The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke announced Monday $31.4 million in grants to help health centers prepare to adopt and implement Electronic Health Records (EHR) and other health information technology (HIT) innovations.

EHRs, critical tools in improving the quality of care, provide health care professionals the ability to monitor and analyze health information for their patients. EHRs are widely considered to be essential in improving the safety and quality of health care delivery and cutting waste and duplication of care.

"The funds we're announcing today are vital for reaching the president's goal of adoption of electronic health records for most Americans by 2014," Duke said. "Health information technology has the potential to revolutionize health care, especially for residents of underserved communities, and its expansion is a priority for HRSA."

Included in Monday's announcement are:

• Twenty-five grants totaling more than $27 million to support implementation of EHRs at health centers and in networks that link multiple health center grantees.
• Eight grants worth almost $1 million to help health centers in planning activities that will prepare them to adopt EHR or other HIT innovations.
• Thirteen grants worth more than $3 million to help health center networks implement HIT other than electronic health records. Other HIT advances may include electronic prescribing, physician order entry, personal health records, community health records, health information exchanges, smart cards, and creating interoperability with outside partners such as health departments and other HRSA grantees.

HRSA's Office of Health Information Technology, created in 2005, is charged with developing an agency-wide HIT strategy that benefits safety-net providers and responds to the needs of the uninsured, underserved and special-needs populations.