HHS expected to announce state health IT funding

The Obama administration is expected to announce as early as Thursday plans to award a series of grants to assist healthcare providers acquire and use health IT properly as well as to help states set up health information exchanges.

National health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal is scheduled to join Vice President Joe Biden and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Aug. 20 for a discussion with physicians, nurses and administrators from Chicago’s Mt. Sinai Hospital. They are expected to discuss health reform, including health IT infrastructure and preventative care, according to a White House statement.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided the Office of the National Coordinator $2 billion to promote the meaningful use of health IT. Up to $300 million was intended to help establish state HIEs; another share would fund regional training centers to help physicians and hospitals incorporate health IT into their practices.

In an e-mailed statement today, Blumenthal laid out the administration’s case for the importance of the health IT funding targets.

Nationwide electronic HIE “provides the best opportunity for each patient to receive optimal care,” Blumenthal said.  The technology will make patients’ complete medical information securely available to their health care providers where and when it is needed, “when clinician and patient are together facing medical decisions that can make a lasting difference.”

“My personal belief in this transformation is not based on theory or conjecture,” said Blumenthal, who has been a primary care physician for 30 years.

“I spent the first 20 shuffling papers in search of missing studies and frequently hoping, during middle-of-the-night emergencies, that I knew enough about patients’ medical histories to make good decisions.  All that changed when I began to have access to patients’ electronic medical records,” he said, adding that it made him a better doctor. He started using electronic records 10 years ago. 

With the U.S. spending $2.5 trillion annually on healthcare, it is clear that change is necessary, he said. “Better, faster, more reliable and efficient care also ultimately reduces system-wide costs,” he said.

To realize the benefits of a nationwide health information system will also require that personal health information remain private and secure. “Putting into place safeguards for the privacy and security of this information, when it is in electronic form, will be an ongoing priority that influences and guides all of our efforts,” he said.