Women's Health Professional

Today's Date: Monday, February 08, 2010

NY Offers $60 Million To Integrate HIT

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The New York Department of Health (NY DOH) has made $60 million available for grants to support adoption of health information technology (HIT) and integration with patient center medical home (PCMH) practices.

The Health Efficiency and Affordability Law for NY (HEAL NY) capital grant program, established in 2004, is accepting applications for HEAL NY Phase 10 HIT Grant Program; deadline for applications is June 15, 2009.

"HEAL 10 seeks applications for projects to improve care coordination and management through a PCMH supported by Interoperable Health Information Infrastructure. This infrastructure includes the technological building blocks, clinical capacity and policy solutions necessary to transition healthcare from today's largely paper-based system to an electronic, interconnected healthcare system," according to the NY DOH.

Lead applicants should be:

A designated stakeholder participant in a PCMH that has an active role in the care of the target patient population and is an active participant in a state recognized RHIO; or
A Community Health Information Technology Adoption Collaboration (CHITA) -- a health IT adoption and services organization to promote the adoption and effective use of interoperable EHRs and other health IT tools to support quality improvement -- on behalf of one or more PCMHs.

Applications will be scored and the higher ranking projects will be awarded the grants. To increase points awarded, applications should include at least 50 percent of providers and caregivers involved in the PCMH, but more names will result in a higher ranking.

Health plan participation will also benefit the application's ranking, said NY DOH.

"A critical component is the ability to share clinical information across all providers involved in a patient's care to improve the coordination of care. Coordination of care among providers as a patient moves between care settings has been shown to be critically important in decreasing medical errors and their associated costs by reducing the duplication of services and providing information at the point of care," said the NY DOH.

A maximum of $7 million may be requested and matching funds are required. Grants will be awarded by regions, they are:

Western: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, Yates
Central: Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland,Delaware, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison,Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Tioga, Tompkins
Northern: Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, St. Lawrence, Warren, Washington
Hudson Valley: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, Westchester
New York City: Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond
Long Island: Nassau, Suffolk

A minimum of one grant will be awarded to each region and a maximum of two grants will be awarded if funds allow. The NY DOH said if there is still money available after the initial 12 grants other high ranking applications may receive funding.

Any questions should be submitted to the NY DOH by May 11.

For more information, please visit: www.health.state.ny.us.

This site serves executives who are responsible for the management and administration of women's health programs. Our community includes hospital women's health managers, as well as directors and managers of women's health programs of government agencies, other healthcare organizations, health insurance plans, women's health organizations, colleges and universities and community-based organizations.

Click here to Contact Us