Posts Tagged ‘ehrs’

Rural Critical Access Hospitals Get Funding Via RECs

September 11th, 2010

46 Regional Extension Centers to Assist Rural Critical Access Hospitals

On September 10, 2010 HHS provided 46 Regional Extension Centers with additional funding to assist rural critical access hospitals and rural hospitals (see Background on critical access hospitals) with less than 50 beds in selecting and implementing certified EHR systems. Some 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, headquartered in the District of Columbia stand to benefit from this special assistance.

This funding is a new and aimed specifically at assisting critical access and rural hospitals with their particular needs and challenges. It will build upon the substantial base HHS has already built to provide assistance to health care providers throughout the country as they transition to EHRs. By converting to certified EHR technology, these facilities can qualify for substantial additional incentive payments from Medicare or Medicaid. It highlights HHS’s effort in supporting rural providers and small practices to achieve meaningful use.

RECs receiving the CAH/rural hospitals awards are:

Regional Extension Center (REC)	REC State Coverage	Award Amount
Alabama Regional Extension Center	Alabama	$432,000
Alaska eHealth Network	Alaska	$168,000
Arizona Health-e Connection (AzHeC)	Arizona	$240,000
California Regional Extension Center (North) — CalHIPSO (North)	California	$336,000
California Regional Extension Center (South) — CalHIPSO (South)	California	$180,000
CentrEast Regional Extension Center	Texas	$384,000
Colorado Regional Extension Center (CORHIO)	Colorado	$456,000
Hawaii Health Information Exchange	Hawaii	$144,000
Health Bridge Inc.*	Ohio Indiana Kentucky	$288,000
Health Insight	Utah Nevada	$480,000
HealthInfoNet	Maine	$264,000
IFMC Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (Iowa HITREC)	Iowa	$1,044,000
Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (IL-HITREC)	Illinois	$720,000
IT Arkansas	Arkansas	$420,000
Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (KFMC)	Kansas	$1,140,000
LCF Research	New Mexico	$204,000
Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum	Louisiana	$768,000
Massachusetts Technology Corporation	Massachusetts	$132,000
Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption (M-CEITA)	Michigan	$432,000
Missouri HIT Assistance Center	Missouri	$660,000
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation (MPQHF)	Montana Wyoming	$816,000
National Indian Health Board (NIHB)	Serving the nationwide Indian Country, headquartered in the District of Columbia	$312,000
New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC)	New York	$120,000
North Texas REC	Texas	$108,000
O-HITEC	Oregon	$384,000
Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP)	Ohio	$516,000
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ)	Oklahoma	$744,000
Purdue University	Indiana	$396,000
Qsource	Tennessee	$480,000
Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (East)	Pennsylvania	$180,000
Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (West)	Pennsylvania	$144,000
Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health Information Technology (REACH)	Minnesota North Dakota	$1,488,000
Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology in Mississippi	Mississippi	$540,000
Rural and North Florida Regional Extension Center	Florida	$168,000
South Carolina Research Foundation	South Carolina	$156,000
South Dakota Regional Extension Center	South Dakota	$576,000
South Florida Regional Extension Center Collaborative	Florida	$36,000
University of Kentucky Research Foundation	Kentucky	$360,000
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston	Texas	$612,000
Vermont Information Technology Leaders	Vermont	$108,000
VHQC (Virginia Health Quality Center)	Virginia	$84,000
West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (WT-HITREC)	Texas	$912,000
West Virginia Health Improvement	West Virginia	$204,000
WI-REC**	Washington Idaho	$564,000
Wide River Technology Extension Center	Nebraska	$120,000
Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension Center	Wisconsin	$828,000
	TOTAL ALL AWARDS	$19,848,000

*HealthBridge is the Regional Extension Center for select areas in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The CAH/rural hospital award to HealthBridge is for critical access and rural hospitals in these areas.

**WIREC is the Washington-Idaho Regional Extension Center which services providers in both Idaho and Washington. The CAH/rural hospital award to WIREC is for critical access and rural hospitals in Idaho and Washington.

Information & Resources

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Posted in CMS Medicare Medicaid, EHRs, Grants, Regional Extension Centers

Tags: CAHs CMS critical access hospitals ehrs medicaid medicare RECs rural access hospitals

Secretary Sebelius Announces Final Rules To Support ‘Meaningful Use’ of Electronic Health Records

July 14th, 2010

Final Rules To Support Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced final rules to help improve Americans’ health, increase safety and reduce health care costs through expanded use of electronic health records (EHR).

“For years, health policy leaders on both sides of the aisle have urged adoption of electronic health records throughout our health care system to improve quality of care and ultimately lower costs,” Secretary Sebelius said. “Today, with the leadership of the President and the Congress, we are making that goal a reality.”

Under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, eligible health care professionals and hospitals can qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments when they adopt certified EHR technology and use it to achieve specified objectives. One of the two regulations announced today defines the “meaningful use” objectives that providers must meet to qualify for the bonus payments, and the other regulation identifies the technical capabilities required for certified EHR technology.

Announcement of today’s regulations marks the completion of multiple steps laying the groundwork for the incentive payments program. With “meaningful use” definitions in place, EHR system vendors can ensure that their systems deliver the required capabilities, providers can be assured that the system they acquire will support achievement of “meaningful use” objectives, and a concentrated five-year national initiative to adopt and use electronic records in health care can begin.

“This is a turning point for electronic health records in America, and for improved quality and effectiveness in health care,” said David Blumenthal, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. “In delivering on the goals that Congress called for, we have sought to provide the leadership and coordination that are essential for a large, technology-based enterprise. At the same time, we have sought and received extensive input from the health care community, and we have drawn on their experience and wisdom to produce objectives that are both ambitious and achievable.”

Two companion final rules were announced today. One regulation, issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), defines the minimum requirements that providers must meet through their use of certified EHR technology in order to qualify for the payments. The other rule, issued by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), identifies the standards and certification criteria for the certification of EHR technology, so eligible professionals and hospitals may be assured that the systems they adopt are capable of performing the required functions.

As much as $27 billion may be expended in incentive payments over ten years. Eligible professionals may receive as much as $44,000 under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid, and hospitals may receive millions of dollars for implementation and meaningful use of certified EHRs under both Medicare and Medicaid.

The CMS rule announced today makes final a proposed rule issued on Jan, 13, 2010. The final rule includes modifications that address stakeholder concerns while retaining the intent and structure of the incentive programs. In particular, while the proposed rule called on eligible professionals to meet 25 requirements (23 for hospitals) in their use of EHRs, the final rules divides the requirements into a “core” group of requirements that must be met, plus an additional “menu” of procedures from which providers may choose. This “two track” approach ensures that the most basic elements of meaningful EHR use will be met by all providers qualifying for incentive payments, while at the same time allowing latitude in other areas to reflect providers’ needs and their individual path to full EHR use.

“CMS received more than 2,000 comments on our proposed rule,” said Marilyn Tavenner, Principal Deputy Administrator of CMS. “Many comments were from those who will be most immediately affected by EHR technology – health care providers and patients. We carefully considered every comment and the final meaningful use rules incorporate changes that are designed to make the requirements achievable while meeting the goals of the HITECH Act.”

Requirements for meaningful use incentive payments will be implemented over a multi-year period, phasing in additional requirements that will raise the bar for performance on IT and quality objectives in later years. The final CMS rule specifies initial criteria that eligible professionals (EPs) and eligible hospitals, including critical access hospitals (CAHs), must meet. The rule also includes the formula for the calculation of the incentive payment amounts; a schedule for payment adjustments under Medicare for covered professional services and inpatient hospital services provided by EPs, eligible hospitals and CAHs that fail to demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology by 2015; and other program participation requirements.

Key changes in the final CMS rule include:

Greater flexibility with respect to eligible professionals and hospitals in meeting and reporting certain objectives for demonstrating meaningful use. The final rule divides the objectives into a “core” group of required objectives and a “menu set” of procedures from which providers may choose any five to defer in 2011-2012. This gives providers latitude to pick their own path toward full EHR implementation and meaningful use.
An objective of providing condition-specific patient education resources for both EPs and eligible hospitals and the objective of recording advance directives for eligible hospitals, in line with recommendations from the Health Information Technology Policy Committee.
A definition of a hospital-based EP as one who performs substantially all of his or her services in an inpatient hospital setting or emergency room only, which conforms to the Continuing Extension Act of 2010
CAHs within the definition of acute care hospital for the purpose of incentive program eligibility under Medicaid.

CMS’ and ONC’s final rules complement two other recently issued HHS rules. On June 24, 2010, ONC published a final rule establishing a temporary certification program for health information technology. And on July 8, 2010 the Office for Civil Rights announced a proposed rule that would strengthen and expand privacy, security, and enforcement protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

As part of this process, HHS is establishing a nationwide network of Regional Extension Centers to assist providers in adopting and using in a meaningful way certified EHR technology.

“Health care is finally making the technology advances that other sectors of our economy began to undertake years ago,” Dr. Blumenthal said. “These changes will be challenging for clinicians and hospitals, but the time has come to act. Adoption and meaningful use of EHRs will help providers deliver better and more effective care, and the benefits for patients and providers alike will grow rapidly over time.”

A CMS/ONC fact sheet on the rules is available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/

Technical fact sheets on CMS’s final rule are available at http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms/

A technical fact sheet on ONC’s standards and certification criteria final rule is available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/standardsandcertification.

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Posted in HITECH_ARRA, Meaningful Use, Regional Extension Centers

Tags: CMS Department of Health ehrs electronic health records HEAL health Health Information Technology hhs hie hite HITECH Meaningful Use medicaid ONC policy REC regional extension center Regional Extension Centers temporary certification

Final Rule for Temporary Certification Issued

June 18th, 2010

HITECH Temporary Certification of EHRs for Health IT

Today, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology issued its final rule for the temporary certification program. The program establishes a way for organizations to be authorized by the National Coordinator to test and certify electronic health record (EHR) technology.

Use of certified EHR technology is a core requirement for eligible health care providers to qualify for payments under the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

For more information on the temporary certification program, visit: http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act provides HHS with the authority to establish programs to improve health care quality, safety, and efficiency through the promotion of health information technology (HIT), including electronic health records (EHRs) and private and secure electronic health information exchange.

The HITECH legislation directs the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to support and promote meaningful use of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology nationwide through the adoption of standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria as well as the establishment of certification programs for HIT, such as EHR technology..

About the Temporary Certification Program and ONC-ATCBs
To provide assurance to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs) that the EHR technology they adopt will assist their achievement of meaningful use, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule to establish a temporary certification program for EHR technology on June 18, 2010. The rule outlines how organizations can become ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Bodies (ONC-ATCBs). Authorized by the National Coordinator, ONC-ATCB are required to test and certify that certain types of her technology (Complete EHRs and EHR Modules) are compliant with the standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria adopted by the HHS Secretary and meet the definition of “certified EHR technology”.

About the Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria
On January 13, 2010, the Secretary published in the Federal Register an interim final rule that adopted standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria for HIT. A final rule, which will realign with the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs final rule, is expected to be released in the near future.

What Certification Means for Health Care Providers
EHR technology, certified by an ONC-ATCB must be used in order to qualify for incentive payments. The temporary certification program provides assurance that the EHR technology health care providers adopt is technically capable of supporting their efforts to achieve meaningful use.

What Certification Means for Developers of EHR Technology
The temporary certification program provides a way for developers of EHR technology to have their HIT tested and certified so that it can be subsequently adopted by eligible professionals, eligible hospitals and CAHs who seek to achieve meaningful use.

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Posted in HITECH_ARRA, Meaningful Use

Tags: Department of Health ehrs electronic health records HEAL health Health Information Technology health it hhs hie hite HITECH Meaningful Use medicaid ONC REC temporary certification

HHS Awards $144 Million for Higher Education and Research

April 11th, 2010

Academia and the Research Community Will Support Health Providers

Awards totaling $84 million to 16 universities and junior colleges will support training and development of more than 50,000 new health IT professionals.

Additionally Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) awards totaling $60 million were provided to four advanced research institutions ($15 million each) to focus on solving current and future challenges that represent barriers to adoption and meaningful use of health IT.

Community College Consortia Program ($36 million):

The Community College Consortia Program provides assistance to five regional recipients to establish a multi-institutional consortium within each designated region. The five regional consortia will include 70 community colleges in total. Each college will create non-degree training programs that can be completed in six months or less by individuals with appropriate prior education and/or experience. First year grant awards are estimated at $36 million. An additional $34 million is available for year two funding of these programs after successful completion of a mid-project evaluation.

Institution	Amount of Award
Bellevue College Bellevue, Washington	$ 3,364,798
Cuyahoga Community College District Cleveland, Ohio	$ 7,531,403
Los Rios Community College District Sacramento, California	$ 5,435,587
Pitt Community College Winterville, North Carolina	$10,901,009
Tidewater Community College Norfolk, Virginia	$ 8,492,793

Curriculum Development Center ($10 million):

The Curriculum Development Centers will develop educational materials for key health IT topics to be used by the members of the Community College Consortia program. The materials will also be made available to institutions of higher education across the country. One of the centers will receive additional assistance to act as the National Training and Dissemination Center (NTDC) for the curriculum materials.

Institution	Amount of Award
University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama	$1,820,000
The Trustees of Columbia University New York City, New York	$1,820,000
Duke University Durham, North Carolina	$1,820,000
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland	$1,820,000
Oregon Health & Science University Portland, Oregon	$2,720,000*

*(Will also receive the NTDC awards)

University-Based Training Programs ($32 million):

The University-based training programs will produce trained professionals for vital, highly specialized health IT roles. Most trainees in these programs will complete intensive courses of study in 12-months or less and receive a university-issued certificate of advanced training. Other trainees supported by these grants will study toward masters’ degrees.

Institution	Amount of Award
The Trustees of Columbia University New York City, New York	$3,786,677
University of Colorado Denver College of Nursing Denver, Colorado	$2,622,186
Duke University Durham, North Carolina	$2,167,121
George Washington University District of Columbia	$4,612,313
Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana	$1,406,469
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland	$3,752,512
University of Minnesota Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota	$5,145,705
Oregon Health & Science University Portland, Oregon	$3,085,812
Texas State University San Marcos, Texas	$5,421,205

Competency Examination Program ($6 million):

This program will support the development and initial administration of a set of health IT competency examinations. The program will create an objective measure to assess basic competency for individuals trained in short-term, non degree health IT programs and for members of the workforce seeking to demonstrate their competency in certain health IT workforce roles.

Institution	Amount of Award
Northern Virginia Community College Annandale, Virginia	$6,000,000

Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) Program ($60 million):

The SHARP program recognizes the critical importance of research to support improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare by creating “breakthrough” advances in information technology. The SHARP program targets four areas where improvements in technology are needed. The four SHARP award recipients, their areas of research focus and funding are:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ill. – Security of Health Information Technology – Developing security and risk mitigation policies and the technologies necessary to build and preserve the public trust as Health IT systems gain widespread use. $15 million.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Texas – Patient-Centered Cognitive Support – Harnessing the power of Health IT so that it integrates with, enhances and supports clinicians’ reasoning and decision-making. $15 million.
President and Fellows of Harvard College, Boston, Mass. – Healthcare Application and Network Platform Architectures – Developing new and improved architectures that will leverage benefits of today’s architecture and focus on the flexibility and scalability needs for the future to address significant increases in capture, storage and analysis of data. $15 million.
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. – Secondary Use of EHR Data– Strategies to make use of data that will be stored in EHRs for improving the overall quality of health care, while maintaining data privacy and security. $15 million.

Information about the HITECH awards available through the workforce development program is available at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov/ and www.grants.gov.

Health IT for Regional Extension Centers

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Posted in ARRA, Grants, HITECH_ARRA

Tags: ARRA awards community health ehrs Grants HEAL health Health Information Technology health it hhs hite HITECH Mayo Clinic Meaningful Use New York oregon REC regional extension center Regional Extension Centers SHARP

President Obama Announces Recovery Act Awards to Community Health Centers in More Than 30 States

December 10th, 2009

President Obama Announces Recovery Act Awards to Build, Renovate Community Health Centers in More Than 30 States

Program to Create Jobs in Low-Income Communities, Help CHCs Serve More Than 500,000 Additional Patients

WASHINGTON – Today President Obama announced nearly $600 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) awards to support major construction and renovation projects at 85 community health centers nationwide and help networks of health centers adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR) and other Health Information Technology (HIT) systems. The awards are expected to not only create new job opportunities in construction and health care, but also help provide care for more than half a million additional patients in underserved communities. The President also announced a new demonstration initiative to support the delivery of advanced primary care to Medicare beneficiaries through community health centers.

“Together, these three initiatives – funding for construction, technology and a medical home demonstration project – won’t just save more money, and create more jobs, they’ll give more people the peace of mind of knowing that health care will be there for them and their families when they need it,” said President Obama. “Ultimately, that’s what health reform is really about.”

“One of the first investments we made through the Recovery Act was in supporting our nation’s community health centers – and today we build on that progress by funding new construction and improvement projects at more than 80 facilities nationwide,” said Vice President Biden. “This is what the Recovery Act is all about – providing immediate assistance for hard-hit families, improving our nation’s infrastructure and creating new opportunities for stable, well-paid work.”

To qualify for funding, a health facility must be a Federally Qualified “Community” Health Center. Grants of $508.5 million will be provided through the Facility Investment Program (FIP) program to address pressing health center facility needs. Also, as much as $88 million will be available to help Health Center Controlled Networks improve operational effectiveness and clinical quality in health centers by providing management, financial, technology and clinical support services.

The new Recovery Act funds are the latest in a series of grants awarded to community health centers, which deliver preventive and primary care services at more than 7,500 service delivery sites around the country to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Health centers serve more than 17 million patients, about 40 percent of whom have no health insurance.

Both programs will be administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

President Obama directed the Department of Health and Human Services to implement a demonstration initiative designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice model on access, quality and cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries served by community health centers.

This model, known as the “medical home,” promotes accessible, continuous, and coordinated family-centered care. Developed and administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the demonstration will last three years. CMS anticipates that up to 500 health centers will participate.

“Because community health centers already provide comprehensive health care to people who face the greatest barriers to accessing care, these demonstration projects have the potential to support and improve the care delivered not only to Medicare beneficiaries, but also to others who rely on community health centers for primary care,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen G. Sebelius.

HRSA has received a total of $2 billion through the Recovery Act to expand health care services to low-income and uninsured individuals through its health center program. To date, nearly $1.9 billion of these funds have been awarded to community-based organizations across the country.

FIP grants are listed below. They were awarded through a competitive process:

Name of Health Center	City	State	Award Amount
Health Services Inc.	Montgomery	Ala.	$11,231,000
Seldovia Village Tribe	Seldovia	Alaska	$2,258,091
Alaska Island Community Services	Wrangell	Alaska	$3,736,490
North Country Healthcare Inc.	Flagstaff	Ariz.	$7,433,776
Canyonlands Community Health Care	Page	Ariz.	$1,840,695
Clinica Sierra Vista	Bakersfield	Calif.	$4,008,251
Solano County Health & Social Services Dept.	Fairfield	Calif.	$2,194,196
South Central Family Health Center	Los Angeles	Calif.	$953,743
Contra Costa County Health Services Dept.	Martinez	Calif.	$12,000,000
Golden Valley Health Center	Merced	Calif.	$9,573,010
Petaluma Health Center Inc.	Petaluma	Calif.	$8,906,986
Clinica De Salud Del Valle De Salinas	Salinas	Calif.	$2,327,857
Santa Clara Valley Health And Hospital System	San Jose	Calif.	$2,643,343
San Mateo County Health Services Agency	San Mateo	Calif.	$1,765,876
Centro De Salud De La Comunidad San Ysidro	San Ysidro	Calif.	$9,754,515
Vista Community Clinic	Vista	Calif.	$11,473,212
Charter Oak Health Center Inc.	Hartford	Conn.	$10,000,000
Community Health Services Inc.	Hartford	Conn.	$6,160,675
Unity Health Care Inc.	Washington	D.C.	$12,000,000
Suncoast Community Health Centers Inc.	Riverview	Fla.	$3,767,091
Project Health Inc.	Sumterville	Fla.	$5,222,774
Tampa Family Health Centers Inc.	Tampa	Fla.	$2,903,145
Palmetto Health Council Inc.	Atlanta	Ga.	$6,317,838
Southwest Georgia Health Care Inc.	Richland	Ga.	$1,208,700
Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services	Honolulu	Hawaii	$1,500,000
Lawndale Christian Health Center	Chicago	Ill.	$10,000,000
Greater Elgin Family Care Center	Elgin	Ill.	$2,452,172
PCC Community Wellness Center	Oak Park	Ill.	$4,053,042
Crusaders Central Clinic Association	Rockford	Ill.	$5,342,337
Healthnet Inc.	Indianapolis	Ind.	$10,426,357
Primary Health Care Inc.	Des Moines	Iowa	$2,615,429
Bucksport Regional Health Center	Bucksport	Maine	$2,459,420
Sacopee Valley Health Center	Parsonsfield	Maine	$802,951
Choptank Community Health System Inc.	Denton	Md.	$1,085,542
Dorchester House Multi-Service Center	Dorchester	Mass.	$7,024,029
East Boston Neighborhood Health Center	East Boston	Mass.	$12,000,000
Healthfirst Family Care Center Inc.	Fall River	Mass.	$12,000,000
Community Health Connections Inc.	Fitchburg	Mass.	$10,732,754
Lowell Community Health Center	Lowell	Mass.	$9,351,067
Mattapan Community Health Center	Mattapan	Mass.	$11,550,000
Greater New Bedford Community Health Center	New Bedford	Mass.	$5,331,145
Whittier Street Health Committee Inc.	Roxbury	Mass.	$12,000,000
Baldwin Family Health Care Inc	Baldwin	Mich.	$3,000,000
Intercare Community Health Network	Bangor	Mich.	$8,500,000
Cedar Riverside Peoples Center	Minneapolis	Minn.	$2,113,595
Central Mississippi Civic Improvement	Jackson	Miss.	$3,881,043
Nevada Rural Health Centers Inc.	Carson City	Nev.	$11,253,351
Avis Goodwin Community Health Center	Dover	N.H.	$4,957,300
Ammonoosuc Community Health Services Inc.	Littleton	N.H.	$2,641,157
Lamprey Health Care	Newmarket	N.H.	$2,150,250
Zufall Health Center Inc.	Dover	N.J.	$3,920,442
Ocean Health Initiatives Inc.	Lakewood	N.J.	$4,753,399
Newark City Health and Human Services	Newark	N.J.	$4,996,563
Newark Community Health Centers Inc.	Newark	N.J.	$6,453,000
La Familia Medical Center	Santa Fe	N.M.	$1,216,338
Montefiore Medical Center	Bronx	N.Y.	$795,000
Urban Health Plan Inc.	Bronx	N.Y.	$12,000,000
Family Health Network of Central New York Inc.	Cortland	N.Y.	$1,400,387
Community Healthcare Network	New York	N.Y.	$1,365,788
Family Healthcare Center	Fargo	N.D.	$6,666,583
Capital Park Family Health Center	Columbus	Ohio	$4,417,688
Muskingum Valley Health Centers Inc.	McConnelsville	Ohio	$5,997,980
Butler County Community Health Consortium Inc.	Middletown	Ohio	$4,669,197
Healthsource of Ohio Inc.	Milford	Ohio	$9,764,690
Great Salt Plains Health Center Inc.	Cherokee	Okla.	$2,828,647
Oklahoma Community Health Services Inc.	Oklahoma City	Okla.	$11,985,000
Central City Concern	Portland	Ore.	$8,950,000
Cornerstone Care	Burgettstown	Pa.	$2,574,643
Keystone Rural Health Center	Chambersburg	Pa.	$11,515,000
Southeast Lancaster Health Services	Lancaster	Pa.	$3,250,000
Esperanza Health Center	Philadelphia	Pa.	$6,552,799
Greater Philadelphia Health Action Inc.	Philadelphia	Pa.	$3,937,796
Squirrel Hill Health Center	Pittsburgh	Pa.	$792,700
Salud Integral En La Montana Inc.	Naranjito	P.R.	$8,752,140
Rincon Rural Health Initiative Project Inc	Rincon	P.R	$5,915,227
Little River Medical Center Inc.	Little River	S.C.	$5,523,205
Beaufort-Jasper Comprehensive Health Services Inc.	Ridgeland	S.C.	$7,912,493
Brownsville Community Health Center	Brownsville	Texas	$7,500,000
Project Vida Health Center	El Paso	Texas	$6,000,422
Su Clinica Familiar	Harlingen	Texas	$7,500,000
El Centro Del Barrio Inc.	San Antonio	Texas	$11,051,134
Heart of Texas Community Health Center Inc.	Waco	Texas	$5,296,239
Blue Ridge Medical Center Inc.	Arrington	Va.	$5,000,000
Community Health Center of Burlington Inc.	Burlington	Vt.	$10,964,476
La Clinica/South Columbia Rural Health	Pasco	Wash.	$7,425,870
			Total: $508,549,051

FACT SHEET

Community Health Centers and the Recovery Act

Health centers deliver preventive and primary care services at more than 7,500 service delivery sites around the country to patients regardless of their ability to pay; charges for services are set according to income. Health centers serve more than 17 million patients, about 38 percent of whom have no health insurance.

Three sets of health center awards have already been funded through Recovery Act appropriations on the following dates:

On March 2, President Obama announced grants worth $155 million to establish 126 new health center sites. Those grants will provide access to essential preventive and primary health care for more than 750,000 people in 39 states and two territories.
On March 27, HHS also awarded $338 Million in Increased Demand for Services grants for health centers. Health centers are using these funds to provide care to more than 2 million additional patients over the next two years, including approximately 1 million uninsured people. In addition, over the next two years, health centers will use the funds to create and retain approximately 6,400 health center jobs.
On June 29, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the release of $851 million in Recovery Act grants to upgrade over 1,500 health center sites and open their doors to more patients. More than 650 centers will use the funds for health information technology (HIT) systems, and nearly 400 health centers will adopt and expand the use of electronic health records.

The Facility Investment Program awards announced today are the fourth set of health center grants provided through the Recovery Act.

Facility Investment Program (FIP) Grants

The Obama Administration announced $508.5 million awarded in Facility Investment Program grants to community health centers nationwide to address the pressing needs of health center facilities and expanded their capacities to serve an additional 500,000 patients. The funds were made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act). The Facility Investment Program (FIP) grants support major construction and renovation at our nation’s health centers. These funds will help health centers build new facilities, modernize current sites and create employment opportunities in underserved communities.

Recipients of FIP funds are expected to commit grant funds and complete the proposed projects within two years. The grants will cover two types of projects:

1. Alteration/renovation: This project type includes work required to modernize, improve or change the interior arrangements or other physical characteristics of an existing facility, and purchase/install equipment. Alterations and renovations make existing space usable for another purpose. This type of project does not increase square footage.

2. Construction (new site or expansion of existing site): This project type includes—(i) adding a new structure to an existing site that increases the total square footage of the facility; and (ii) permanently affixing structure (e.g., modular units, prefabricated buildings) to real property (i.e., land).

FIP grants, along with the entire health center program, are administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCN)

The Obama Administration announced the availability of $88 million in grants to help networks of health centers adopt Electronic Health Records (EHR) and other Health Information Technology (HIT) systems. The funds are part of the $1.5 billion allotted to the Health Resources and Services Administration, a component of the Department of Health and Human Services, by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) for construction, renovation, equipment, and the acquisition of HIT systems for health center programs.

The Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCN) grant program was developed in 1994 to support the creation, development, and operation of electronic networks, controlled by groups of collaborating health centers, to improve health center operations. The networks are controlled by and operate on behalf of HRSA-supported health centers. Each network comprises at least three collaborating organizations.

HCCNs integrate core business functions among their individual health center members, who may be anywhere in the country, but are often in the same state or region. The core business functions these networks share are: administrative, clinical, managed care, fiscal, or health information systems.

Networks provide these functions at or below marketplace cost to their members. In launching a network, members assess their respective environments and existing infrastructure to determine the most appropriate mix of business functions to share. The networks seek to:

increase access for the low-income, uninsured population they predominantly serve;
enhanced the efficiency of their operations; or
create a higher level of performance and value.

Networks that receive HCCN funds are given great flexibility in determining their activities. Each network is unique, depending on its state or regional environment, marketplace, collaborators, needs and interests.

HRSA awarded $36 million in grants to support the operations of 53 Health Center Controlled Networks in fiscal year 2009.

Medicare Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration Initiative

Today, President Obama directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement a demonstration initiative to support federal qualified health centers in delivering advanced primary care to Medicare beneficiaries. HHS’ agencies, Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will work together to conduct this 3-year demonstration and anticipate that 500 federally qualified health centers will participate.

Advanced Primary Care Model

The Advanced Primary Care model, also known as the patient-centered medical home, promotes targeted, accessible, continuous, and coordinated family-centered care. The demonstration is designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice model on access, quality and cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries served by federal qualified health centers.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)

FQHCs provide comprehensive primary and preventive health care for medically underserved populations who face the greatest economic and geographic barriers to accessing care. Overseen by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Health Center program is a national network of more than 1,100 community, migrant, homeless and public housing health center grantees. These organizations provide health care at more than 7,500 clinical sites, ranging from large medical facilities to mobile vans. In 2008, health centers served more than 17 million medically underserved people. FQHCs provide an environment to demonstrate the benefits of medical homes can offer to Medicare beneficiaries.

New Medicare Demonstration

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and HRSA will develop the demonstration, which would include a solicitation of applications from FQHC grantees. To participate, FQHC grantees will need to demonstrate that their clinic sites have the capacity to deliver continuous and coordinated care across providers and settings, including improving access to care by expanding service hours, facilitating and following up on referrals, and managing medications prescribed by different physicians. FQHC clinic sites selected to participate in the demonstration will receive a monthly care management fee for each Medicare fee-for-service beneficiary they enroll into the demonstration, in addition to payment for any other covered Medicare services they provide.

Research Design

This demonstration will evaluate whether federal qualified health centers that deliver advanced primary care improve access and quality, promote appropriate use of services, and reduce health care costs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will begin soliciting applications in spring 2010, aiming to begin implementation of the 3-year demonstration initiative in January 2011. CMS will conduct an independent evaluation of this demonstration.

** This release has been corrected.