Dialysis Clinics Eligible for Health IT Stimulus Money04/02/2009
WASHINGTON—Dialysis clinics may be able to access money from the federal stimulus bill to help expand the use of health information technology.
In February, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated $19 billion dollars for healthcare information technology funding.
Around $17 billion has been appropriated to reward healthcare providers, hospitals and doctors for using electronic health records. Much of that money won’t be available until 2011.
However, the National Coordinator for Health IT was given $2 billion to immediately spend on grants, contracts and other projects for health IT. Dialysis facilities are listed as eligible providers that may apply for grants and loans, according to a column written by Jerry Klepner, the government relations consultant for the National Renal Administrators Association.
Eligible projects for the first round of grants and loans include the creation of health IT for nationwide exchange; development of electronic health records for providers not eligible for Medicare or Medicaid HIT funding; training; interoperability; and protection of health information, according to Klepner.
The funds will be available through the Department of Health and Human Services, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Indian Health Service, according to Klepner.
Much of the future Health IT stimulus money will be given to healthcare providers in the form of increased Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements for those who “meaningfully” use EHRs and report quality data to the government.
http://www.renalbusiness.com/hotnews/dialysis-clinics-health-it-stimulus-money.html
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