COLUMBUS — The Ohio Health Information Partnership has announced more than $50 million in funding to help make electronic medical records more widely available across Ohio.

OHIP, the state-designated entity for health information exchange development, received $43.3 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The state’s 2010-11 biennial budget also sets aside $8 million in nongeneral revenue funds to the Ohio Department of Insurance to support efforts in health information technology.

Of the $43.3 million in federal funding:

• $14.8 million will go toward development of a statewide health information exchange to allow for sharing of electronic medical records between authorized health-care facilities and health-care providers.

• $28.5 million are designated to help with the creation of regional extension centers, which will support hospitals and health-care providers in their adoption of electronic medical records.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland in September 2009 designated OHIP as the nonprofit entity that will lead the implementation and support of health information technology across Ohio.

OHIP’s focus includes:

• working with health-care providers to lower the cost of acquiring and implementing electronic medical records;

• helping providers find qualified vendors to ensure electronic medical records are properly integrated into the health care provider’s individual environment.