WASHINGTON – The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will grant $235 million for 15 “beacon communities” that exemplify the positive impact of healthcare IT on population health.
ONC chief David Blumenthal, MD, who announced the program last month, said $220 million of the grant money will go to qualified local governments and nonprofits that are building healthcare exchanges and fostering meaningful use of IT in their communities, while the remaining 10 million will go toward covering the administrative costs of the program. Five million will fund technical assistance.
The grants will support the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program and be funded from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Combined with other recently announced federal healthcare IT programs, they total 75 percent of the $2 billion allotted under ARRA for healthcare IT, according to Blumenthal.
The ONC is looking for applicants that have used healthcare IT to successfully reduce smoking rates, hospital readmission rates, or the number of people with obesity and high blood pressure in their communities, Blumenthal said. Other beacon communities may include those that have improved care for people with diabetes or decreased healthcare disparities among their populations.
Blumenthal said the government is looking for “all types of communities,” including rural, urban, towns, counties, geographical regions, well-served and underserved populations, to apply for grants, which are due by Feb.1.
According to Farzad Mostashari, an ONC adviser, ONC is launching the beacon community program because, “2015 is a long time to wait to see what the impact nationwide of an eco system where providers and hospitals and others are meaningfully using health IT and exchanging information.”
Only applicants that use healthcare IT will be accepted. In urban areas, grant applicants must have at least 30 percent of its providers using IT, while in rural areas; the cutoff is 25 percent, Mostashari said.
ONC has not put a requirement on whether applicant organizations must include primary or specialty care physicians, he said. “I would expect that for many if not all of the kinds of metrics we’re trying to move, there would be a need for care coordination across the spectrum including specialists. But there may be others – some sets that we’re not thinking of – that are perfectly credible that do not.”
Kelly Cronin, director of ONC, said a qualified applicant must include at least one or more continuous geographic hospital service areas. A lead applicant should apply on behalf of the community or consortium of stakeholders.
