ONC 2nd Annoucement for HIE Grants and a Review of Program Requirements

HHS

On March 15, 2010, ONC completed the announcement of State Health Information (State HIE) Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program awardees.  The first announcement of awards were on February 12th, 2010.   These awards are meant as seed money for State HIE’s which are expected to reach financial independent within 2 to 4 years.  The Awardees will be evaluated on various criteria over a four year period.  The criteria are detailed in http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_10741_888442_0_0_18/FOA_State%20Health%20Information%20Exchange%20Cooperative%20Agreement%20Program_Sept3_updated%20funding%20formula.doc.  A PDF of this same document is available here: FOA_State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program_Sept3_updated funding formula.  Generally, HIEs are intended to transmit healthcare information electronically across organizations within a region, community or hospital system.  HIE generally allow for the movement of clinical information among disparate health systems.  Various gateways and interface utilities are used to translate data from disparate information systems.

The parameters of the program include:

• The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), amends Title XXX of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) by adding Section 3013, State Grants to Promote Health Information Technology. Section 3013 establishes the State Health Information Exchange Cooperative Agreement Program;
• The State Health Information Exchange (State HIE) Cooperative Agreement Program awards cooperative agreements to states, eligible territories, and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to develop and advance mechanisms for information sharing across the health care system, including establishing health information exchange (HIE) capacity among health care providers and hospitals in their jurisdiction, ultimately enabling exchange across states;
• The funding instrument that the State HIE Program has chosen to use in administering the awards is a cooperative agreement.  A cooperative agreement is a partnership between the grant recipient and the Federal government, when the Federal government has a substantial stake in the outcomes or operations of the program.  The State HIE cooperative agreements have a four-year performance period and recipients will be required to match a portion of grant awards beginning in the second year of the award, 2011; and
• Under this program, $548 million has been awarded to support efforts to facilitate and expand the secure, electronic movement and use of health information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards. The governance, policy and technical infrastructure supported through this program will enable standards-based HIE and a high performance health care system.  HIE is fundamental to realizing the promise of meaningful use of EHRs and HIT that leads to improved quality, efficiency and safety of health care.

(See HealthIT.hhs.gov)

States must also:

• Develop and implement up-to-date privacy and security requirements for HIE with and across state borders;
• Develop state-level directories and technical services to enable interoperability within and across States;
• Coordinate with Medicaid and state public health programs to enable information exchange and support monitoring of provider participation in HIE;
• Remove barriers that may hinder effective HIE, particularly those related to interoperability across laboratories, hospitals, clinician offices, health plans and other health information exchange partners;
• Ensure an effective model for HIE governance and accountability is in place; and
• Convene health care stakeholders to build trust in and support for a statewide approach to HIE.

The State HIE Cooperative Agreement Program funds states’ efforts to rapidly build capacity for exchanging health information across the health care system both within and across states. Awardees are responsible for increasing connectivity and enabling patient-centric information flow to improve the quality and efficiency of care. Key to this is the continual evolution and advancement of necessary governance, policies, technical services, business operations, and financing mechanisms for HIE over each state, territory, and SDE’s four-year performance period.

Grantees in the second round of awards (announced March 15, 2010):

• State of Alaska
• Department of Public Health, State of CT
• Agency of Health Care Administration (FL)
• Iowa Department of Public Health
• Idaho Health Data Exchange
• Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc.
• Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum
• The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• State of Mississippi
• HealthShare Montana
• State of North Dakota, Information Technology Department
• Nebraska Department of Administrative Services
• New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority
• South Carolina Department of Health & Human Services
• South Dakota Department of Health
• Texas Health and Human Services Commission

Grantees in the first round of awards (announced February 12, 2010):

• Rhode Island Quality Institute
• State of Oregon
• Georgia Department of Community Health
• Kansas Health Information Exchange Project
• Cabinet for Health and Family Services (KY)
• Missouri Depart of Social Services
• Colorado Regional Health Information Organization
• Health Care Authority (Washington)
• Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform Commonwealth of PA
• Virginia Department of Health
• State of Maine/Governor’s Office of Health Policy & Finance
• The Hawaii Health Information Exchange
• Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
• Government of the District of Columbia
• Minnesota Department of Health
• Virgin Islands Department of Health
• Oticina del Gobernador La Fortaeza (PR)
• Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
• New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
• Alabama Medicaid Agency
• California Health and Human Services Agency
• Utah Department of Health
• Vermont Department of Human Services
• Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation
• Lovelace Clinic Foundation (New Mexico)
• State of Tennessee
• North Carolina Department of State Treasurer
• West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
• Arkansas Dept of Finance and Administration
• Delaware Health Information Network
• Michigan Department of Health
• New York eHealth Collaborative, Inc.
• Oklahoma Health Care Authority
• Pacific Ecommerce Development Corporation (American Samoa)
• Ohio Health Information Partnership, LLC
• Arizona Governor’s Office of Economic Recovery
• Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
• Office of the Governor (Guam)
• Commonwealth of the NMI, Department of Public Health
• Office of the Governor (WY)

(see http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1488&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=2&mode=2&in_hi_userid=10741&cached=true).

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