New York to provide $60M in non-stimulus dollars for health IT projects
The state of New York will provide $60 million for projects that promote the use of health IT in patient-centered medical homes, which include services by physician practices and clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, long-term care providers, physical therapists and other providers.

Funding for these grants is provided through the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL NY), adopted in 2004 and first implemented in 2006 to invest up to $1 billion to reform and reconfigure New York's healthcare delivery system to improve patient care and increase operational efficiency, according to New York Governor David A. Paterson.

While this current $60 million in funding is not part of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the HEAL funding will allow New York's healthcare providers to better compete for federal economic recovery funding of approximately $19 billion nationwide for health IT when it starts to become available next year, Paterson said.

Through a competitive grant process, the N.Y. State Department of Health (DoH) will invest in projects that will continue the development and implementation of New York's health information infrastructure and link it to medical practices that meet the definition of a patient-centered medical home. Grant applications are due June 15.

Applicants will be expected to propose demonstration projects with a targeted population of patients with chronic diseases or high-risk diagnoses to work within a patient-centered medical home. Successful applicants will work with the regional health information organizations already recognized by DoH and include a community health IT collaboration of local health providers supporting the demonstration project, according to Paterson.



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