Regional Extension Centers Update
Virginia HIT (VHIT) is now supporting more than 1,800 providers who are working to reach meaningful use of their electronic health record (EHR), placing them over 80 percent of the way to their recruitment goal.
The Northwest Ohio Regional Extension Center (NWOREC) has been designated by the Ohio Health Information Partnership to offer Electronic Health Record (EHR)-related services to physicians in the 14 counties of Northwest Ohio.
According to HHS, over 80,000 providers, as of July 31 of this year, had registered to participate in the meaningful use program, which is a great start. Something like close to 90,000 providers have actually registered to work with the regional extension centers for health IT.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), through the New Jersey Health Information Technology Extension Center (NJIT/NJ-HITEC) is one of the 62 Regional Extension Centers (REC) to receive funding from the federal government in April 2010. They issued an RFP with an deadline of October 10, 2011.
HITEC-LA, the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (REC) for the nation’s most populous county, announced that it selected NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, Inc. (NextGen Healthcare) as one of its preferred vendors to offer certified electronic health records (EHRs) to L.A. County’s solo, small group, and clinic health care providers.
The University of Central Florida College of Medicine is launching UCF Pegasus Health, the college’s new faculty clinical practice. The medical center will also house the college’s Regional Extension Center health information technology initiative, which assists local primary care physicians in adopting electronic health records.
HealthInsight, a community-based non-profit organization, announced it will launch a new website, “UtahHealthScape”, a comprehensive source of objective quality information for health consumers. The site, www.utahhealthscape.org, helps patients use data – rather than just a neighbor’s or coworker’s advice — to select a health care provider or health plan.
As of October 5, 2011, the Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc, Regional Extension Center (KFMC REC) was working with a total of 1,002 physicians and practitioners; Priority Primary Care Providers (PPCPs) and Specialists. Click anywhere within one of the six regions on the map to see a list of practices in that region who are working toward Meaningful Use with the help of the Regional Extension Center.
The Montana Primary Care Association announced that they have entered into a partnership with Montana’s Regional Extension Center, Health Technology Services, to assist the community health centers in implementing, upgrading and utilizing electronic health records (EHR) to reach Meaningful Use. Try their EHR Incentive Program Checklists. It helps to Compare “Notable Differences between the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs.”
