AHRQ Offers IT Support for Medicaid, SCHIP
A new program will be shortly launched by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to support efforts by Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) to adopt information technology tools (pdf) and participate in health information exchange efforts. It is expected that $3 million in funding will be doled out over a three year period.
The effort includes a comprehensive needs assessment completed by AHRQ in cooperation with both SCHIP and Medicaid. Information gleaned from those efforts will be utilized to build workshops for technical assistance, seminars hosted via the internet, as well as print material to develop a broad array of technical support tools for HIE and IT adoption.
As noted in the Federal Register, the populations served by the two government programs could significantly benefit from improved coordination in care efforts associated with information technology tools. The majority of Medicaid recipient, for example, have multiple disease states treated by distinct physicians. Participation in HIEs would facilitate information sharing between healthcare providers.
As well, Medicaid has the ability to significantly influence adoption of IT tools as a significant revenue source, often the largest, for many care providers. This may also help moderate the costs associated with deployment for physician practices.
February 26, 2008 Related topics: Finance, Partnerships & Consortia