HHS Awards $162 Million in Final Round of Federal Cooperative Agreement Awards to States to Advance the Use of Health Information Technology

• Final Awards of State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program work to build health information exchange infrastructure throughout the States
• The SC Department of Health and Human Services will be receiving $9.6 million in Recovery Act funds to upgrade its health information technology

COLUMBIA, SC – March 17, 2010 – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced awards to help states establish health information exchanges (HIE) that advance health information technology (health IT).  Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, today’s  awards are part of the $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and provide use of an electronic health record by every citizen by the year 2014.  Every state and eligible territory has now been awarded funds under this program.

The  HIE awards announced today provide approximately $162 million to 16 states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate non-proprietary health information exchange that adheres to national standards.  Health information exchange is critical to enabling care coordination and improving the quality and efficiency of health care. 
 
“Today’s announcement of awards to 16 states and State Designated Entities marks a significant milestone with all states now empowered to start their journey towards identifying innovative ways to break down theses barriers that prevent the seamless exchange of information, so that we can give patients the access to care they deserve and expect,” stated Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.  “States play a critical leadership role in advancing the development of the exchange capacity of healthcare providers and hospitals within their states and across the nation. These exchanges will enable eligible healthcare providers to be deemed meaningful users of health IT and receive incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program.”

These cooperative agreements were awarded under the authority of Title XIII of ARRA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act which amends Title XXX of the Public Health Service Act by adding Section 3013, State Grants to Promote Health Information Technology. Section 3013 provides for the awarding of competitive grants to promote health information technology.  On February 12, 2010, HHS awarded $385 million to 40 states and SDEs.  The awards announced today complete the awarding of cooperative agreements funded by this program.  

A listing of the state HIE competitive agreements follows:

State/STE                                                                                                 Award Amount
Agency of Health Care Administration (FL)                                        $20,738,582
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene                $9,313,924
New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority                    $11,408,594
South Carolina Department of Health & Human Services                $9,576,408
Iowa Department of Public Health                                                        $8,375,000
Idaho Health Data Exchange                                                                $5,940,500
State of North Dakota, Information Technology Department        $5,343,733
State of Alaska                                                                                        $4,963,063
Nebraska Department of Administrative Services                            $6,837,180
South Dakota Department of Health                                                    $6,081,750
Department of Public Health, State of CT                                            $7,297,930
State of Mississippi                                                                                $10,387,000
Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc.                                        $10,300,000
HealthShare Montana                                                                                $5,767,926
Texas Health and Human Services Commission                 &
nbsp;              $28,810,208
Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum                                                    $10,583,000 
                                                                                        Total                    $161,724,798

Additional information about the state HIE program may be found at  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/sebelius-solis-announce-nearly-1-billion-recovery-act-investment-advancing-use-heal
 
 
Information about other health IT programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found here: http://HealthIT.HHS.gov
 
For more information about the Recovery Act, please visit: www.hhs.gov/recovery and www.recovery.gov