WASHINGTON – Nearly $600 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding has been earmarked for community health center construction and renovation projects and to help networks of health centers adopt electronic healthcare records and other health IT systems.

President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that $88 million of the grant money will be used to help community health centers replace paper records with EHRs and build other healthcare IT systems to improve care and manage clinical support services.

The community health center HIT grants will be issued through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), but officials did not give a date or specific details on when or how community health centers may apply for the grants.

Obama also announced a new demonstration initiative to support the delivery of advanced primary care to Medicare beneficiaries through community health centers.

"Together, these three initiatives – funding for construction, technology and a medical home demonstration project – won't just save more money and create more jobs; they'll give more people the peace of mind of knowing that healthcare will be there for them and their families when they need it," said Obama. "Ultimately, that's what health reform is really about."

"One of the first investments we made through the recovery act was in supporting our nation's community health centers – and today we build on that progress by funding new construction and improvement projects at more than 80 facilities nationwide," said Vice President Joseph Biden. "This is what the recovery act is all about – providing immediate assistance for hard-hit families, improving our nation's infrastructure and creating new opportunities for stable, well-paid work."

The president's plan calls for the launch of a new, three-year medical home model demonstration to be administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The demonstration should involve some 500 community health centers across the country, according to CMS officials.

Experts say the medical home model is a promising new way to contain costs and prevent duplication of testing by creating a primary care "medical home" for patients. The model relies on healthcare IT interoperability as a basis for improving and coordinating care.

"Because community health centers already provide comprehensive healthcare to people who face the greatest barriers to accessing care, these demonstration projects have the potential to support and improve the care delivered not only to Medicare beneficiaries, but also to others who rely on community health centers for primary care," said HHS Secretary Kathleen G. Sebelius.

Leaders at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) said they are pleased with the new grant opportunities for community health centers.

"Community health centers are a model for comprehensive primary care in the community," said Fred Rachman, MD, chief executive officer and chief medical officer for the Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services and chairman of the HIMSS Community Health Center Task Force.

"These awards will continue the promotion of the 'medical home' along with the adoption and use of health information technology to improve the health status of our communities," Rachman said. "These awards to community health centers truly will support the creation of local jobs with, for and by our communities to  promote accessible, continuous and coordinated family-centered care with the support of health information technologies."

A complete list of the healh centers awarded the $508.5 million in construction grants, provided through the Facility Investment Program (FIP) program, are listed on the next page.