WASHINGTON – Critical access and rural hospitals will benefit from nearly $20 million in new technical support assistance to help them convert from paper-based medical records to certified electronic health record technology, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Friday.

Some 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, headquartered in the District of Columbia, stand to benefit from this assistance, which can help each of them qualify for substantial EHR incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid, Sebelius said.
 
"The benefits of health information technology can be especially important for patients and clinicians in small and rural health care facilities, yet these facilities face high hurdles as they look toward joining in the transition to electronic information," Sebelius said. "The funding we are announcing today is a new category of support, aimed specifically at assisting critical access and rural hospitals with their particular needs and challenges. This new funding is added to the substantial base we have already built to provide assistance to healthcare providers throughout the country as they transition to EHRs."
 
The new funding is provided under the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The funding comes through an ONC-sponsored program – the Regional Extension Centers (RECs), of which there are 60 across the country, offering technical assistance, guidance and information on best practices to boost the adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentives programs.

The new funding is being awarded to 46 of the RECs, serving providers in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country. A total of 1,655 critical access and rural hospitals are in the areas covered by these RECs. The funding is part of the Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Hospitals (CAH/Rural Hospital) Project, a priority for the REC program.  

The intent of the project is to provide additional technical support to critical access and rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in selecting and implementing EHR systems primarily within the outpatient setting.
 
Today's round of awards builds on the funding that RECs are already receiving under the HITECH Act, bringing the total amount of funding awarded to date to support the efforts of RECs to over $663 million.

 A list of the awards are on the next page.