The HITECH Act authorizes a Health Information Technology Extension Program. The extension program consists of Regional Extension Centers and a national Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC). This funding opportunity announcement seeks applications from qualified entities to serve as regional centers within the extension program.

The regional centers will offer technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The extension program will establish an estimated 70 (or more) regional centers, each serving a defined geographic area. The regional centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers, through participating non-profit organizations, in achieving meaningful use of EHRs and enabling nationwide health information exchange.

The Extension Program will also establish a HITRC, funded separately, to gather relevant information on effective practices and help the regional centers collaborate with one another and with relevant stakeholders to identify and share best practices in EHR adoption, effective use, and provider support.

Learn more about the extension program:

• Updated 11/23/09 Funding Opportunity Announcement: Health Information Technology Extension Program: Regional Centers Cooperative Agreement Program [MS Word doc - 760 KB]
  • Attachment 1 [MS Excel xls - 41.5 KB]
    
    To see the full announcement, go to http://www.grants.gov/search/basic.do and search for CFDA# 93.718 -- please note that, when accessing the opportunity announcement from grants.gov, Attachment 1 is embedded in the same download file as the rest of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, following the appendices.
    
    Due to the competitive nature of the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers funding opportunity, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is unable to provide individual responses to specific questions regarding grant proposal requirements, review, selection, or award.  We will post answers to frequently asked and/or generally applicable questions on the Health Information Technology Extension Program section of the ONC programmatic Web site at: http://healthit.hhs.gov/extensionprogram. 
    

• Facts-At-A-Glance [PDF - 505 KB]
   
• Frequently Asked Questions
  Please note:  This section is updated frequently.  Please check back often for updates.
   
• ONC has hosted several technical assistance calls and webcasts to answer questions related to the Health Information Technology Extension Program: Regional Centers Cooperative Agreement Program Funding Opportunity Announcement. View slides and transcripts from the calls.

For questions relating to the Extension Program, email regional-center-applications@hhs.gov.