The New Jersey Innovation Institute received a $6 million grant from two state agencies to help lead New Jersey's EHR interoperability program that aims to decrease opioid overprescribing.
The New Jersey Department of Health and the New Jersey Department of Human Services chose the NJII, which is part of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, to help rollout the statewide Promoting Interoperability for New Jersey Substance Use Disorder Providers initiative. The program was developed to modernize the state's information technology infrastructure and persuade more state substance use disorder providers to switch from paper-based medical records to EHRs.
"Our goal with this initiative is to help these providers get connected ... they are on islands right now and we want to put in the bridges," said Tomas Gregorio, senior vice president of NJII's Healthcare Division, according to a news release.
NJII will team up with the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies to rollout the program, which is designed to support SUD providers at 120 medical facilities across the state. The program allows providers to receive incentive-based funding to implement new or update existing EHR systems.
Providers participating in the program will be connected through the state's health information exchange the New Jersey Health Information Network. The healthcare organizations will also have the opportunity to access state-managed drug abuse monitoring databases such as the New Jersey Prescription Monitoring Program and the New Jersey Substance Abuse Monitoring System.