois University $ 7,546,000
Northwestern University $ 7,649,533
OCHIN Inc. (Primary), Oregon $ 13,201,499
Ohio Health Information Partnership $ 28,500,000
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc. $ 5,331,685
Purdue University $ 12,000,000
Qsource (Tennessee) $ 7,256,155
Qualis Health, Washington - Idaho $ 12,846,482
Rhode Island Quality Institute $ 6,000,000
Southern California Regional Extension Center $ 13,961,339
Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc. $ 6,762,080
VHQC and the Center for Innovative Technology, for The Virginia Consortium $ 12,425,000
West Virginia Health Improvement Institute Inc. $ 6,000,000
Total Award Amount $ 375,173,281
Job Training Awards:
Healthcare / High Growth Grant Recipient Award Amount
Calhoun Community College $3,470,830
Mid-South Community College $3,391,053
South Arkansas Community College $3,520,612
Kern Community College District (KCCD) $2,768,572
Los Rios Community College District $4,988,561
Mt. San Antonio Community College District $2,239,714
San Diego State University Research Foundation $4,953,575
San Jose State University Research Foundation $5,000,000
San Bernardino Community College District $4,260,863
Youth Policy Institute $3,623,473
Spanish Speaking Unity Council $3,559,139
Otero Junior College $4,999,350
National Council of La Raza $3,457,516
Providence Health Foundation of Providence Hospital $4,953,999
DeKalb Technical College (DTC) $2,043,859
Governors State University $4,994,686
Indianapolis Private Industry Council, Inc. $4,885,812
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana $5,000,000
Iowa Workforce Development $3,403,164
Maysville Community and Technical College $2,007,637
Louisiana Technical College, Greater Acadiana Region 4 $4,859,040
Southern University at Shreveport $4,296,308
Maine Department of Labor $4,892,213
The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) $4,928,654
Macomb Community College $4,971,642
American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center $5,000,000
Northland Community and Technical College $4,996,844
MN State Colleges & Universities DBA Pine Technical College $4,230,950
South Central College $4,506,101
The Montgomery Institute $4,519,625
Full Employment Council $4,998,344
Crowder College $3,576,760
Maryville University - St. Louis $4,699,354
University of New Hampshire $2,944,732
Passaic County Community College $4,475,041
Fulton Montgomery Community College (FMCC) $2,865,657
Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) $3,382,200
University Behavioral Associates, Inc. $5,000,000
Workforce Investment Board of Herkimer, Madison, and Oneida Counties $2,700,096
Goodwill Industries, Inc., Serving E. Neb and SW Iowa $2,007,846
Nevada Cancer Institute $3,262,676
Berea Children’s Home 4,927,843
BioOhio $5,000,000
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College $4,935,132
Columbus State Community College $4,605,303
Enterprise for Employment and Education $2,373,073
Trident Technical College $2,624,532
Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC) $4,346,351
The University of South Dakota $5,000,000
Centerstone of Tennessee, Inc. $5,000,000
North Central Texas College $4,150,005
San Jacinto Community College District $4,722,919
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) $4,655,799
Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc. (SVWIB) $4,951,991
Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board $5,000,000
Total $226,929,446
Additional information about the state HIE and RECs may be found at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov/statehie and http://healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram.
Information about other health IT programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found here: http://HealthIT.HHS.gov
Information about Healthcare/High Growth Grants, and other DOL training programs is available at http://www.doleta.gov/.
For more information about the Recovery Act, please visit: www.hhs.gov/recovery, www.dol.gov/recovery, and www.recovery.gov.

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