UPDATE:White House Unveils $1B Health Info Technology Investment
Last update: 2/12/2010 2:10:08 PM
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Obama administration unveiled an almost $1 billion investment in health-care information technology Friday, money it says will help train workers for new jobs and let doctors and hospitals adopt cost-saving technologies.
"These grant awards, the first of their kind, will help develop our electronic infrastructure and give doctors and other health care providers the support they need as they adopt this powerful technology," Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
The White House said the awards will help more than 100,000 hospitals and primary-care physicians access health IT by 2014, and train thousands of people for new careers.
Most of the new funds--over $750 million--will be granted by HHS to help providers use electronic health records to cut costs and eliminate paperwork.
Around $386 million of the HHS money will go to 40 states and "State Designated Entities," while $375 million will go to 32 non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers.
Those centers, the White House said, are expected to provide outreach and support services to at least 100,000 primary-care providers and hospitals within two years.
Promoting the use of electronic records and other new technologies is part of the administration's broader health-care agenda. Sebelius said that currently just one-fifth of doctors and one-tenth of hospitals employ basic electronic health records.
In using recovery act funds to boost health-care IT, the White House also is hoping the effort can help ease the nation's 9.7% jobless rate. Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden's top economic adviser, said the health-care sector added jobs every month of the recession, making it an attractive destination for stimulus money.
More than $225 million of the new grants will be awarded by the Labor Department to train 15,000 people in new skills. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said she expects that 10,000 of those workers will have jobs lined up when they finish their training projects.
"The organizations receiving the funding are partnering with local businesses and other groups to make sure that the workers who enroll in their programs have jobs awaiting for them when they complete training," Solis said on a conference call with reporters. "These high-growth jobs offer good pay, benefits and opportunities for advancement."
AI
