Department of Health and Human Services to fund state Health Info Exchange breakthrough pilots

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information technology is providing grants to states in order to fund health information exchange breakthroughs in five challenging areas that will promote sharing of patient records nationwide: improving long-term and post-acute care transitions through HIE; giving patients access to their own health information; developing tools and approaches to search for and share granular patient data, such as specific lab results for a given time period; and fostering strategies for population-level analysis.

The Health Information Exchange Challenge Program will fund pilots in 10 states and supplement what they have already received for creation of their statewide health information exchanges. When granted, the awards will fund the development of technology and mechanisms in pilot sites. The states will then share them with other states and communities to increase their ability to exchange information nationwide. Awards will range between $1 million and $2 million each, for a total of $16 million to 10 states. States must apply by Jan. 5.