The Federal Government is funding the Beacon Communities program. One of the pilot programs is the Southern Piedmont Community Care Plan in Concord that will receive $15.9 million for its planned work with Medicaid recipients in Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly counties.
The funding will help improve health care coordination for patients with diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and asthma. A health record data bank will be created linking patients and care providers. Patients and their relatives will be able to self-manage through patient portals on the Internet.
Care managers will be able to refer to the health record data bank for post-discharge planning.
In addition to improving healthcare, the Beacon projects are also expected to improve the employment scenario. Dozens of new jobs will be created in each community and the jobs will pay $70,000 a year. The pilot projects are estimated to generate 1,100 jobs up front.
The pilots will also accelerate the development of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that is estimated eventually to employ tens of thousands of people.
According to Vice President Joe Biden, “These pioneering communities are going to lead the way in bringing smarter, lower-cost health care to all Americans through use of electronic health records.” He continued that doctors across the country will one day be able to coordinate patient care with the stroke of a key.
Read the news release at Salisbury Post.
