On August 20, 2009, the White House announced it was making almost $1.2 billion in ARRA grant funding available to help hospitals and other providers implement and use electronic health records. Specifically, grants totaling $598 million will be used to establish approximately 70 Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers to provide technical assistance regarding the selection, acquisition, implementation, and meaningful use of certified electronic health record systems. In addition, a total of $564 million in grants will be made to states and qualified state designated entities to develop or align the policies, procedures, and network systems to assist electronic information exchange within and across states.