"A strong electronic health record system will improve health care for all Floridians by reducing medical errors, boosting efficiency and ultimately lowering costs," said Lt. Governor Jennings. "These grants, along with the Governor's request for additional support, will make Florida a national leader in electronic medical record-keeping."
In 2005, the Florida Legislature appropriated $1.5 million to fund the development of the Florida Health Information Network. This year, Governor Bush will request $5 million in recurring funding for additional grants to support the expansion of electronic health records, as well as a recommendation for two positions and an additional $200,000 to support the personnel to administer the grant program.
The FHIN grant program was developed by AHCA to facilitate the development of a statewide privacy-protected health information infrastructure network as recommended by the Governor's Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board in its 2005 interim report to the Governor. The program provides seed money to develop regional health information exchanges and to encourage practitioners to become active users of electronic health records.
Grants provide funding for implementation, planning, and training and technical assistance. Planning and implementation projects are designed to promote health information exchanges among two or more competing provider organizations and to demonstrate the appropriate sharing of health information in the course of patient care. Training and technical assistance grants are awarded to projects to increase the number of practitioners using electronic health records and participating in information exchange. Project applications were competitively evaluated by the Advisory Board, which made recommendations to AHCA.
The grant recipients are:
Planning Grants
Access Escambia, Inc., $150,000
Central Florida Health Care Coalition, $108,864
Health First, Inc., Brevard County, $44,789
Health Foundation of South Florida, $127,924
Pinellas County Health Department, $110,985
Implementation Grants
Big Bend Regional Healthcare Information Organization, $246,850
Health Care District of Palm Beach County, $250,000
Tampa Bay Partnership Regional Research and Education Foundation, $467,000
Training and Technical Assistance Grant
Florida Academy of Family Physicians, $25,316
