Going nowhere fast

Florida's Lt. Governor is due to announce a total of $1.5M in grant funding to Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) in the state. The grants range in size from $45,000 to $467,000.From iHealthBeat:

The Central Florida RHIO will receive a $108,864 grant, which it will use to hire an executive director and fund research projects. One such project will use focus groups to establish the wording of patient consent forms, which are required for information exchange.The Central Florida RHIO, which was formed three years ago but is not yet a pilot program, is scheduled to launch during the first quarter of 2007, according to Becky Cherney, head of the Florida Health Care Coalition and chair of the RHIO. Initial participants include health systems Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Healthcare and physician group Physicians Associates of Florida.

Small money, long time, no impact. Why bother?