Arizona Revised Statutes Title 41. State Government § 41-703.01. Competitive grant program; technology solution; patient continuity of care; hospital interconnectivity; annual report; definitions

A. The department shall administer a three-year competitive grant program that provides an interoperability software technology solution to support rural hospitals, health care providers and urban trauma centers to further treatment care coordination with a focus on reducing public and private health care costs and unnecessary transportation costs. The department shall award the first grant under this program not later than December 31, 2022.

B. The Arizona health care cost containment system shall work with the department to supplement the grant monies by identifying and applying to receive federal matching monies.

C. The grant program shall enable the implementation of an interoperability software technology solution that is shared by hospitals and health care providers to benefit patients before and after a patient is discharged from the provider's care.

D. The software shall be made available to rural hospitals, health care providers and urban trauma centers that wish to participate by enabling a hospital's electronic medical records system to interface with other electronic medical records systems and providers to promote connectivity between hospital systems and facilitate increased communication between hospital staff and providers that use different or distinctive online platforms and information systems when treating patients. The department shall award grants for an interoperability software technology solution that, at a minimum:

E. Each grant recipient shall demonstrate proof of veteran employment.

F. For each year of the grant program, each grant recipient shall provide to the department of administration a report that provides metrics and quantifies cost and time savings for using an interoperable software solution in health care that complies with the health insurance portability and accountability act privacy standards (45 Code of Federal Regulations part 160 and part 164, subpart E). On or before July 1 of each fiscal year of the grant program, the department of administration in coordination with the Arizona health care cost containment system shall provide to the president of the senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, the chairpersons of the health and human services committees of the senate and the house of representatives and the directors of the joint legislative budget committee and the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting a report on the allocation of grant funding and a compiled analysis of the reports provided by the grant recipients.

G. For the purposes of this section: