WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services has created the Office of Recovery Act Coordination to help ensure the timely, organized and transparent distribution of economic stimulus funds managed by HHS.

Among those funds is $19 billion for healthcare information technology. Of the total, $2 billion will go to the Office of the National Coordinator for healthcare IT (ONC) to be distributed for various projects that support information technology. The rest of the $19 billion will be used as Medicare and Medicaid incentives to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt information technology and use it in a "meaningful way."

"HHS is committed to moving quickly and carefully to distribute Recovery Act funds in an open and transparent manner," said HHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus.
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