Biden, Sebelius Announce More Health IT Awards
Vice President Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that the Obama administration has awarded $220 million in grants to help fund pilot projects in 15 communities aimed at promoting the use of health information technology.
The communities selected will use health IT resources to meet "specific and measureable" goals, tailored to the needs and priorities of those communities, aimed at improving quality, cost-efficiency and the health of the local population. Sebelius said the 15 awards will build on health IT resources already being used in these communities and provide best practices that can be adopted in other areas.
"The Beacon Community Program will tap the best ideas across America and demonstrate the enormous benefit health IT will have to improving health and care within our communities," she said in a statement.
Some of the proposed projects, which are funded by the nearly $20 billion for health IT included in last year's economic stimulus package, are aimed at helping doctors and hospitals provide better control of blood pressure for diabetic and hypertensive patients, make improvements in care coordination and chronic disease management, reducing preventable emergency department visits and re-hospitalizations, and improving rates of immunization for children and adults, according to the statement.
For example, the Louisiana Public Health Institute in New Orleans was awarded $13.5 million for a project that aims to reduce racial health disparities, improve control over diabetes and bolster smoking cessation rates by linking technically isolated health systems, providers and hospitals and by increasing patient access to their personal health records.
"These pioneering communities are going to lead the way in bringing smarter, lower-cost health care to all Americans through use of electronic health records," Biden said in the statement.
There were more than 130 applications for the 15 Beacon Community Program awards announced Tuesday. HHS is expected to announce additional awards in the "near future."
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