Recently, 90% of healthcare executives reported that taking on a digital transformation is a top priority for them. Which makes sense, patients have been asking for a more digital experience for years and cyberattacks are on the rise. Hospitals need to have secure technology to optimize their patient care and workflows. However, only 13.5% of execs have recently started or completed a project aligning with this priority.

What is getting in the way of creating this digital transformation? Hospitals face the challenge of clinical workforce shortage; and at the same time, they are working with an aging population needing advanced care. To top it off the cost of running a hospital is rising faster than the revenue coming in. No wonder 75% of executives report having insufficient funds and resources to bring top-notch tech to their organization.

In the face of these many challenges, there is a resource available to help health care organizations achieve their technological goals, a way for you to get free money to eliminate the funding gap: grants! Each year, the federal and state governments offer millions of dollars in funding to enable hospitals to realize the next generation of health IT.

Last year, just one grant in Wisconsin from the Department of Administration distributed over $100 million to over 26 hospitals, cities, and counties to invest in enhancing their IT infrastructure (Source: https://doa.wi.gov/Pages/HealthcareInfrastructure.aspx). The Office of National Coordination for Health IT has an annual grant that awards up to $1 million each year, until 2027, for hospitals to scale advanced technology and optimize patient care.  (*Source: https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/341131)

Grant funding is a time tested resource, and Interlace Health has been fortunate to work with hospitals who used grants to implement our eForms and workflow automation software. During the pandemic, Ste. Genevieve in MO used the HRSA Funding: Delta Health Systems Implementation Program to digitize manual processes making their workflows safer and easier for patients and staff.

In 2021, Ste. Genevieve implemented Interlace Health’s Remote Patient Intake solution which allowed them to automatically send digital COVID screening questionnaires to patients regularly, rather than having nurses call patients ahead of scheduled visits. This substantially reduced staff workload, satisfied patients, increased accuracy of the data they collected, and aligned with their executive initiative to support telehealth and remote care.

Before you can experience a grant-related success like Ste. Genevieve, you have to apply for the grant. And before you apply for the grant, you must determine what you can use it for and if you are eligible. And before that, you have to find a grant in the first place. There are a lot of steps that go into using a grant, which can incur some costs. Grants to the rescue once again, there are planning grants available to help you while you prepare to use the main grant.

Grants and Getting Started

By now you are probably feeling pretty inspired to get in on this free funding and get your hospital started on a digital transformation. But where can you look to see what grants are available?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is a good place to start, it’s the largest grant-making agency in the U.S. You can also look at your state level health department. Additionally, there are several paid portals where you can set up alerts to notify you when relevant grants open. Since government grants are tied to the September federal budget, you can expect to see an uptick in open grants around October. But you can search these sources now to get an idea of the types of grants that will be available this year. To focus your search on Health IT, you can use terms like, telemedicine and telehealth, cyber security, and healthcare technology.

While this process to find and use a grant may seem a bit daunting, incorporating technology has a proven ROI on the monetary side and leads to better outcomes for patients. That grant may end up being the difference between achieving your prioritized digital transformation and falling behind. So, start your search, apply for a planning grant, and then go after that free funding to elevate the technology in your organization.

Ready for digital transformation? Looking to learn more about grant’s for Health IT projects to achieve this?

Check out the HIMSS Wisconsin Chapter’s webinar: Using Technology Resources to Enhance Patient Care and Safety

About the Author:

Ellie Silver is a Solution Architect at Interlace Health and has been helping hospitals optimize workflows & prioritize people over paperwork with forms automation for over 5 years. Her degree in Health Science, combined with her experience working at Epic enhances her abilities as an advisor in the healthcare IT industry. Ellie is enthusiastic about developing and bringing her community together. This Spring, she volunteered as the M.C. for the WI HIMSS Spring Leadership Conference and hosted a webinar for the chapter, as well. She loves helping people flourish and wishes you success exploring the world of grants. Connect with Ellie on LinkedIn.