Difference between revisions of "HITREC"

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In April 2005, Virginia Governor Warner issued Executive Directive 6 creating the Governor’s Electronic Health Records Task Force. The Task Force was established to conduct a two-year study and advise the Governor and the General Assembly in a first-year report made by November 1, 2005. The primary objectives of the first year of study are to develop a clear picture of where Virginia currently is on EHR and where Virginia should go with EHR in the future, and to articulate those findings and recommendations.
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The primary objectives of the second year of study are to identify specific ways to “close the gap” between where Virginia is on EHR and where it wants to be, and to articulate those findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Assembly in a second-year report made by November 1, 2006.
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Since the appointment of the [http://www.ehealth.vi.virginia.gov/members.htm Task Force members], the Task Force has begun to actively educate itself through its committee work. The Task Force Board has begun an intensive planning process and will provide an opportunity for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, hospital administrators, health insurers, community groups, and many others to contribute their expertise.
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The Task Force consists of 36 members including representatives of the provider community, information technology experts and health care policy experts. Gil Minor serves as Chair of the Task Force and Secretary Jane Woods as Vice-Chair.
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Revision as of 16:27, 14 November 2011

Regional Health IT Extension Centers (RHITEC or HITREC) help primary care clinicians install and use their electronic health record systems (EMR). Many providers lack the expertise and resources to purchase, install, and use EMRs.

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) allocated almost $600 million to establish these centers. Each RHITEC can be structured for up to 200,000 physicians. [1] RHITECs help providers achieve meaningful use, including group purchasing of health IT solutions, implementation assistance, project management, vendor relations, and quality improvement. [2]

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

The Illinois Health Information Technology Extension Center Collaborative (IL-HITEC) is a broad based, state-wide consortium working together to provide services throughout the State of Illinois as described in the Health Information Technology Extension Program through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following the guidelines of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the I-HITEC will provide education, outreach, and technical assistance to providers in selecting, implementing, and achieving meaningful use of certified EHR technology to improve the quality and value of health care. The coverage area includes the state of Illinois excluding Chicago 606** zip codes. IL-HITEC plans on cooperating with the HITEC serving zip codes in 606** to assure consistency throughout the state.

NIU to lead move to electronic medical records Northern Illinois University's Division of Administration and University Outreach has received a grant for slightly more than $7.5 million, spread over two years, from the Department of Health and Human Services to create a Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center.

Organizations involved in IL-HITEC have a longstanding history of collaborations and partnerships toward addressing issues in health and electronic health records and involvement in early adoption of EHR, assistance with implementation, as well as state and national involvement in the development of ongoing standards and use. Members of IL-HITEC are leading Health Information Exchange (HIE) planning efforts, funded by the Illinois Department of Health Care and Family Services, in 9 of the 16 Medical Trading Areas in the state of Illinois. Additionally, IL-HITEC has secured the commitment of the Illinois Academy of Family Practitioners and the Illinois State Medical Society to garner participation with priority primary care providers and has received similar commitments from small and large physician groups, hospitals, community health centers, and other related organizations.

For more info:

http://www.ilhitrec.org

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 [3] or contact Susan Harr at sharr@ifmc.org or 515-440-8215.

IFMC Links

Homepage [4] FAQ [5] Program Snapshot [6]

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. [7]

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

Perspective: Tennessee HIE to provide EHR and e-prescribing to Mississippi Medicaid beneficiaries

From: Patty Enrado, NHINWatch.com

This December, Shared Health will begin rolling out a solution that will give Mississippi Medicaid providers a Web-based electronic health record (EHR) system and e-prescribing capability for the state’s nearly 600,000 Medicaid members.

The program, through a contract by the State of Mississippi’s Division of Medicaid, was designed to get physicians on the “road to EHRs,” said Bruce Taffel, MD, CMO of Shared Health, a health information exchange in Tennessee. “The big effort is to get something on the physician’s desktop,” he said, be it an EHR-Lite or a full-blown EHR.

Medicaid offers benefits and challenges, but because of the challenges there may be even greater benefits to computerized patient records, Taffel said. “This is an ideal environment because of the transitory nature of the population. You need greater liquidity of data across the geography,” he said.

With the main focus of Medicaid being women and children, the program will look at how the state can be assured that these groups are “getting the right care at the right time,” he said. EHRs will provide the infrastructure to support wellness care and care coordination.

Shared Health is also working with the Delta Health Alliance, which is assisting the approximately 900 physicians in the Mississippi Delta region with EHR technology. Busy rural and sub-rural practices are struggling with how EHRs apply to them, Taffel said. “Shared Health is trying to be the resource of information for doctors on why it’s important for them,” he said.

The $1.2 billion in additional funding for EHR adoption recently announced by Vice President Biden is a “positive thing,” he said. The funding of resource centers will enable support and dissemination of information for physicians.

“This is a fast-moving environment; everything’s happening at once,” he said. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be sending out a letter to state Medicaid directors on how they will administer and pay the reimbursements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Once those guidelines are released, states will be able to submit input for how to reward or incentivize physicians, he said.

With its expertise in HIPAA compliance and privacy and security issues, Shared Health has been involved in educating independent physician associations (IPAs) on the HIPAA ramifications in light of new responsibilities under ARRA.

“Many states have stepped up in a major way,” Taffel said. “This program is representative of where the states are pulling together and taking a leadership role.”

Down the road, these EHR systems will eventually feed into a health information exchange, “creating the door in every office for information to begin to flow,” Taffel said.

“States can do a lot through their Medicaid programs,” he said. “You are seeing other activities bubbling up under the state umbrella. Communities are coming together over how we deliver better care through the liquidity of data. There are all kinds of ways and uses for the liquidity of data to support community initiatives.”

“This is an important trend,” Taffel said. “States are a critical piece of this."

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

The Rochester RHIO is a nonprofit organization chartered in 2006(2). It is charged with creating a health information exchange that allows hospitals, labs and radiology groups to access and share patient information in a secure environment (1). As of April 2010, there are over 800 physicians and 3000 total users, which includes midlevel providers and support staff.(1) It serves the area between Buffalo and Syracuse, including Rochester and the surrounding counties.

Governance

The RHIO is governed by a board of directors from the Greater Rochester community, representing area physicians, public health, businesses, health insurers and hospitals. (2) Funding comes from a combination of state funds and matching grants from community organizations. (2) Also, RHIO is supported by regional health plans and data providers. (4)

Technology

Patient information is organized with a hybrid model. The master Patient Index (MPI) is its only centralized data base, while the data from hospitals, labs, etc. is federated on a series of edge servers. (3)

As of April 2010, the Rochester RHIO receives about 1.5 million reports per month.(1) In addition to information exchange, Rochester RHIO offers EHR integration. This allows information collected by the RHIO integrate directly with the physician's EHR.(1) The state of New York has about 9 different RHIOs. There is a plan to combine them into a SHINY (Statewide Health Information Network of New York).(1)

Future projects

CCS - Continuity of Care Summary - Bundles social services informations. Home evaluations by social workers, Dietary information for nutritionists.

EPCR for EMS: An online EHR for emergency medical personnel.

Privacy considerations

Access is only granted to healthcare providers, not to insurance companies, employer groups. Providers are met in person before they are given access to the RHIO.(1) Patients can access their own health information through a linked electronic Personal Health Record. (4) Patients must grant access to every practice or medical organization before their information can be accessed.(1)

External links

http://www.grrhio.org/about/default.aspx

References

  1. J. Neri, Manager of Community HIE Services, Rochester RHIO, interview, April 15, 2010.
  2. http://www.grrhio.org/about/default.aspx
  3. J. Neri, Manager of Community HIE Services, Rochester RHIO, e-mail interview, September 22, 2010.
  4. J. Eisenstein, Associate Director, Rochester RHIO, e-mail interview, September 23, 2010.

North Carolina

N.C. pursues $100M for electronic records From [Triangle Business Journal - by Leo John]

North Carolina’s three-pronged fundraising effort includes a proposal to access up to $40 million to build a statewide IT network, called a Health Information Exchange; another effort to garner $20 million to $30 million to hire 40 to 45 employees at nine regional support centers; and a third effort to access $28.1 million in stimulus dollars for the broadband backbone necessary to zip medical images from one provider to another.

By placing medical records online and connecting physicians and hospitals in a vast secure network, policymakers hope to reduce duplicated tests and medical errors and improve the quality of health care by providing more medical information to physicians.

“This is going to be very important for North Carolina,” says Holt Anderson, executive director of the North Carolina Healthcare Information & Communications Alliance. “The evidence is quite clear that we do not run a high quality health care system – not for a lack of good quality professionals but because of the complexity of health care. Information is not flowing today; it’s mostly on paper and it’s mostly unavailable.”

HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE

Through a July executive order, Gov. Beverly Perdue charged the North Carolina Health & Wellness Trust Fund with leading the state’s proposal for a health information exchange.

Vandana Shah, executive director of the Health & Wellness Trust Fund, says a 12-member group of industry executives under the Health Information Technology Collaborative is also advising the effort.

States can seek between $4 million and $40 million for the four-year project to establish an exchange, and North Carolina plans to pursue the most available. “We’re going to apply closer to the maximum,” says Shah.

State proposals will be rated, among other factors, on their “sustainability” – the ability to pay for ongoing operations – and their “governance” – appropriate levels of access for insurance firms, patients and providers.

While North Carolina’s network is planned to be part of an interoperable national system, states have been given leeway in creating each system independently. “So far, it wasn’t clear who was going to lead the effort,” says Shah. “With (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), Obama has clearly put the monkey on the states’ backs.”

FINDING SAVINGS

Some state matching funds will have to be deployed toward the effort, and maintenance of the system is likely to create new costs. Still, without specifying amounts, proponents say an electronic system, once it is embraced by enough health-care providers, can weed out many existing inefficiencies.

“This is a down payment on an important change,” says Steve Cline, deputy state health director, who authored a 70-page report outlining the goals of such a network. “I am cautious about predicting savings, but there are certainly a lot of inefficiencies that result in cost-ineffective treatments,”

Cline says that starting in 2011, physicians and hospitals will begin to receive supplemental money from Medicare and Medicaid if they install and share electronic medical records. He says the incentives could amount to about $40,000 per physician over four years.

To assist physician practices with installing and sharing electronic records, North Carolina is pursuing $20 million to $30 million to establish nine “regional extension centers.”

Tom Bacon, director of the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers program at UNC School of Medicine, says the funds would go toward hiring 40 to 45 employees to staff the centers, which would assist the state’s 10,000 or so physicians spread across 1,800 practices.

“Physician practices, mostly in rural parts of the state, don’t have the resources to install electronic medical records technology,” says Bacon, whose organization is leading the submission for the extension centers.

The funds would be used “to place consultants out in the field who can provide technical assistance to physician practices in assisting them in selecting, adopting and purchasing electronic health records,” he says.

By hiring workers statewide, the effort also would fulfill the stimulus legislation’s main goal: to create new jobs.

NETWORK BACKBONE

Unlike funds for the exchange and regional centers, expected to come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the broadband network would be funded by $7.2 billion in stimulus money allocated for broadband projects to the federal Commerce and Agriculture departments.

Joe Fredosso, CEO of MCNC, a nonprofit that operates the University of North Carolina System’s high-speed Internet network, says the organization has submitted a proposal to obtain $28.1 million from the federal government in what he described as a public-private partnership.

“We are the infrastructure piece (of the health-care proposal),” says Fredosso. “We’re the piece of the stimulus application that is foundational. It’s the piece that people actually take for granted.”

Despite growth in the availability of broadband statewide, Fredosso says several rural areas are underserved. Even in urban areas, the infrastructure cannot support projects such as remote diagnosis through high-definition video conferencing that demands large amounts of bandwidth.

Fredosso says the federal government was deluged by applications for grants, and there is no guarantee MCNC will get the money. Even so, he predicts the state will find a way to pay for the infrastructure. “We will have to find money,” he says.

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

OHII is a multi-stakeholder collaboration to demonstrate the application of healthcare information and communication technology to improve the quality, safety, cost-effectiveness and accessibility of healthcare for all Oregonians. The Oregon health care community has both a rich history of collaboration on data and outcomes to support improved care. Over the last decade and a half, organizations in the Oregon health care marketplace have joined together in many public/private collaborations designed to improve care for our citizens.

Recently, Governor Ted Kulongoski announced that he had appointed Jody Pettit, MD, to serve as Oregon’s Health Information Technology Coordinator, and that Oregon will seek $26.5 million from Congress to pay for installation of electronic health records systems in more than 4,000 doctors’ offices across the state.

Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Health Information Exchange links healthcare providers in one of the largest and most demanding US healthcare markets encompassing some 4 million patients, 55 hospitals and 30 competing health systems.

Launched in 2003 with an initial focus on diagnostic imaging, the network now provides secure access to over 200 million radiology images based on studies on over 300,000 patients. Based on a "federated" or "peer-to-peer" technology platform, the PHIE can be used to find, locate, and securely retrieve patient data at disparate, even competing facilities throughout the Philadelphia area. Current participating health systems include the University of Pennsylvania Health Systemand the Jefferson Health System. PHIE has entered clinical usage for virtual chart review and to access patient data from multiple facilities. Future uses may include radiology utilization management.

PHIE was funded through $2.3 million in SBIR grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is managed and maintained by Hx Technologies (HxTI), a private, for-profit corporation.

External Links


Pennsylvania RHIO to close

The board of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Regional Health Information Organization has decided to dissolve the organization because of a lack of start-up money and questions over its sustainability. The RHIO was launched in July 2006 with the intention of sharing patient data among health care providers and 22 hospitals in 13 counties. The plan called for a central database. Initial estimates called for $11 million in start-up costs and another $2 million a year in ongoing costs. The organization was in the process of seeking non-profit status with the IRS, but the $26,000 needed to cover that cost was too much.

Puerto Rico

Rhode Island

South Carolina

The South Carolina Regional Extension Center program has been set up under the moniker CITIA-SC: The Center for Information Technology Implementation Assistance in South Carolina. Out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Health Sciences South Carolina (HSSC) received a $5.6 million grant to establish and direct the creation of South Carolina’s Regional Extension Center. This amounted to one of the highest amounts per physician in the country. HSSC was established in April 2004 as a public-private 501(c)(3) entity. This organization is the nation’s only statewide biomedical research collaborative and is supported by South Carolina’s largest universities and hospitals. Partners of HSSC include Clemson University, Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Medical University Hospital Authority, Palmetto Health, AnMed Health, McLeod Health, Self Regional, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, University of South Carolina and The Duke Endowment.

CITIA is a partnership program that includes the SC Office of Rural Health, the SC Primary Health Care Association, and The Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence. The mission of this program is: To improve the health and quality of life of South Carolinians through the use of electronic health information as a critical tool for achieving enhanced clinical effectiveness, improved overall performance of the healthcare system and better value and satisfaction for all patient consumers. This mission is born out of the initiative of the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers Program (program 93.718) as authorized by the Public Health Service Act of ARRA 2009. The statutory objectives of the regional centers are to enhance and promote health information technology as laid out in the Public Health Service Act. In late 2010, the Federal Health IT Coordinator completed the final selection of Regional Extension Centers forming a resource pool of 62 organizations that are tasked with helping physicians, clinics, and hospitals transition to electronic health records. A total of $677 million has been allocated from February to October of 2010. South Carolina received its grant award in April with the primary recipient listed as The South Carolina Research Foundation, which was further defined as CITIA. CITIA is offering a range of services from consulting on implementation and meaningful use, to information on security best practices and vendor selection. After application for assistance has been approved, services are being delivered by one of the three partners outlined above. The cost for services is free for those that join prior to April of 2011.

CITIA has also been promoted and supported by the PalmettoHIT network, which is a statewide initiative to advance the use of electronic health records. Additionally the South Carolina Health Information Exchange (SCHIEx) has been established as the health information exchange for the state. Together these organizations and the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services have come together to provide comprehensive resources for the providers of South Carolina and have positioned the state to achieve the goals and objectives as outlined in their individual mission statements.

References and Resources:

http://www.healthsciencessc.org/index.php/more/rec-grant

http://www.citiasc.org/Default.aspx?pn=PublicFAQ

http://www.federalgrantswire.com/health-information-technology-regional-extension-centers-program.html

Federal health IT coordinator completes nationwide system to assist doctors and hospitals in switching to electronic health records. HHS Press Office. 8.28.2010. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/09/20100928a.html

http://hit.scdhhs.gov/hit/

http://www.palmettohit.net/

http://www.schiex.org/index.php

http://www.citiasc.org/

http://healthit.hhs.gov

Submitted by Tripp Jennings

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

In April 2005, Virginia Governor Warner issued Executive Directive 6 creating the Governor’s Electronic Health Records Task Force. The Task Force was established to conduct a two-year study and advise the Governor and the General Assembly in a first-year report made by November 1, 2005. The primary objectives of the first year of study are to develop a clear picture of where Virginia currently is on EHR and where Virginia should go with EHR in the future, and to articulate those findings and recommendations.

The primary objectives of the second year of study are to identify specific ways to “close the gap” between where Virginia is on EHR and where it wants to be, and to articulate those findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Assembly in a second-year report made by November 1, 2006.

Since the appointment of the Task Force members, the Task Force has begun to actively educate itself through its committee work. The Task Force Board has begun an intensive planning process and will provide an opportunity for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, hospital administrators, health insurers, community groups, and many others to contribute their expertise.

The Task Force consists of 36 members including representatives of the provider community, information technology experts and health care policy experts. Gil Minor serves as Chair of the Task Force and Secretary Jane Woods as Vice-Chair.

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

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