The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has awarded an additional $12 million to 48 regional extension centers serving critical access hospitals and rural hospitals to help them make the switch to electronic health records.

The funding, which was announced by David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, on Tuesday, is in addition to the $20 million provided to regional extension centers (RECs) in September 2010 to provide technical assistance to the critical access hospitals (CAHs) and rural hospitals.

[See also: $80M more for RECs, HIEs and workforce programs.]

The intent of the funding is to provide additional technical support to critical access and rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in selecting and implementing EHR systems primarily within the outpatient setting.  

"Critical access and rural hospitals are a vital part of our healthcare system," said Blumenthal. "Health information technology can offer rural health care providers and their patients resources and expertise that may not be currently available in their communities.

"We recognize that the transition to electronic health records (EHRs) is a challenge and that rural facilities face even greater challenges to make the transition from paper to electronic records," he added. "This additional funding recognizes the need to address these challenges and represents another important milestone in our commitment to critical access and rural hospitals throughout the country as they transition to EHRs.

[See also: Survey: Eighty-one percent of hospitals, 41 percent of docs plan on meeting MU.]

The additional funding is provided under the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will be administered through the REC program.

The RECs are specifically designed to offer a wide range of hands-on technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers' efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentives programs. A total of 62 RECs are located throughout the country. The additional funding is being awarded to 48 RECs serving CAH and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country.

See the next page for additional awards granted to the 48 RECs.