PRACTICE RESOURCES
Health Information Technology

Applications for MSSNY’s HIT Grants Due April 20
Who Can Apply and How 
* Note extended deadlines

Responses to Submitted RFA Questions

Related Documents: 
• Download the RFA Instructions 
• Download the Technical Submission Packet 
• Download the Financial Submission Packet 

MSSNY and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) have announced that request-for-applications (RFAs) are now available for doctors’ groups to apply for a share of $4.5 million in grant funding for the implementation of health information technology (HIT) systems in their medical practices. The grants, which were originally announced to doctors in May, are being funded by the NYSDOH, with MSSNY responsible for awarding the grants.

Written questions about this pilot grant program can be submitted to MSSNY in writing until March 7th. Completed applications must be received by MSSNY’s Albany office by 5 pm, April 20.

The grants will provide seed funding to physician practices – particularly solo and small group practices – for HIT initiatives that interconnect physicians electronically with other physicians and other healthcare-related entities – such as hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies. The grants will range in amount from $250,000 to $1,125,000, but applicants are expected to provide the rest of the funding themselves or obtain it from other sources.

Health care stakeholders on the national and state level all agree that emerging HIT is necessary to transform our current paper-based system to a quality-focused, interoperative, interconnected system that generates cost efficiencies while reducing medical error and enhancing medical outcomes. All physicians – whether they are members of small, medium or large group practices must participate in this transition.

MSSNY will distribute the funding among six regions of the state but will still give priority to projects that appear to have the best potential for achieving the pilot program’s primary goals of interconnecting physicians through regional collaborations and enhancing healthcare outcomes and health status of patients.

“This will bring doctors into the twenty-first century by enabling them to interconnect electronically with the rest of the healthcare system electronically,” commented Richard M. Peer, MD, president of the medical society. “What is more important is that it will enable us to access and disseminate information about our patients almost instantaneously and, as a result, provide them with the best medical care available.”

NYS’s new commissioner of health, Richard F. Daines, MD, commented that “These grants are a big step in fulfilling President Bush’s call for all physicians and healthcare institutions to be interconnected electronically and enable groups of physician practices to enter into the electronic loop. Hopefully, others will follow.”

Questions about the application process can be submitted in writing, via e-mail or regular post, until March 7th. Completed applications must be received by MSSNY’s Albany office by 5 pm, April 20, 2007.

For more information about the grants and who can apply, refer to the following articles that appeared in MSSNY’s News of New York:

• MSSNY to Award $4.5 M for Hit Projects (Sept 2006)
• MSSNY Grants to Bring HIT to Small Practices: Who Can Apply and How (Feb 2007)
• Grant Enables MSSNY to Help Drs. Convert to HIT (Dec 2006)
• MSSNY Secures $3 M Grant to Promote EMR to Physician Offices (May 2006)

Contact Name & Address:
Ron Pucherelli
Project Administrator – Health Information Technology
Medical Society of the State of New York
One Commerce Plaza
Albany, NY 12237-0016
email: rpucherelli@mssny.org