The Massachusetts eHealth Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative will give 32 collaborative projects up to $75,000 each in HIway Implementation Grants to help 80 healthcare organizations across the Commonwealth connect to the HIway, Massachusetts' statewide health information exchange.

“We are excited to award these grants to healthcare organizations across the Commonwealth,” said Pamela Goldberg, CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, in a news release. “We congratulate the recipients on this achievement, and for their commitment to using the Mass HIway and health information technologies, ushering in a new era for patient care.”

[See also: Massachusetts lands $17M to launch statewide HIE.]

Recipients were awarded grants based on their ability to build upon existing improvement efforts that impact care quality, costs or population health. Types of collaborative projects receiving funding include:

• A large facility using the HIway to manage heart failure patient care;
• Coordination between care facilities and patient care coordinators;
• An ambulance service using the HIway for pre-hospital care coordination for the homeless; and
• An acute care organization using the HIway to share discharge summaries to skilled nursing facilities and home health organizations.

In 2012, MeHI and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services launched the statewide health information exchange, the HIway, allowing for secure electronic health information to be transmitted between healthcare providers and organizations.  MeHI works to advance the use and interoperability of electronic health records by supporting adoption of the Mass HIway, the state’s health information exchange.

[See also: Grants aim to boost Massachusetts HIE.]

Part of the Mass HIWay Last Mile Program, the implementation grants are designed to accelerate connections to the HIway by shifting existing processes away from paper-based exchanges and those using proprietary interfaces, ultimately demonstrate measurable improvements in care quality, population health, and cost containment through use of health information technology. The Last Mile Program is funded through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

“The long-term participation of healthcare organizations throughout Massachusetts is key to the success of the Mass HIway and realizing the goals of healthcare reform,” said Laurance Stuntz, director of the Massachusetts eHealth Institute at MassTech, in a statement. “The projects that will move forward with the aid of these grants bring us a significant step closer to achieving our shared mission.”