Healthcare programs in Cincinnati and Detroit have been awarded $30 million in grants for three years as the final two pilot locations for the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) new Beacon Community Program. The program is using health information technology to help tackle leading health problems in communities across the country.
The lessons learned from these pilot programs will be incorporated into nationwide strategies for electronic health record adoption, according to HHS. The program also will allow HHS to look for new ways to share lessons learned by funded communities and—working with local and national healthcare foundations—to develop support networks for other communities that want to employ similar approaches.
The latest awardees—Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge and Southeastern Michigan Health Association in Detroit—are joining 15 other projects selected in May for the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program. The other communities, which earlier received $220 million in Beacon program funding, include: Tulsa, OK; Stoneville, MS; Brewer, ME; Danville, PA; Salt Lake City, UT; Indianapolis; Spokane, WA; New Orleans, LA; Rochester, MI; Providence, RI; Grand Junction, CO; Concord, NC; San Diego, CA; Hilo, HI, and Buffalo, NY.
"Although we could only select two additional Beacon communities, we are incredibly impressed by the creativity and focus exhibited by communities over the course of this competition," said David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for Health Information Technology.
"Local leadership is an essential ingredient to improving health care. The Beacon Community application process provides strong evidence that communities throughout the country are mobilizing for positive change, using health IT as a critical foundation for improving health care," he added.
The Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge, will received $13.8 million over three years. HealthBridge will be serving a 16?county area spanning three states surrounding greater Cincinnati. Under the Beacon program, HealthBridge and its partners will use its advanced health information exchange program to develop new quality improvement and care coordination initiatives focusing on patients with pediatric asthma, adult diabetes, and encouraging smoking cessation.
Physicians and other providers will receive more timely and accurate information about when their patients experience a medical complication or are hospitalized. Also, they will have new support from care managers to use this information effectively to intervene early and assist patients in managing their health and avoiding further complications.
The HealthBridge program also is aiming to provide better clinical information and IT "decision support" tools for physicians, health systems, federally qualified health centers, and critical access hospitals. As part of the Beacon program, this health IT community collaboration also will also provide patients and their families with timely access to data and tools to make informed decisions and manage their own healthcare.
The Southeastern Michigan Health Association, which was awarded $16.2 million over three years, will use health IT tools and strategies with its partners to prevent—and better manage diabetes—which impacts a large percentage of residents in the Detroit area.
This community collaboration will be leveraging existing and new technologies across healthcare settings to improve the availability of patient information at the point of care—regardless of where the patient is in the health system. The community also will provide practical support to physician practices to help clinicians, nurses, and others make the best use of electronic health data.
The city’s clinical community will have the ability to track clinical outcomes with the goal of making long?term, sustainable improvements in the quality and efficiency of diabetes care in Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Dearborn, and Dearborn Heights.
The Beacon program is one of several new programs created by the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act as part of the Recovery Act last year.
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Janice Simmons is a senior editor and Washington, DC, correspondent for HealthLeaders Media Online. She can be reached at jsimmons@healthleadersmedia.com.