Karen DeSalvo, MD, National Coordinator for Health IT, announced Tuesday a new funding opportunity to help further efforts to ensure the electronic exchange of health information.
The grants awarded through the Community Interoperability and Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program will build upon existing efforts to maintain HIEs at the community level. The program has total available funding of $1 million, which will be awarded to up to 10 community organizations, state or local government agencies or other community groups.
Awardees are required to demonstrate the use of health IT to providers across the care continuum, including long-term and post-acute care providers, behavioral health providers and individual caregivers, as well as providers not eligible for Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.
"The flow of health information across the entire care continuum is a critical step to realizing a learning health system that results in not only better care, but healthier people and communities," Dr. DeSalvo said. "The new Community Interoperability and HIE program will fund local efforts that will leverage health IT in support of a more comprehensive digital data picture of health for people and their communities."
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