HHS has announced nearly $20 million in technical support assistance to help critical-access and rural hospital facilities make the switch from paper-based medical records to certified electronic health-record systems.
The new funding is provided under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It will help approximately 1,655 critical-access and rural hospitals qualify for EHR incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid, according to a news release from HHS.
“The benefits of health information technology can be especially important for patients and clinicians in small and rural healthcare facilities, yet these facilities face high hurdles as they look toward joining in the transition to electronic information,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a written statement. “The funding we are announcing today is a new category of support, aimed specifically at assisting critical-access and rural hospitals with their particular needs and challenges.”
The funds will be distributed through regional extension centers, a program of HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. The qualifying rural and critical-access hospitals are located in the areas covered by these extension centers, which offer technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to support provider efforts to become “meaningful users” of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs.
Source: HITS
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