South Dakota awarded $6 million to advance health information technology

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Mike Rounds announced today that South Dakota will receive $6,081,750 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to help facilitate statewide health information exchange and improve health information technology.

“South Dakota formed its eHealth Collaborative in 2006 and has been working since then to increase the effective and meaningful use of electronic health-record technology in our state,” the Governor explained. “The private sector has already made a tremendous financial investment in electronic medical records capacity, and this funding provides a real boost to that effort.”

Statewide exchange of health information will give health-care providers secure and instant access to patients’ medical histories, prescriptions, allergies, and other information necessary to provide care – whether or not patients were previously treated at those provider sites. The technology can help improve the quality of care, reduce medical errors, and make sure medications don’t conflict with existing prescriptions. It can also help consumers avoid unnecessary and invasive medical tests.

“This grant helps us get serious about developing the structure to share key patient information,” said Doneen Hollingsworth, South Dakota Secretary of Health. “It’s an exciting step toward statewide health information exchange that will ultimately help providers improve patient care and reduce costs.”

South Dakota’s $6 million award is part of a $2 billion federal effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health information technology and provide electronic health records for everyone by 2014. All states and territories have received funding under the program

The state Department of Health will administer the grant for the South Dakota eHealth Collaborative, which is charged with developing plans for secure statewide health information exchange between providers and across business lines. The Collaborative is a public-private partnership with a mission to provide more cost-effective, high quality and efficient care for all South Dakotans.

Information about other health information technology funded through theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 can be found at http://HealthIT.HHS.gov.

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