Big stimulus bucks finally going to health IT
The profile of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius (right, from HHS) is being raised, and that of ONCHIT David Blumenthal lowered, as she promises her department will become a nationwide "help desk" for IT and reforms aimed at making health care more customer-friendly.
This week HHS has been quite busy on that front:
- $267 million in HITECH stimulus is on its way to 28 non-profits for the creation of regional extension centers. This brings the total number of centers across the country to 60, where doctors can get advice and help buying and installing gear.
- $114 million in HITECH stimulus is going out for training programs at 16 colleges and junior colleges, and four research institutions for solving problems related to health IT adoption.
- $162 million in HITECH stimulus is going out for the creation of statewide health information exchanges (HIE). With the new grants all 50 states and the territories will have received HIE grants.
A separate pool of money, $650 million, is going through HHS from the stimulus for community prevention programs.
Each one of the awards above resulted in local releases like this, and stories like this, about how local agencies and institutions are going to use the money wisely.
Some of the awards have already come in for criticism, such as this one to a PR firm that had done phony TV news stories for the Bush Administration. More such stories are bound to come up, about how some of this money is being wasted, or stolen.
But most such stories will take months to research and write. As the money filters down into states and communities, the cost of developing and producing those stories will also increase.
Of course, this is really just seed money. The money will be matched by state and local agencies. It is designed to catalyze sales and hiring and training by private industry. Each dollar has a multiplier effect, both economically and in the media. People are going to get jobs for months as a result of this week's announcements.
The same thing happens with military spending, by the way. Whenever the government spends money on anything -- police, defense, health -- national news releases are followed by state and then local releases, each focusing on a different level of detail, showing the money going to individuals and companies.
The proof of the pudding is not in the eating but in the digesting. The eating is fun.