§300jj–32 Health Information Technology Implementation Assistance

Summary

The Secretary, working through the Office of the National Coordinator, must set up a program to help health care providers adopt and use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology that supports electronic exchange of health information. The Secretary must also create a Health Information Technology Research Center to give technical help and to develop and share best practices. The Center must get input from other federal agencies with IT expertise (like NIST), from users of health IT (such as providers and clinic staff), and others as needed. The Center’s job is to share knowledge, speed up lessons from public and private projects, collect and spread evidence about using health IT, help build and evaluate local and regional health information networks, work on solutions to exchange problems, and study ways to use health IT in underserved communities. The Secretary must fund regional extension centers, which will be run by U.S.-based nonprofit groups chosen by merit, to spread the Center’s lessons and give hands-on help. These centers must help providers implement, upgrade, maintain, and use health IT, support training, promote privacy and security, and take part in health information exchanges when possible. They must prioritize help first for public or not-for-profit hospitals, federally qualified health centers, providers serving uninsured/underinsured or medically underserved areas, and small or solo primary care practices. Federal support can last up to four years and may not exceed 50 percent of start-up and yearly operating costs unless Congress is notified of a waiver for bad economic conditions. The Secretary had to publish a draft program description in the Federal Register within 90 days after February 17, 2009, showing goals, application steps, eligibility criteria, and expected funding. Applications get merit review using factors like ability to help providers, services offered, geographic reach, and outside funding. Each funded regional center must be reviewed every two years by a panel of outside experts and federal officials, and funding continues only if the evaluation is overall positive; after the second year, a center with good reviews may get more support if the Secretary finds it in the public interest.