New York State Governor David A. Paterson has recently announced that New York State plans to provide $60 million for projects promoting the use of health information technology (HIT) in patient-centered medical homes. According to the Governor's press release, the coordinated health care in these homes by a personal physician and the right tools, will lead to better outcomes. The Governor says the new funds will help improve coordination and management of health care for New Yorkers through transforming a mostly paper-based system to an electronic, interconnected health care system.

The patient-centered medical homes have services provided by physician practices and clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, long-term care providers, physical therapists and other health care providers. The system uses a model of continuous, routine care by a personal physician concerning a patient's complete health condition, rather than the traditional periodic, acute care and short-term relationship from various physicians.

The $60 million is not part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, rather funding grants through the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers (HEAL), adopted in 2004 and first implemented in 2006. HEAL funding will allow New York's health care providers to better compete for the federal economic recovery funding of approximately $19 billion nationwide for HIT when the funds start to become available next year.

"New York State has invested more than $200 million in health information technology, which has created a statewide structure for physicians and providers to work together to create the best system to serve New Yorkers," said Governor Paterson. "This new round of funding for the State's patient-centered medical homes will continue to position New York toward achieving our goal of greater accessibility for patients through primary and preventive care, while fostering job growth and business development in the health information technology sector."

The New York State Department of Health will invest in projects via a competitive grant process continuing the development and implementation of New York's health information infrastructure and linking it to medical practices that meet the definition of a patient-centered medical home. Grant applications are due on June 15, 2009. The opportunities expected to develop from the funding include improvements in effectiveness and quality of care, reductions in cost of care, improving patients' health care status, and engaging patients in their own care.

The grant applications can be found at: http://www.nyhealth.gov/funding/

Based on a press release from Governor David Paterson's office.

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