HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, HHS’ National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, announced plans to make available $235 million to support an innovative Beacon Community Program.
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Beacon Community Program will establish cooperative agreements with communities to build and strengthen their health IT infrastructure and health information exchange capabilities to achieve measurable improvements in health care quality, safety, efficiency, and population health. The resulting experience will inform efforts throughout the United States to support the meaningful use of EHRs, the primary goal of the federal government’s new health IT initiative.
Cooperative agreements will be awarded to 15 qualified non-profit organizations or government entities representing diverse geographic areas, including rural and underserved communities. To qualify for the Beacon Community Program, applicants are expected to:
· Build off of existing health IT infrastructure and exchange to demonstrate care and cost savings;
· Have rates of EHR adoption that are significantly higher than published national estimates; and,
· Coordinate with recently announced Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) programs for Regional Extension Centers and State Health Information Exchange to develop and disseminate best practices for adoption and meaningful use of EHRs to support national goals for widespread use of health IT.
“The Beacon Community Program will help provide more hard evidence that health IT exchange can make a significant and positive difference in the delivery and value of care,” stated Dr. Blumenthal.
Information about cooperative agreement applications will be available shortly at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov/.