A committee is convening to start deciding how to spend the $240 million California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed to health IT. .

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger committed $240 million to health care IT in California, and a plan is supposed to be in place before the end of 2006. At the start of the coming fray, a major philanthropic group has just weighed in on what California's health IT priorities should be. Now that Schwarzenegger has committed $240 million to health IT, he needs to figure out how to spend it. In mid-October, a committee is convening to start doing just that at the eHealth Action Forum. And participants in the event are already starting to weigh in with their recommendations. Schwarzenegger has asserted that by mid-December a plan will be in place based on the feedback and information received at the eHealth Action Forum. In July, the governor signed an executive order designating $200 million in investment funds to be distributed by state health, transportation and housing agencies. An additional $40 million in grant funding is to go to benefit rural health care IT needs. More "public/private financing alternatives" are also slated to be secured.