ONC, AHRQ announce funding for health IT-related projects

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology yesterday announced $36 million in funding to accelerate the adoption and use of health information exchange, train health care workers to use new health information technologies, and address health challenges at the population level. The funding includes $28 million to leverage lessons learned from the original State HIE Program; $6.4 million to update training materials for the Workforce Training Program; and $1.7 million for the Community Health Peer Learning Program. Letters of intent are due March 2 and applications April 6. In addition, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality last week announced plans to fund research related to the design, implementation and safe use of health IT.