Rural Route

The following includes recently announced funding opportunities available to state governments, 501(c)3 organizations, institutes of higher education, community colleges, and consortia from the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (or HITECH Act) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009:

Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement
This program will provide $235 million to communities to build and strengthen their health information technology (HIT) infrastructure and exchange capabilities to demonstrate the vision of meaningful HIT. Cooperative agreement awards will go to approximately fifteen entities representing geographic care communities. Applicants must fall into one of the five below categories:

State, local, tribal, or territorial government entity with a public health focus
Integrated delivery network or health system with broad community partnerships
Independent physician association or consortium of medical groups
Public/private partnership aimed at health system improvement and/or community health improvement
ONC-funded regional extension center with the capacity to expand its services

Curriculum Development Centers
This program will provide $10 million in grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to support HIT curriculum development. The Office of the National Coordinator for HIT plans to make up to five grant awards that will support curriculum development to enhance programs of workforce training primarily at the community college level. The materials developed under this program will be used by the member colleges of the five regional consortia as well as be available to institutions of higher education across the country.

Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center Program (cycle 2)
The regional extension centers will offer technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers' efforts to become meaningful users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The extension program will establish an estimated 70 (or more) regional centers, each serving a defined geographic area. The regional centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers, through participating non-profit organizations, in achieving meaningful use of EHRs and enabling nationwide health information exchange. The estimated range of award values for the initial two-year budget period is approximately $1 million to $30 million per Regional Center, with an estimated average of around $8.5 million. Funding has now been reduced to awards in two cycles, versus the originally proposed three, with all awards issued by March 31, 2010.

Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals
The Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals in Health Care program will provide $70 million to rapidly create HIT academic programs at Community Colleges (as defined by the 1965 Higher Education Act) or expand program that educate on HIT. Each student with appropriate prerequisite training and experience will be able to complete intensive training in one of six roles within six months or less. Roles include: Practice workflow and information management redesign specialists; Clinician/practitioner consultants; Implementation support specialists; Implementation managers; Technical/software support staff; and, Trainers. Academic programs may be offered through traditional on-campus instruction or distance learning modalities, or combinations thereof. Eligible applicants may be institutions of higher education. Any university that applies must also be engaged in providing training in HIT. The lead awardee will also need to provide a list of the Community Colleges in the consortia that will receive funding through the project as sub-awardees.