Difference between revisions of "HITREC"

Revision as of 14:53, 19 October 2011

Regional Health IT Extension Centers (RHITEC or HITREC) help primary care clinicians install and use their electronic health record systems. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) allocated almost $600 million to establish these centers.

Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers

A Historic Opportunity: Wedding Health Information Technology to Care Delivery Innovation and Provider Payment Reform. [1]

"Many providers, particularly small practices and 'safety net' health care providers who serve the underserved, lack the expertise and resources to purchase, install and use information technology to innovate care. HITECH provides for the creation of Regional Health IT Extension Centers, or RHITECs, that could be structured to meet this need for up to 200,000 physicians, if empowered appropriately.

"RHITECs should be created as results-oriented entities focused single-mindedly on the achievement of 'meaningful use' by client providers. They should offer the full set of services required to help health care providers achieve 'meaningful use,' including group purchasing of health IT solutions, implementation assistance, project management, vendor relations, and quality improvement. RHITECs should tailor their work to fit the unique needs of each of their communities, and should be at substantive financial risk for achieving 'meaningful use' targets in their populations of health care provider clients."

This material was published by the Center for American Progress.

Kcox 12:37, 19 November 2009 (CST)

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arizona's 39-person steering committee has developed a roadmap to take Arizonans' health care out of the paper form/manila folder era into one of digital records and electronic sharing. They're calling it a "shared patient history summary," a basic up-to-date record of patients' medications, conditions they've been diagnosed with, and tests that have been done. With their patients' permission, primary-care physicians could have access to it, along with any specialists the patients see and, in case of emergency, paramedics and emergency-room personnel. For more information see: Health files to go high-tech -- State weighs electronic records plan

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

eHealthConnecticut: Connecticut's HITREC

In April 2010, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT announced that eHealthConnecticut, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization established in January 2006, would become the State of Connecticut’s Health IT Regional Extension Center (REC) through a $5,749,309 grant (No. 90RC0053) and cooperative agreement[1]. The organization entered into an agreement with ONC to provide assistance to Connecticut’s providers to help them select, implement, and achieve meaningful use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in order to enhance health care quality, safety and efficiency. [2]

According to the organizations’ website[2], the mission of the eHealthConnecticut Regional Extension Center is to:

"Help Connecticut's providers select, implement, and achieve meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems in order to enhance health care quality, safety and efficiency."

Its goal is to serve at least 2,300 of the state’s 8,000 practicing physicians during the next four years. The organization has set a long term goal of having 80% of Connecticut’s providers live with electronic health record (EHR) systems. Short term goals for the first two years include serving at least 1,338 “priority” providers, or those in small practices or caring for under served patient populations.

As the organization is largely volunteered based to date, they are in process of hiring an executive director. They are working with Independent Physician Practices, physician hospital organizations, the primary care association, and various medical societies to assist with recruiting physician customers. They have also partnered with other providers to provide a variety of services to assist eHealthConnecticut with its performance of its HIT Extension Center grant. Currently it has engaged 9 direct assistance contractors and is seeking applications from a third round of applicants. It has also contracted with the University of Connecticut Health Center to provide education, training, and outreach services.

The eHealthCT REC administers services through a Core Team, receives referrals and commitments of providers from various physician organizations called “Channel Partners” and contracts with a number of pre-selected Direct Assistance Contractors who are deployed to provide technical assistance to help the REC’s customers achieve the milestones of EHR selection, EHR implementation and achievement of meaningful use. The organization is encouraging providers and small practices to sign up and register to receive its services.

Kick Off Event

On September 29, 2010 eHealthConnecticut held its kickoff event and summit on Meaningful Use in Trumbull, CT.[3] The event included a vendor expo, presentations by ONC, the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health, eHealthConnecticut, and several physicians. Though the number of attendees is unknown, estimates have suggested approximately 300 individuals participated. Discussions were focused on the tremendous number of resources and the value proposition being offer by eHealthConnecticut REC, the support oversight being provided by the ONC-HIT to the REC, and first hand experiences of local primary care physicians that have been early adopters, sharing their motivations, challenges they encountered, and lessons-learned.

References

1. Health Information Technology Extension Program – Available at http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt/community/healthit_hhs_gov__rec_program/1495

1. eHealthConnecticut website – Available at http://www.ehealthconnecticut.org

1. Oravecz WT. CT REC MU Summit: HIT me with your best shot. 2010 Available: http://www.hitechanswers.net/ct-rec-mu-summit/

Submitted by Matthew J. Cook, MPH

Delaware

Delaware Health Information Network (DHIN) project of the Delaware Health Care Commission

Mission

To facilitate the design and implementation of an integrated, statewide health data system to support the information needs of consumers, health plans, policymakers, providers, purchasers and research to improve the quality and efficiency of health care services in Delaware

Vision

Share real-time clinical information among all health care providers (office practices, hospitals, labs, diagnostic facilities, etc.) across the state to improve patient outcomes and patient-provider relationships, while reducing service duplication and the rate of increase in health care spending.

Guiding Principles

The DHIN and its partners believe that a statewide system by which clinical information can be shared among disparate providers and consumers can only succeed if it possesses analogous support among all stakeholders. Therefore, the following guiding principles are central to the DHIN:

• The network design must be inclusive of all stakeholders (patients, providers, insurers, employers, etc)
• The consumer/patient is in control of sharing his/her health information
• All users must "belong" to the network
• Patient health information remains where it originated (e.g. hospital, laboratory)
• There is collaboration and coordination among all who will utilize and benefit from the Utility

• The stakeholders have a shared vision of how the Utility will be developed, organized and administered.
• The stakeholders will communicate often in an efficient and effective manner
• Those who benefit from the network will share in its cost

District Of Columbia

Florida

In 2005, the Florida Legislature appropriated $1.5 million to fund the development of the Florida Health Information Network. This year, Governor Bush will request $5 million in recurring funding for additional grants to support the expansion of electronic health records, as well as a recommendation for two positions and an additional $200,000 to support the personnel to administer the grant program.

The FHIN grant program was developed by AHCA to facilitate the development of a statewide privacy-protected health information infrastructure network as recommended by the Governor’s Health Information Infrastructure Advisory Board in its 2005 interim report to the Governor. The program provides seed money to develop regional health information exchanges and to encourage practitioners to become active users of electronic health records.

For more information see: Florida's Health Information Infrastructure

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Indiana applies for grant to boost HIT delivery by:Molly Merrill from: Health IT News

Indiana Health Information Technology, Inc., formed by the state's five health information exchanges and four other state organizations, has filed an application for federal stimulus funding for a statewide health information technology program.

The effort, which is being led by BioCrossroads, a public-private collaboration that supports Indiana's investment in life sciences, seeks a four-year grant of several million dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Cooperative Agreement Program (CAP). The grant will be used to further enhance the quality and reach of Indiana's HIT delivery system.

"To promote and advance health information technology as one of our state's true life sciences clusters, BioCrossroads assembled the coalition and orchestrated the effort to develop this extensive proposal and establish its governing organization," said David Johnson, president and CEO of BioCrossroads. "We look forward to the new organization leading the charge by facilitating the proposed plan for further connectivity and additional healthcare delivery improvements."

IHIT will promote alliances and innovation among the state's five independent exchanges: HealthBridge, HealthLINC, the Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), MedWeb and the Michiana Health Information Network (MHIN), as well as the state's Family and Social Services Administration, Indiana Department of Health, Indiana Economic Development Corporation and Indiana Health Informatics Corporation.

"Indiana's leadership in life sciences spans over decades of time and is further cultivated by the state's significant advances in health information technology. By more effectively managing vital health information, we are creating synergies for the numerous providers and commercial partners in Indiana's healthcare landscape," said Mitch Roob, Indiana's secretary of commerce and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. "This important collaboration by the IHIT team leverages the best in Indiana's life sciences resources and solidifies our preeminent position in the industry."

The state will be notified of funding availability in mid-December. IHIT will then assume full responsibility, beginning as early as Jan. 15, 2010, to facilitate efforts with participating state organizations, HIEs, hospitals, physicians and the national grantors.

"With the help of operating health information exchanges, a roster of progressive hospitals and physicians complemented by innovative entrepreneurial organizations and a long history of groundbreaking HIT research at our universities, the state of Indiana is poised to continue leading the nation in healthcare IT," said Anne Murphy, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. "The CAP funding will help us continue this role by enhancing the existing infrastructure to positively impact healthcare at all levels."

Iowa

IFMC Named Iowa’s HIT Regional Extension Center=

West Des Moines, Iowa – IFMC was recently designated as Iowa’s Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center. As a HIT Regional Center IFMC will assist providers in adopting, implementing and achieving meaningful use with their electronic health records system.

Registration is currently open to eligible Iowa providers interested in participating in this opportunity, full operation begins March 31. The Regional Center will primarily provide assistance to priority primary care providers. Priority primary care providers are defined as physicians and health care professionals with prescriptive privileges (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives) in:

• Individual and small group primary care practices (ten or fewer professionals with prescriptive privileges);
• Public and Critical Access Hospitals;
• Community health centers and rural health clinics; and
• Other settings that predominantly serve uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved populations.

Through the Regional Center, IFMC and our partner INConcertCare, Inc., will provide assistance to 1,200 priority providers (33 percent of Iowa’s primary care practitioners) during the first two years of the program. This includes assistance in vendor selection, group purchasing, implementation, project management, practice workflow redesign, interoperability, health information exchange, privacy and security best practices. The Regional Center will also provide education and outreach, support for local workforce development, and assessment of progress toward meaningful use. “We look forward to assisting Iowa providers in improving patient care through the use of information technology,” says Kim Downs, Senior Director at IFMC.

Recruitment and registration is currently underway. If you are interested in receiving services or learning more visit www.ifmc.org [2] or contact Susan Harr at sharr@ifmc.org or 515-440-8215.

IFMC Links

Homepage [3] FAQ [4] Program Snapshot [5]

Kansas

Kentucky

HealthBridge and a network of partners will establish a Tri-State Regional Extension Center (Tri-State REC) for Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeastern Indiana. The Tri-State REC will pursue a comprehensive strategy to support electronic health records (EHR) adoption, health information exchange (HIE), process redesign, local workforce support and quality improvement to assist health care providers in its service area to implement and meaningfully use technology and qualify for incentive payments from the federal government. [6]

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Maryland has joined a growing list of states that have established state work groups to explore the potential of electronic health records and other healthcare technologies to lower medical costs and improve care. Last month, Maryland, named about two dozen government and healthcare leaders to the Task Force to Study Electronic Health Records. Over the next two years, the task force will study EHRs and the infrastructure that connects them. The group, which was established through state legislation passed in 2005, also will evaluate barriers to establishing a regional health information organization in Maryland and develop related policies on privacy, security and authentication in health information exchange networks. The legislation calls for the task force to send its recommendations to state legislators before 2008.

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Puerto Rico

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

The Texas Regional Extension Centers are among of a select group of organizations throughout the U.S. designated as having the experience and capacity necessary to assist health care providers with the task of modernizing their practices with certified EHRs. We have been selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology to serve providers, with a focus on primary care providers, in Texas.

Provider support throughout the EHR Implementation Process

The Texas Regional Extension Centers are a support and resource center making the implementation or upgrade of EHRs easier for providers throughout the process. Ultimately, our aim is to help increase quality of care for patients, overall productivity, and improve the quality of work/life balance for you by helping providers achieve meaningful use of EHR systems. We will not leave your practice until EHR implementation is successful.

We offer participating practices a wide range of valuable services. Some of our core service areas include:

• EHR implementation and project management
• HIT education and training
• Vendor selection & financial consultation
• Practice/workflow redesign
• Privacy and security
• Partnering with state and national health information exchange (HIE)
• Ongoing technical assistance

Our priority is helping providers understand and take advantage of the full benefits of EHRs. We provide scalable solutions that will enable providers to:

• Improve patient safety and quality of care while reducing costs associated with medical errors, duplicate tests, and administering paper records and claims
• Easily navigate the EHR vendor marketplace by having supported access to recommended certified systems
• Use EHRs in a meaningful way so that patient information is available when and where it is needed, and care is coordinated across provider teams
• Achieve EHR meaningful use objectives from the very beginning, maximizing incentives and minimizing financial and administrative burdens associated with implementing new electronic systems

Utah

Vermont

Virgin Islands

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming