HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced a funding opportunity during the ONC Annual Meeting Feb. 3 that would provide $28 million for interoperability efforts.
The ONC released its Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Jan. 30, outlining a five-year plan for information exchange between EHR systems in the U.S. The grant would be disbursed in 10 to 12 sections to states, territories or state-designated entities to continue efforts to further interoperability, according to a Feb. 3 ONC blog post by National Coordinator Karen B. DeSalvo, MD.
The funding opportunity is available to providers across the care continuum, including those ineligible for the Medicaid EMR Incentive Programs, as grantees will work with them to exchange data across new HIE platforms, Dr. DeSalvo wrote.
"Through this funding opportunity, grantees will continue to leverage the investments and lessons learned from the earlier HIE Programs to advance the standardized, secure and interoperable movement of health information across organizations, vendors and geographic boundaries," Dr. DeSalvo wrote.