HHS Awards Three Contracts To Expand Use of Electronic Health Records, USA

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 12 Oct 2005 - 19:00 PDT

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HHS officials on Thursday announced that the department has awarded three contracts valued at $17.5 million to three private organizations to expand the use of electronic medical records and develop standards for EHR product regulation, CQ HealthBeat reports (CQ HealthBeat [1], 10/6). The contracts will "create and evaluate processes for harmonizing health information standards, develop criteria to certify and evaluate health IT products, and develop solutions to address variations in business policies and state laws that affect privacy and security practices that may pose challenges to the secure communication of health information," according to HHS (HHS release [1], 10/6). HHS awarded a $3.3 million contract to the American National Standards Institute to develop software standards to allow providers to share health care information; a $2.7 million contract to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology to develop standards for the certification of EHR products; and an $11.5 million contract to the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration to establish health care privacy regulations (CQ HealthBeat [1], 10/6). National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Brailer said, "These contracts are a significant milestone in a broader strategy to spur technical innovation for nationwide sharing of health information and adoption of electronic health records." He added, "This work will set the stage for an Internet-based architecture that will allow secure, timely and accurate exchange of health information among patients, clinicians and other authorized health care entities" (HHS release [1], 10/6).

Grants Awarded
In addition, the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on Thursday awarded more than $22.3 million to 16 providers to implement health care IT systems. AHRQ selected the grant recipients, which include 11 organizations from small and rural communities, from a group of agency grantees who received health care IT planning funds last year. According to HHS, grant recipients "will contribute to AHRQ's capacity to learn from health IT implementation in clinical settings," which will help advance broader implementation of such systems (HHS release [2], 10/6).

Health Care IT Cost Concerns
The cost of installation and maintenance of health care IT systems serves as the main barrier to implementation of such systems at small and rural hospitals, according to a survey released on Thursday by the American Hospital Association, CQ HealthBeat reports. The survey involved 900 hospitals that have begun to implement health care IT systems, such as bar codes for medical devices, computerized physician order entry and EHRs. According to the survey, most respondents remain in the initial stages of implementation. About 53% of respondents currently share health care information with physician offices, laboratories and school clinics, the survey found. Hospital size, the location and financial status of respondents were linked with the level of health care IT used, the survey found. Hospitals with higher average profit margins had the highest level of health care IT used, according to the survey. AHA Chair George Lynn said, "We need a common set of standards so different computer systems can talk to one another within a hospital as well as from New Jersey to Arizona" (CQ HealthBeat [2], 10/6).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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