The U.S. government is taking a geographic approach in the administration of a new batch of grants intended to drive the implementation of healthcare information technology (HIT) and electronic health records (EHR). On Thursday Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled plans to make available $235 million to support Beacon Communities, which are cities, towns or geographic regions that collectively build and strengthen HIT.
"For years we've been talking about how we don't get our money's worth for healthcare in the U.S.," Sebelius said in a press conference. "Quality of care is mediocre or worse. Way too many people walk into hospitals and get the wrong care or fail to get the treatments or medications they need to get better. We also have a serious healthcare quality problem. We're seeking to change the incentives to improve care."
Cooperative agreements will be awarded to 15 non-profit or government entities representing diverse geographic areas that can include either rural or underserved communities. Those applicants must:
• Build off of existing HIT infrastructures and exchanges 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.
In addition to building community HIT infrastructures, David Blumenthal, HHS' National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and Sebelius said HHS expects some other concrete results in the health of Americans in those communities, such as decreases across the board in blood pressure, blood sugar levels and hospital readmission rates.
"We have examples of certain healthcare organizations, such as Kaiser, that have been inspiring in terms of the adoption of HIT, but we haven't had a city, county, town or geographic region that has completely elevated its performance using EHRs. That's who should get it (the grants)," Blumenthal said.
"Our hope is that these communities become models for the rest of the country," Sebelius said. "Back in January, President Obama said improvements are too important to wait for healthcare reform legislation to pass. So he worked with Congress to see what could be done in advance. HIT was part of the Recovery Act. It's one of the biggest investments in healthcare quality in history, including the grants announced today."
Of the $235 million, $220 million will go toward the direct grant money, $10 million will be used for evaluation of the efforts and $5 million is set aside for technical assistance.
For medical technology firms interested in getting in on the action, the money is supposed to be used for not only EHRs, but also any sort of technological improvements that integrate HIT into the delivery of care, from medication management and clinical decision support technologies to telemedicine and IT-enabled patient-empowerment and self-management.
As mentioned, the money won't be going to technology neophytes. Instead, HHS wants to build on work already started to get the biggest bang for the buck.
"Beacon Communities are meant to shed light locally, but also to provide guidance and direction, a point of location for people who are seeking direction," said Blumenthal. "We want them to be of service to local communities, but also to inspire and teach other communities about how to get to meaningful use and get to a higher quality healthcare system that benefits every American."
Specifically, the grantees must be communities already on their way toward adopting and using EHRs, those that have "the most to gain," Blumenthal said. "We'll be very exacting in what's expected. We want to produce measurable concrete improvements in efficiency and quality. We'll ask them to coordinate with regional and state agencies, and to leverage other federal program in their communities."
As an example, he cited efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to create lifetime records for military personnel and veterans.
"We'll also ask Beacon Communities to coordinate with other groups to expand broadband where it's not in place," he said.
Applicants must also demonstrate that their projects won't be islands and must connect back to other regional and federal entities that already promote HIT.
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, this money is set to move out faster than some of the other awarded stimulus funds. After a 60-day application period, the grantees will start to get the checks in March 2010 through FY 2012.
When asked why some other millions in HIT stimulus funding haven't yet started to flow, Blumenthal said legislation included provisions that the largest amount of the $2 billion in discretionary HIT funding wouldn't start to move until 2011.
"But we've announced 75% of the use of those funds to date," he said.
In other funding news, the Integra Foundation (Plainsboro, New Jersey), the philanthropic arm of Integra LifeSciences, said it has awarded a $12,000 grant to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS; Rolling Meadows, Illinois)/Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS; Schaumberg, Illinois) Joint Section for Pediatric Neurosurgery, in support of the section's annual meeting this week at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. The grant will assist 25 pediatric neurosurgery residents in attending the event, Integra noted.
"We're very pleased that our grant makes it possible for residents to attend this important meeting and get exposure to some of the newest research and information in their field," said Gianna Sabella, executive director of the Integra Foundation.
This year's annual meeting includes scientific presentations and posters covering the latest on pediatric neurosurgical topics from North America and around the world, point/counterpoint forums on controversial topics, The Raimondi Lecture – Charles Stiles, PhD, discussing the groundbreaking science of tumors and transcription factors, and a half day Neurofibromatosis Symposium, which will feature topics including genetics/diagnosis, radiology, spine and neurosurgical management.
Lynn Yoffee; 770-361-4789