ONC Chooses Final Beacon Cities to Track Healthcare IT Innovation, Outcomes

Tags: Beacon Communities | cost | ONC | quality improvement

The Office of the National Coordinator has announced the addition of two more communities — Greater Cincinnati HealthBridge and Southeastern Michigan Health Association — to the Beacon Community program, according to an ONC news release.

The Beacon Community program, now made up of 17 communities, was created to demonstrate how health information technology can lead to improvements in healthcare quality, efficiency and population health. The program includes average three-year awards of $15 million to the 17 communities, which have shown above-average electronic health record adoption rates and, in most cases, experience with information exchange.

Beacon Communities' success will be evaluated on whether patients received measurably better care at lower costs rather than whether the communities were able to expand health information technology adoption.

Read the ONC's news release about the Beacon Communities.

Read other coverage about healthcare information technology:

- Improving Medication Reconciliation With EMRs: Insight From John Klimek of NCPDP

- Study Shows Patients Prefer Additional Informed Consent Before Sharing Medical Info

- Detroit Medical Center Reports $5M Savings After Implementing EMRs

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