Hospitals Failing to Get Health Care I.T. Money
Fewer than 10 percent of U.S. hospitals have received any of the $18 billion in federal stumulus funds set aside for them in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) to enhance their health care information technology capabilities.
2011 is the first year this funding available from Medicare and Medicaid. According to a survey conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HMSSS), another 31 percent of hospitals are on a path toward meeting the “meaningful use” criterion for funding availability; that standard is widely thought to pose the most serious challenge to hospitals’ ability to gain the federal funds.
Learn more about hospitals’ efforts to secure this federal funding, and how the funds are supposed to help hospitals, from a New York Times report and an HMSS news release.
