Maryland approves $10M for health data exchange

After studying the idea for several years, the state of Maryland has approved $10 million in funding dedicated to building a statewide healthcare information exchange. The money will come from a surcharge of a few pennies on hospital bills, which means, in essence, that health plans will be funding at least part of the HIE. This funding also will set up the state of Maryland to apply for federal stimulus funding later this year.

The organization building the HIE is a non-profit collective including Erickson Retirement Communities, Johns Hopkins Medicine, MedStar Health and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

The move follows the signing of a bill earlier this year that made Maryland the first state requiring private health plans to offer physicians incentives to adopt EMRs.

To learn more about Maryland's plans:
- read this Baltimore Sun article

Related Articles:
Maine kicks off 15-hospital HIE demonstration program
Study: RHIOs/HIEs backed by states will win
Report offers HIE keys to survival

Post a comment