Stimulus Funds Create Jobs

Press Release

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin today demonstrated how federal stimulus funds are creating health information technology (HIT) jobs in South Central Wisconsin for a program that will help lower the Stimulus Funds Create Jobscost of health care, improve patient safety and the quality of care.

Baldwin spoke at a press conference in Madison about the four-year, $9.125 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)grant that will fund the operation of the Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension Center (WHITEC). WHITEC, a consortium comprised of the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, and MetaStar, Inc., a health care quality improvement organization, will provide education, outreach, and technical assistance to Wisconsin physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners in selecting, implementing, and using health information technology (HIT) to improve the quality and value of health care.

"These ARRA funds are helping to create jobs, lower the cost of health care, improve patient safety and the quality of care for Wisconsinites. They are doing the job of stimulating our economy and offering health care IT for the 21st Century -- two key goals of President Obama's economic recovery program," Baldwin said.

At the press conference today, MetaStar President and CEO Greg Simmons spoke about the jobs the ARRA program will create. "The ARRA funding is providing so much on a variety of levels; it is assisting physicians with much needed help in implementing and using health information technology in their practices and is providing up to 25 new jobs for local residents in the near term. In the long term we see this funding providing more jobs as community colleges train more people to work in the health IT field."

Simmons introduced Nancy Argue of Mt. Horeb who was hired with ARRA funds to serve as Executive Assistant to the WHITEC program director. Last October, Argue was laid off from a job she had held for five years had been unemployed for five months. "Without the stimulus package we would have had to choose between healthcare and our house payment. The extended unemployment and additional unemployment benefits, which included COBRA, helped us bridge the gap until I found a new position. This job and the support from ARRA have created an environment for me and my family to move through an unfortunate unemployment situation and continue to contribute to our healthy future," Argue said.

Initially, WHITEC will provide customized assistance to more than 1600 primary care professionals to help them step through the process of incorporating HIT into their practices.

"The routine and efficient use of health information technology improves the quality of care provided to patients and make patients safer by ensuring physicians have access to complete medical records, are able to see all care and medications a patient is getting, and can measure outcomes of care," explained Jesi Wang, WHITEC Project Director.

"Leveraging technology can lead to cost savings and improved quality by increasing efficiencies within a physician's practice" said Nancy Nankivil, Sr. VP of Quality and Efficiency for the Wisconsin Medical Society. "But more than that, effectively using health information technology frees up valuable time, enabling physicians to do what they do best--caring for their patients. The resources provided by WHITEC will make the adoption and integration of health information technology into a physician's practice a key investment with a valuable return," Nankivil said.

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