NYAPRS Note: Originally rejected from the 1115 waiver proposal, it now seems that NY will use state budget money to boost the use of health information technology around the state. There is little information yet about how this will be implemented and aligned with other health system change, particularly as it could benefit the fragmented and often outdated behavioral health care system; we will continue to look for how this will impact growing networks of providers and new payers for 2015.
New York’s Electronic Medical Record Plan Gets $55 Million Boost
Albany Business Review; David Robinson, 4/14/2014
An effort to get more people in New York state to use electronic medical records is getting a $55 million boost in the coming year.
The state dollars will primarily be divided among organizations providing the Information Technology, or IT, network tied to the push to improve health care record keeping.
About $4.5 million of that money–which was included in New York’s 2014-15 budget–is going to Hixny, the Healthcare Information Xchange of New York, according to Eric Wohlleber, a spokesman for the nonprofit.
Hixny has been establishing the IT network for hospitals and other health care agencies in the Capital Region, along with surrounding communities.
Doctors, nurses and other health insurers in 17 total counties are included in the Hixny network, which earlier this year starting adding businesses outside health care fields to its membership.
The money in the state budget will go toward continuing to expand Hixny’s network, which already covers 62 percent of the total medical practices in the 17-county region, Wohlleber said.