Additional Funding for RECs to Support Critical Access Hospitals

There has been a notice of funding on the federal register for supplemental funding for RECs. RECs are eligible for $12,000.00 for each Critical Access and Rural Hospital they plan to assist. This is supplemental funding, so when awarded it would be incorporated into the existing cooperative agreement.

Supplemental American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Health Information Technology Extension Program: Regional Centers

Here is the synopsis of the funding announcement:

The two-year expansion supplement will be available to recipients of the REC awards and is intended to ensure the provision of services to CAHs and Rural Hospitals in the REC’s service area. This award will be supplemental to the REC’s existing award, and the plans, metrics and reporting requirements will be included in the REC’s cooperative agreement. It is anticipated that each REC will need an additional $12,000 per CAH and Rural Hospital that it supports through this program. The supplemental funds will be used to ensure the delivery of the support services for CAH and Rural Hospitals and will be tied to the same milestones that are identified in the original REC FOA (EP-HIT-09-003). As with other funding milestones identified in the original FOA, recipients will be required to use the customer relationship management tool to help in meeting the milestones associated with this project. Biennial Evaluation The evaluation of the CAH/Rural Hospital program will be included in the REC’s biennial evaluation. A separate report (or report section) will be required for those activities covered by supplemental funding.