HHS awards $100M for children's health IT, quality measures
By Mary Mosquera
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Health & Human Services Department awarded $100 million in grants to 10 states to test provider performance measures, and to use pediatric electronic health records and other health information technologies to promote quality improvements.
The five-year grants aim to improve healthcare quality for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), both of which are managed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The grants were funded by the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA).
Eight of the 10 awardees will test a new set of child health quality measures, and seven of the 10 states will use the funds to deploy health IT, with two states specifically planning to develop a new pediatric electronic health record format.
The awardees – Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, South Carolina and Maryland -- will head both single-state projects and multi-state collaborations.
Grantees working in multi-state partnerships will share award funds with those partners, with the total funding ultimately distributed among 18 states.
The effort aims to establish a national quality system for children’s health care through Medicaid and CHIP, said HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius in an announcement Feb. 22.
The awards will create the foundation for a more responsive and effective national system of high quality health care for children, said Cindy Mann, director of CMS’ Center for Medicaid and State Operations.
“These grants will test the most current theories of how to improve the quality of care delivered to children,” she said.
More information is online at http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/ .
