The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT is seeking public comment on a proposed plan to award contracts to establish regional health IT extension centers, according to a draft plan published Thursday in the Federal Register.

ONC has proposed using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for two-year awards (to be made in fiscal year 2010) and furnishing providers in awardees' areas with financial support.

While the office said it expects the actual ARRA funding awarded per center will vary based on the number and types of providers--and the amount of matching funds proposed by each regional center--it anticipates an average award value on the order of $1 million to $2 million per center. The maximum award value ONC anticipates making available to any one regional center is $10 million.

Funding may also be approximately allocated to the regional centers in relative proportion to the numbers of prioritized direct assistance recipients.

The HITECH Act of the ARRA directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through ONC, to establish health IT regional extension centers "to provide technical assistance and disseminate best practices and other information learned from the center to support and accelerate efforts to adopt, implement and effectively utilize health IT."

ONC said that the goals of a regional center program should be to:

• Encourage adoption of EHRs by clinicians and hospitals;
• Assist clinicians and hospitals to become meaningful users of EHRs; and
• Increase the probability that adopters of EHR systems will become meaningful users of the technology.

Regarding the selection criteria for applicants, ONC stated that "regional centers shall be affiliated with any United States-based nonprofit organization, or group thereof, that applies and is awarded financial assistance under this section. Individual awards shall be decided on the basis of merit," according to the Register.

ONC said that each regional center that is established shall aim to assist all providers in a given reach; however, priority will be given to the following:

• Public or not-for-profit hospitals or critical access hospitals;
• Federally qualified health centers;
• Entities located in rural or other areas that serve underinsured, uninsured or medicall underserved populations; and
• Individuals or small group practices focused on primary care.

Public comment will be accepted until June 11. After the public comment period, ONC will finalize the program and begin a contract solicitation process. Electronic responses are preferred and should be addressed to HealthIT-comments@hhs.gov.

The agency said it hopes to make initial awards for regional centers as early as the first quarter of fiscal year 2010, and continuing through the fourth quarter.