The Tennessee General Assembly has authorized funding for Physician Connectivity Grants to increase the use of e-prescribing. The funds are to be used to develop the infrastructure to connect to the Tennessee eHealth Exchange Zone. The intention is that these state funds will serve as seed funding and encourage further health IT investment by the practice and other stakeholders.
The state will reimburse actual costs of $3,500 per Tennessee licensed physician or DO, and $2,500 for mid level prescribers including advance practice nurses, physician assistants as well as physician specialists.
Additionally, the awardees in the 67 counties designated as rural by the FCC will be eligible for up to $7,500 per site to cover the cost of connectivity and authentication. The goal is to cover the cost of a T1 connection in its entirety for rural practices that will really benefit from the use of health IT.
The funding awarded per physician can be used for equipment, and the software and services needed to connect to the eHealth Exchange Zone via TNII, the state’s private and secure broadband network. All grantees are required to participate in ePrescribing for 2 years.
All grants are one time funding available on a first come first served basis. For information on the grants, go to www.TennesseeAnytime.gov/ehealth and for information on the TNII network, go to www.TNII.net/ehealth.
