Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick’s administration announced today that the state has pulled in $16.9 million in federal funding for its so-called health information exchange, which will enable healthcare providers, hospitals, and the like exchange clinical data through a secure network. The money comes as a combination of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant funds and Medicaid funds, and marks the first funding approved by the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a state health information exchange, according to the announcement.
The funding will go toward project management, governance structure, and operations staff for the first phase of the health information exchange, set to go live later this year. Santa Monica, CA-based Orion Health, a healthcare software company with offices in Boston, was selected as part of a competitive bid process to implement this phase of the project.
“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 Massachusetts secretary of health and human services JudyAnn Bigby in the announcement of the deal. “This will create the infrastructure providers and hospitals need to move towards a more integrated, global model of care.”
