On Friday, HHS announced the Regional Extension Center (“REC”) awards and the State Health Information Exchange (“HIE”) awards. The funding for these programs comes from the Recovery Act and is part of the EHR initiative. The State HIE money is aimed at facilitating state-wide health information exchange. The purpose of the RECs is to assist health professionals in implementing health information technology and EHRs.
The State of Washington received $11.3 million for HIE and Qualis Health was awarded the Washington REC designation and approximately $12.8 million dollars. The State of Washington will work with OneHealthPort in implementing the State HIE strategies.
To read the HHS press release click here.
To read Dr. David Blumenthal’s (ONC) blog article regarding the awards click here.
