HHS Cultivates Rural Health IT

Forty rural health networks nationwide will receive $11.9 million in federal funding to help pay for the acquisition of health information technology and electronic health records, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Awards of about $300,000 each will be used to purchase health IT equipment, install broadband Internet networks and train staff, HHS said in a news release, which includes the complete list of 40 grantees. Officials hope the funds will help network physicians and other eligible health-care providers to qualify for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives paid to providers who adopt EHRs that meet federal performance guidelines.

"We need health information technology to bring our health-care system into the 21st century," says HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "These funds will help safety-net providers acquire state-of-the-art health information technology systems to ensure the delivery of quality care to some of the most remote areas of our country."

HHS is awarding the grants under a pilot program developed by President Obama's Rural Health Initiative and Secretary Sebelius' Rural HIT Taskforce. The funding comes from existing appropriations to the Rural Health Care Services Outreach and Rural Health Network Development Program, according to HHS.