Mass. to receive federal funding for electronic record keeping

BOSTON (WWLP) - Massachusetts will receive $16.9 million in federal funds to create a health information exchange where electronic patient records can be shared securely, the Patrick Administration is expected to announce on Friday.

The Bay State will be the first in the nation to receive federal funding for the exchange through the C enters for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The funding was agreed to in February but the actual contract was signed more recently, this summer.

The $16.9 million will go toward Phase 1 of the exchange, which will be supported by bid winner Orion Health North America and is expected to go live this fall. Phase 1 will put in place a management team, governance structure and operations staff to develop the infrastructure of the exchange and will be followed two more phases.

Hospitals, insurance companies and patients will be able to exchange information over the secure statewide network, according to the Patrick administration.

Health information exchanges were part of the recently passed health care cost containment bill, which Gov. Deval Patrick is planning to sign.

"When fully implemented, this technology will support our goals of providing high quality care while slowing the growth of costs," Patrick said in a statement about the federal funding for an information exchange. "The health care industry is a vital part of the Massachusetts economy, and I thank the Obama Administration for the continued support."

The federal agency used a combination of Medicaid funds and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant funding. Included within the 2009 stimulus package was $19 billion in HITECH money for funding electronic medical records.

By storing medical records electronically and transmitting them across a secure network, a doctor in any part of the state could have access to a patient's records even if that patient had never been to see that doctor before.

"This exchange will serve as a statewide health care information highway that will connect every payer, provider and patient to a single technology backbone," said Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby in a statement.