Joe Biden, Vice president of USA made an announcement on 20/08/09 in Chicago about the availability of grants worth nearly $1.2 billion to help hospitals and health care providers implement and use electronic health records.

Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius were set to detail in Chicago the real benefits of this new initiative by the Federal Government.

The four necessities for the effective health care delivery to the nationas per the Vice President’s office release incorporate safe and efficient health care delivery system to a healthier population while saving money along the way.

The grants which are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)  will help to begin the process of creating a national, private and secure electronic health information system.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will also provide additional assistance to health care providers through the Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC).

The bill for which will enable the free rolling of this new initiative had already been cleared earlier this year in the American Senate.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that EHS will lead to more efficiency in data storage and quick and direct access to patients health records for the healthcare professionals.

The technology will make patients’ complete medical information securely available to their health care providers where and when it is needed.

There are concerns regarding the safeguards for privacy and security of the patient information, when it is in electronic form. Certainly this is a topmost priority that the HHS will have deal with right from the first day of implementation of the Electronic health records initiative.

This week, HHS also issued a final rule requiring hospitals, physician practices and other health care organizations to notify patients of electronic data security breaches.

The grants will not be available until Oct. 1, when the new federal fiscal year begins.