States Get Federal Backing to Build More Efficient, High Quality Medicaid Systems

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today awarded $103 million to 27 states across the nation to fund implementation of new ways to improve Medicaid efficiency, economy and quality of care. States will use the funds to implement innovative systems to get more value out of the money they spend providing health care to their low-income elderly, children and disabled citizens.

"These transformation grants express the core goal of this administration to give states the kind of flexibility they need to deliver high quality care in an efficient and economical way," Leavitt said. "With these grants states can streamline and modernize their systems, stabilize the exponential growth of the program and protect it into the future."

In part, the funds will support more widespread use of electronic health care records that can be accessed by whole treatment teams, a move within the medical community to improve quality of care and reduce the potential for medical errors.

Congress approved a total of $150 million for these Medicaid "transformation grants" in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) to be distributed over fiscal years 2007 and 2008. Today's award of the first $103 million will be followed later in the year with a second solicitation for the remaining $47 million. States will receive the funds over the next two years.

Permissible uses of grant funds included:

• Reducing patient error rates through the implementation of technology (electronic health records, clinical decision support tools or e-prescribing programs).
• Improving rates of collection from estates of amounts owed under Medicaid.
• Reducing waste, fraud, and abuse under Medicaid, such as reducing improper payment rates.
• Increasing the utilization of generic drugs through education programs and other incentives. This reduces Medicaid expenditures for covered outpatient drugs, particularly in the categories of greatest drug utilization.
• Improving access to primary and specialty physician care for the uninsured using integrated university-based hospital and clinic systems.
• Implementation of a medication risk management program as part of a drug use review program.

The awards granted today vary in amount depending on each state's application. Some states submitted more than one grant proposal and will receive funds for each project.

State Name	Project Name	Total Funded
Alabama	Together for Quality - Health Information Systems	$7,587,000
Arizona	Medicaid Health Information Exchange Utility Project	$11,749,500
Arkansas	Electronic Verification of Proof of Citizenship	$285,513
Connecticut	Health Information Exchange and e-Prescribing	$5,000,000
DC	Comprehensive Medicaid Integration (Patient Data Hub)	$9,864,000
Florida	GenRx Expansion	$1,737,861
Hawaii	Open Vista ASP Network	$3,188,535
Illinois	Predictive Modeling System	$4,849,200
Indiana	Medicaid Estate Recovery Centralization and Automation Project	$124,880
Kansas	Using Predictive Modeling Technology to Improve Preventive Healthcare in the Disabled Medicaid Population	$906,664
Kentucky	Health Information Partnership	$4,987,583
Maryland	Automated Fraud and Abuse Tracking	$576,228
Massachusetts	Secure Verification of Citizenship through Automation of Vital Records	$3,950,440
Michigan	One Source Credentialing	$5,208,759
Michigan	Expansion of Vital Records Automation and Integration Into Medicaid	$3,929,317
Minnesota	Communication and Accountability for Primary Care System (CAPS)	$2,843,340
Mississippi	As One - Together for Health	$1,688,000

• Montana	Enhancing EHR - Clinical Decision Making	$1,481,152
  New Jersey	Medical Information for Children	$1,516,900
  New Mexico	e-Prescribing	$855,220
  New Mexico	Electronic Health Record Project	$712,301
  New York	Fingerprint Authentication at Point of Service	$5,500,000
  North Dakota	Web-based Electronic Pharmacy Claim Submission Interface	$75,000
  Rhode Island	IT Infrastructure Transformation	$725,253
  Tennessee	Electronic Prescription Pilot Project	$674,204
  Texas	Electronic Health Passport for Foster Care	$4,000,000
  Utah	Developing a Pharmacotherapy Risk Management System with an Electronic Surveillance Tool	$2,881,662
  West Virginia	Healthier Medicaid Members through Personal Responsibility	$1,937,110
  West Virginia	Healthier Medicaid Members through a Stronger Medicaid Program	$1,731,680
  West Virginia	Healthier Medicaid Members through Health Systems Improvement	$3,895,730
  West Virginia	Healthier Medicaid Members through Applied Technology	$1,766,280
  West Virginia	Healthier Medicaid Members through Enhanced Medication Mgmt	$4,287,110
  Wisconsin	Health Information Exchange Initiative	$3,043,272
  Total		$103,559,694