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Rural hospitals struggling to install electronic health records received a shot in the arm this month -- an infusion of $19.8 million in federal funding from the Health and Human Services Department.

The grants will help 1,655 small hospitals in 41 states, including facilities on American Indian reservations, according to an HHS news release announcing the grants.

"The benefits of health information technology can be especially important for patients and clinicians in small and rural health care facilities, yet these facilities face high hurdles as they look toward joining in the transition to electronic information," said Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary.

The department awarded the funds to 46 Regional Extension Centers. The RECs will allocate monies to rural and small critical access hospitals, facilities located in rural or hard-to-access areas that have been certified by their states as necessary providers of health care services.

The money will help rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds to select and implement certified EHR systems. Coming up with the money for health IT services can be a challenge for small facilities, HHS says.

"By converting to certified EHR technology, these facilities can qualify for substantial additional incentive payments from Medicare or Medicaid," according to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The program "highlights HHS's effort in supporting rural providers and small practices to achieve meaningful use."

Grants include:

• $1.49 million to the Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health Information Technology, serving Minnesota and North Dakota.
• $1.4 million to the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc.
• $1.04 million to the IFMC Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center in Iowa.

Grants of less than $1 million ranged from $36,000 for the South Florida Regional Extension Center Collaborative to $912,000 for the West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center.