Published: February 22, 2010

Sebelius Awards $100 Million to 10 States to Test Innovations in Children's Health Care

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WASHINGTON - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $100 million in federal grant funds to 10 states to improve health care quality and delivery systems for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

The grants, which will be awarded over a five year period, were funded by the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA). The money will help states implement and evaluate provider performance measures and utilize health information technologies such as pediatric electronic health records and other quality improvement initiatives.

"We all have a stake in the health of our nation's children," said Sebelius. "Exploring new technologies and initiatives will help ensure our kids get the high quality care they need and deserve."

The grants are totally federally funded and are designed help establish a national quality system for children's health care through Medicaid and CHIP.

"These grants will test the most current theories of how to improve the quality of care delivered to children," said Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations within CMS. "These awards will help create the foundation for a more responsive and effective national system of high quality health care for children."

Awardees represent both single-state projects and multi-state collaborations. Grantees working in multi-state partnerships will share award funds with those partners with funding ultimately distributed among 18 states in total. The awards were granted to:


Lead State	Partner(s)	First-Year Award	Five-Year Total Award
Maine	Vermont	$2,030,721	$11,277,362
Oregon	Alaska, West Virginia	$2,231,890	$11,277,361
Pennsylvania		$1,934,754	$9,777,361
North Carolina		$2,210,712	$9,277,361
Florida	Illinois	$880,371	$11,277,361
Massachusetts		$1,496,542	$8,777,542
Colorado	New Mexico	$1,722,161	$7,784,030
Utah	Idaho	$2,877,134	$10,277,360
South Carolina		$2,214,263	$9,277,361
Maryland	Georgia, Wyoming	$2,401,467	$10,993,171

Eight of the 10 grantees will test a new set of child health quality measures, and seven of the ten states will use the funds to implement health information technology (HIT) strategies with two states specifically planning to develop a new pediatric electronic health record format.

More information about CHIP can be found at www.InsureKidsNow.gov.

Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.