How's that healthcare stimulus working?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Standing in line
Hospitals and doctors say rules could put stimulus money out of reach

By Melanie Evans
Posted: February 22, 2010 - 5:59 am ET

One year ago, Congress moved to buoy an economy swamped in a grim recession with billions of dollars to fuel spending, create jobs and shore up the nation's safety net.

Now hospitals and doctors say key health provisions do not go far enough or risk shortchanging the sector of its share of the $787 billion stimulus package, which was signed into law Feb. 17, 2009, as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“It's drastic times,” said Craig Becker, president of the Tennessee Hospital Association. Becker has found himself lobbying for a tax on hospital revenue he has successfully deflected throughout his 16-year tenure. The one-year fee would be used to plug scheduled cuts to state Medicaid spending in July, which, combined with lost federal matching funds, would cut hospitals' revenue by $540 million.

Meanwhile, stimulus spending on health IT—$14 billion to $27 billion of incentives to use electronic health records—won't begin until 2011 and may be sharply curtailed by proposed eligibility rules that put incentives out of reach, providers say (See related story, p. 16).

As of Feb. 12, HHS had spent $50.5 billion, or 71% of the $70.7 billion authorized under its stimulus funding through the end of January, on a variety of its programs, including the Indian Health Service, comparative effectiveness and basic science research.

The stimulus bill allocated $101.7 billion to HHS through fiscal 2010. When first announced, the total expected to be spent on healthcare was estimated to be at least $150 billion over the course of several years.

The National Institutes of Health, which has awarded more than 13,790 grants totaling more than $5.5 billion as of mid-February, had paid out $736.9 million by the end of January, according to figures released on the HHS and NIH Web sites. California, Massachusetts and New York lead the states in number of grants. The three states account for $970.2 million, $529.5 million and $438.8 million, respectively, of NIH grants awarded to date.

read more here - http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100222/MAGAZINE/100219964

It seems like some states get the goldmine and other states get the shaft.

I wonder where all those IT jobs will be located?  India?

Will citizens or foreigners get those jobs?