The beacon community program, made up of 17 communities, was created to demonstrate how health IT 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. The ONC’s ultimate goal through beacon communities is to make available a collection of real-world best practices.
The proposed rules on ACOs, which were recently released by HHS, overlaps significantly with health IT meaningful use rules. Farzad Mostashari, ONC deputy national coordinator for programs and policy, said “these same approaches will be fundamental for ACOs aspiring to coordinate care, lower costs and improve outcomes.”
Read the news report about beacon communities and ACOs.
Read other coverage about beacon communities:
– HHS 2012 Budget Requests $57M for ONC
– ONC to Establish “Communities of Practice” for Clinical Decision Support Technology
– Office of National Coordinator Setting Measures for New Beacon Communities
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