$20 Billion allocated for Health IT

is included as part of the $825 economic stimulus proposal released by the House Appropriations Committee. From the iHealthBeat article:

Of the $20 billion, $2 billion would go to HHS' Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (Ferris, Government Health IT, 1/15).

ONCHIT could use the funding to:

* Invest in IT architecture supporting health information exchanges and the national health information network;
* Provide grants to help health care providers adopt health IT products; and
* Train health care providers and IT professionals (Health Data Management, 1/15).

Some experts said that there are reports that at least some of the remaining $18 billion would be used to provide health IT grants to states (Government Health IT, 1/15).

Click here to access the article.