Kansas gets federal dollars to improve health record management

? Kansas has received $1.7 million in federal stimulus funds to plan improvements in its handling of electronic health records.

The Kansas Health Policy Authority says the plan will be for the state’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance programs, which cover medical services for some 315,000 needy Kansans.

The agency says the money will finance a survey of health care providers to find out what electronic records technologies are in use and to develop a plan for improving that technology.

Acting Medicaid Director Barb Langner said the goal is to make sure that records can be transferred electronically, easily but securely.

The authority says it expects the planning to be done this year. Then, it says, other federal grants would finance new technology.