DENVER — The State of Colorado will receive $64 million in federal funds for the planning and implementation of the state’s Health IT Roadmap and to invest in Health IT infrastructure and tools over Federal Fiscal Years 2019 - 2021.
“We are laser focused on lowering the cost of health care for Colorado families,” said Governor Jared Polis. “Technology in health care is a big piece of lowering costs and this funding will go a long way toward implementing the Health IT Roadmap and streamlining the industry.”
Infrastructure investments ensure clinicians have the right access to health information about their patients at the right time to ultimately reduce medical errors; reduce the amount of unnecessary tests, labs, and procedures; and, improve the health of their patients and families.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a federal funding match under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA HITECH) Act.
The State’s Health IT investments are the result of ongoing, extensive public and private collaboration. This multi-year federal funding match will provide nine dollars of federal funding for every one dollar of state funding through September 2021.
“The State of Colorado is working on innovative and effective ways to lower health care costs, and we support the continued implementation of the Colorado Health IT Roadmap as one of the enabling means toward that end. The approval of our federal funding match is crucial in enhancing foundational Health IT infrastructure, data governance, and harmonizing efforts throughout Colorado,” said Dianne Primavera, Lieutenant Governor and Director of the Office of Saving People Money on Health Care.
This effort, led by the Office of eHealth Innovation and the eHealth Commission, is fundamental in advancing Governor Polis and Lt. Governor Primavera’s priorities to improve care and reduce costs for Coloradans.
“In addition to reducing health care costs, access to accurate and timely health information can truly save lives. When individuals and families deal with emergency health needs the last thing they remember is the name of their primary care physician, allergies, or their medications. This funding ensures this information flows to the right individual at the right time-ultimately preventing duplicate tests and procedures and improving the health of Coloradans ” said Carrie Paykoc, Interim Director of the Governor’s Office of eHealth Innovation.
To learn more about Colorado’s Health IT Roadmap, visit the Office of e-Health Innovation.
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