US: $1.2 bn grant for electronic health records

As the Obama administration works to garner support for healthcare reform, about $1.2 billion in grants were announced on Friday to help hospitals and healthcare providers implement and use electronic health records.

Announcing the grants in Chicago, US Vice President Joe Biden said the $1.2 billion would be funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus plan.

"With electronic health records, we are making health care safer; we are making it more efficient; we are making you healthier; and we are saving money along the way. These are four necessities we need for healthcare in the 21st-century," Biden said during an appearance at a hospital with Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Expanding the use of electronic health records is fundamental to reforming the country's healthcare system, Sebelius said, adding that electronic health records would help reduce medical errors, make healthcare more efficient and improve the quality of medical care for all Americans.

"You are going to be able to save a lot more lives and save tens of billions of dollars," Biden told about 100 medical professionals.

Of the total money, $598 million would be used to establish 70 health information technology regional extension centers, which would help hospitals select and implement electronic health record systems.

Grants totalling $564 million would go to States and Qualified State Designated Entities to support the development of mechanisms for information sharing within an emerging nationwide system of networks.

The grants would be awarded beginning fiscal year 2010. Biden also expressed confidence that the healthcare legislation would be passed.

"Soon we are all going to get much better health care at a more rationale price...We are not taking the system that works away from any American. We are making the stuff that doesnt work, work better," he added.

Pointing out that the economic stimulus package is working to improve the economy, Biden said, "We stopped the free fall. Now we are beginning to ascend again".