HHS Finishes Funding HIT Help Desk

The administration has finished awarding $677 million to create something like a nationwide help desk for the exchange of electronic health records, with Tuesday's announcement of the final two communities selected to offer providers technical assistance.

The Health and Human Services Department will grant CalOptima Foundation $4.7 million to serve Orange County, Calif., while the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative will receive $5.1 million to support the state of New Hampshire.

Over the next two years, a system of 62 so-called regional extension centers will teach providers across the country, especially primary care clinicians, how to use e-health records in a way that meets federal standards.

"The selection of these final awardees means that regional extension centers are now in place in every region of our country to help health providers make the switch from paper-based medical practice to electronic health records," said David Blumenthal, HHS national coordinator for health information technology. "For primary care physicians and smaller hospitals in particular, the RECs will be an important resource to help meet the challenges of adopting EHRs and using them to deliver better care."