President Obama Takes Serious Measures to Address Electronic Health Care Records

President Obama and his administration are promoting the economic stimulus package to increase spending and stimulate the economy by generating jobs for individuals and revenues for business entities.  Most importantly to the behavioral healthcare community are the dollars allocated for the implementation of electronic health records.  These set aside dollars are part of President Obama’s promise to address health care concerns nationwide.

Legislation was passed on Friday February 6, 2009 that approved spending approximately $19 billion helping organizations convert their client records to electronic health records.  The key to being awarded the funding is to register on the web site, recovery.ohio.gov and click on the “Submit Your Proposal” button at the top. On the next page, you will be required to provide your county, and zip code, contact information, a description of the project the number of jobs created and the dollar amount requested for your organization.  There are a few additional questions.

As soon as the State is informed relative to dollars available, these registered organizations will be contacted.  It is imperative that healthcare facilities follow the required protocol in a timely manner to ensure they are a part of the stimulus package benefits.