Friday, February 17, 2012

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to be in Kansas City to announce that the government has spent about $3.1 billion in economic stimulus funds since 2009 to streamline hospital patient record-keeping.

The department says the money is being used to computerize health care records so hospitals and doctors can more easily share patient information. The money has reached nearly 2,000 hospitals and more than 41,000 health professionals.

The payments are channeled through Medicare and Medicaid.

Sebelius, former governor of Kansas, is also expected to tour the Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley Health Science Institute.

Her speech is not expected to address President Obama's proposal to require insurers to cover birth-control costs for workers whose employers declined to provide coverage based on moral or religious
grounds.