Health & Human Services announced awards of more than $49 Million to 30 states for residents whose health status makes it a problem for them to get conventional health coverage.

CMS releases information about an open forum next Tuesday, along with a rural health fact sheet.

Twelve communities have been selected to take part in a new national Medicare demonstration project using EHR incentives.  The five-year project is the first of its kind. The community areas that were selected are Alabama, Delaware, Jacksonville, FL (multi-county), Georgia, Maine, Louisiana, Maryland/Washington, DC, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, PA (multi-county), South Dakota (multi-state), Virginia, and Madison, WI (multi-county).

Health & Human Services is spending millions of dollars on an ad campaign to promote its HospitalCompare website.  The ads will feature survey results from selected organizations and various versions will run in markets throughout the country.