Sebelius, Solis Announce Nearly $1 Billion Recovery Act Investment in Advancing Use of Health IT, Training Workers for Health Jobs of the Future

Grant Awards to Help Make Health IT Available to Over 100,000 Health Providers by 2014, Support Tens of Thousands of Jobs Nationwide

WASHINGTON, DC - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis today announced a total of nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to help health care providers advance the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (IT) and train workers for the health care jobs of the future. The awards will help make health IT available to over 100,000 hospitals and primary care physicians by 2014 and train thousands of people for careers in health care and information technology. This Recovery Act investment will help grow the emerging health IT industry which is expected to support tens of thousands of jobs ranging from nurses and pharmacy techs to IT technicians and trainers.

The over $750 million in HHS grant awards Secretary Sebelius announced today are part of a federal initiative to build capacity to enable widespread meaningful use of health IT. This assistance at the state and regional level will facilitate health care providers’ efforts to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful manner that has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for all Americans. Of the over $750 million investment, $386 million will go to 40 states and qualified State Designated Entities (SDEs) to facilitate health information exchange (HIE) at the state level, while $375 million will go to an initial 32 non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs) that will aid health professionals as they work to implement and use health information technology - with additional HIE and REC awards to be announced in the near future. RECs are expected to provide outreach and support services to at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals within two years.

"Health information technology can make our health care system more efficient and improve the quality of care we all receive," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. "These grant awards, the first of their kind, will help develop our electronic infrastructure and give doctors and other health care providers the support they need as they adopt this powerful technology."

The more than $225 million in DOL grant awards Secretary Solis announced will be used to train 15,000 people in job skills needed to access careers in health care, IT and other high growth fields. Through existing partnerships with local employers, the recipients of these grants have already identified roughly 10,000 job openings for skilled workers that likely will become available in the next two years in areas like nursing, pharmacy technology and information technology. The grants will fund 55 separate training programs in 30 states to help train people for secure, well-paid health jobs and meet the growing employment demand for health workers. Employment services will be available via the Department of Labor’s local One Stop Career Centers, and training will be offered at community colleges and other local education providers.

“The Recovery Act’s investments are making a positive difference in the lives of America’s working families,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “The investments announced today will ensure thousands of workers across the nation can receive high-quality training and employment services, which will lead to good jobs in healthcare and other industries offering career-track employment and good pay and benefits.”

The HHS and DOL awards are part of an overall $100 billion investment in science, innovation and technology the Administration is making through the Recovery Act to spur domestic job creation in growing industries and lay a long-term foundation for economic growth. In addition to the 10,000 jobs the DOL grantees expect to fill with freshly trained workers, the health IT extension centers are expected to hire over 3,000 technology workers nationwide in the months ahead. Overall, the Administration investments in health IT and training will help significantly expand an emerging industry expected to support tens of thousands of secure, well-paid jobs nationwide.

A complete listing of the state HIE, REC and job training grant recipients is as follows: State HIE Awards:

State HIE Awardee
Award Amount

Alabama Medicaid Agency
$ 10,564,789

Arizona Governor’s Office of Economic Recovery
$ 9,377,000

Arkansas Dept of Finance and Administration
$ 7,909,401

California Health and Human Services Agency
$ 38,752,536

Colorado Regional Health Information Organization
$ 9,175,777

Delaware Health Information Network
$ 4,680,284

Government of the District of Columbia
$ 5,189,709

Georgia Department of Community Health
$ 13,003,003

Office of the Governor (Guam)
$ 1,600,000

The Hawaii Health Information Exchange
$ 5,602,318

Illinois Department of Health care and Family Services
$ 18,837,639

Kansas Health Information Exchange Project
$ 9,010,066

Cabinet for Health and Family Services (Kentucky)
$ 9,750,000

State of Maine/Governor’s Office of Health Policy & Finance
$ 6,599,401

Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation
$ 10,599,719

Michigan Department of Health
$ 14,993,085

Minnesota Department of Health
$ 9,622,000

Missouri Depart of Social Services
$ 13,765,040

Nevada Department of Health and Human Services
$ 6,133,426

New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
$ 5,457,856

Lovelace Clinic Foundation, New Mexico
$ 7,070,441

New York eHealth Collaborative Inc.
$ 22,364,782

Commonwealth of the NMI, Department of Public Health
$ 800,000

North Carolina Department of State Treasurer
$ 12,950,860

Ohio Health Information Partnership LLC
$ 14,872,199

Oklahoma Health Care Authority
$ 8,883,741

Pacific Ecommerce Development Corporation (American Samoa)
$ 600,000

State of Oregon
$ 8,579,992

Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
$ 17,140,446

Oticina del Gobernador La Fortaeza (Puerto Rico)
$ 7,770,980

Rhode Island Quality Institute
$ 5,280,000

State of Tennessee
$ 11,664,580

Utah Department of Health
$ 6,296,705

Vermont Department of Human Services
$ 5,034,328

Virgin Islands Department of Health
$ 1,000,000

Virginia Department of Health
$ 11,613,537

Health Care Authority (Washington)
$ 11,300,000

West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
$ 7,819,000

Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
$ 9,441,000

Office of the Governor (Wyoming)
$ 4,873,000

Total Award Amount
$ 385,978,640

Regional Extension Center Awards:

RECs Awardee
Award Amount

Altarum Institute, Michigan
$ 19,619,990

Arkansas Foundation For Medical Care
$ 7,400,000

CIMRO of Nebraska
$ 6,647,371

Colorado RHIO
$ 12,475,000

District of Columbia Primary Care Association
$ 5,488,437

Fund for Public Health New York
$ 21,754,010

Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge (Ohio-Kentucky)
$ 9,738,000

Health Choice Network, Inc.,Florida
$ 8,500,000

HealthInsight, Utah-Nevada
$ 6,917,783

Iowa IFMC
$ 5,508,019

Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc.
$ 7,000,000

Key Health Alliance (Stratis Health), Minnesota – North Dakota
$ 19,000,000

Lovelace Clinic, New Mexico
$ 6,175,000

Massachusetts Technology Park Cooperation
$ 13,433,107

MetaStar, Inc, Wisconsin
$ 9,125,000

Morehouse School of Medicine, Inc., Georgia
$ 19,521,542

New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC)
$ 26,534,999

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
$ 13,569,169

Northern California Regional Extension Center
$ 17,286,081

Northern Illinois University
$ 7,546,000

Northwestern University
$ 7,649,533

OCHIN Inc. (Primary), Oregon
$ 13,201,499

Ohio Health Information Partnership
$ 28,500,000

Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc.
$ 5,331,685

Purdue University
$ 12,000,000

Qsource (Tennessee)
$ 7,256,155

Qualis Health, Washington - Idaho
$ 12,846,482

Rhode Island Quality Institute
$ 6,000,000

Southern California Regional Extension Center
$ 13,961,339

Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc.
$ 6,762,080

VHQC and the Center for Innovative Technology, for The Virginia Consortium
$ 12,425,000

West Virginia Health Improvement Institute Inc.
$ 6,000,000

Total Award Amount
$ 375,173,281

Job Training Awards:

Healthcare / High Growth Grant Recipient
Award Amount

Calhoun Community College
$3,470,830

Mid-South Community College
$3,391,053

South Arkansas Community College
$3,520,612

Kern Community College District (KCCD)
$2,768,572

Los Rios Community College District
$4,988,561

Mt. San Antonio Community College District
$2,239,714

San Diego State University Research Foundation
$4,953,575

San Jose State University Research Foundation
$5,000,000

San Bernardino Community College District
$4,260,863

Youth Policy Institute
$3,623,473

Spanish Speaking Unity Council
$3,559,139

Otero Junior College
$4,999,350

National Council of La Raza
$3,457,516

Providence Health Foundation of Providence Hospital
$4,953,999

DeKalb Technical College (DTC)
$2,043,859

Governors State University
$4,994,686

Indianapolis Private Industry Council, Inc.
$4,885,812

Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
$5,000,000

Iowa Workforce Development
$3,403,164

Maysville Community and Technical College
$2,007,637

Louisiana Technical College, Greater Acadiana Region 4
$4,859,040

Southern University at Shreveport
$4,296,308

Maine Department of Labor
$4,892,213

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC)
$4,928,654

Macomb Community College
$4,971,642

American Indian Opportunities Industrialization Center
$5,000,000

Northland Community and Technical College
$4,996,844

MN State Colleges & Universities DBA Pine Technical College
$4,230,950

South Central College
$4,506,101

The Montgomery Institute
$4,519,625

Full Employment Council
$4,998,344

Crowder College
$3,576,760

Maryville University - St. Louis
$4,699,354

University of New Hampshire
$2,944,732

Passaic County Community College
$4,475,041

Fulton Montgomery Community College (FMCC)
$2,865,657

Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC)
$3,382,200

University Behavioral Associates, Inc.
$5,000,000

Workforce Investment Board of Herkimer, Madison, and Oneida Counties
$2,700,096

Goodwill Industries, Inc., Serving E. Neb and SW Iowa
$2,007,846

Nevada Cancer Institute
$3,262,676

Berea Children’s Home
4,927,843

BioOhio
$5,000,000

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College
$4,935,132

Columbus State Community College
$4,605,303

Enterprise for Employment and Education
$2,373,073

Trident Technical College
$2,624,532

Florence-Darlington Technical College (FDTC)
$4,346,351

The University of South Dakota
$5,000,000

Centerstone of Tennessee, Inc.
$5,000,000

North Central Texas College
$4,150,005

San Jacinto Community College District
$4,722,919

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB)
$4,655,799

Shenandoah Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc. (SVWIB)
$4,951,991

Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
$5,000,000

Total
$226,929,446

Additional information about the state HIE and RECs may be found at HealthIT.HHS.gov/statehie (healthit.hhs.gov/statehie) and healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram.

Information about other health IT programs funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found here: HealthIT.HHS.gov (healthit.hhs.gov/)

Information about Healthcare/High Growth Grants, and other DOL training programs is available at www.doleta.gov/.

For more information about the Recovery Act, please visit: www.hhs.gov/recovery (www.hhs.gov/recovery) , www.dol.gov/recovery (www.dol.gov/recovery) , and www.recovery.gov (www.recovery.gov/) .