Mayo Clinic Awarded Major Health Information Technology Grant

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Citing Mayo's ability to translate research and innovation into medical practice, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has named Mayo Clinic as one of four institutions to receive a significant research grant as part of the Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP) program. Mayo will receive $15 million as part of an overall $60 million awarded. Other awardees include Harvard University, the University of Texas Health Science Center and the University of Illinois. Mayo Clinic will be sharing the grant funds with a lengthy list of institutional and corporate collaborators, all part of the consortium that will work on the specific IT projects.

Mayo's role will be to research and advance methods for using electronic medical records for such additional purposes as medical research, while also "maintaining privacy and security." Mayo has been a pioneer in adopting the electronic medical record (Mayo has had paperless records since 2005) and an innovative leader in using medical records to advance research.

"This is a great recognition of Mayo's leadership in this area and this award will allow us to develop methods so we effectively share this approach with others," says Christopher Chute, M.D., Dr. P.H., Mayo principal investigator.

The government announcement says the research will involve interdisciplinary efforts among researchers, health care providers and the technology industry. The goal is to integrate findings into medical practice quickly across the nation.

"This is not ivory tower research," says David Blumenthal, M.D., national coordinator for Health Information Technology. "Its goal is to quickly infuse the dynamic health IT sector with new thinking, ideas and solutions."

"There's a clear need for progressive and innovative thinking to overcome barriers and ensure the long-term viability of our health care system," says Dr. Blumenthal.

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