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ONC to Provide Additional Funding to Critical Access and Rural Hospitals For Electronic Health Records

February 20th, 2011

ONC to provide additional funding to accelerate critical access and rural hospitals’ switch to electronic health records

Dr. David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, national coordinator for health information technology in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today announced an additional $12 million in new technical support assistance to help critical access hospitals (CAHs) and rural hospitals adopt and become meaningful users of certified health information technology. Today’s funding announcement will come through ONC’s Regional Extension Center (REC) program to provide a wide range of support services  to the 1,777 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country, headquartered in the District of Columbia, to help them qualify for substantial EHR incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid.  This funding is in addition to the $20 million provided to RECs in September 2010 to provide technical assistance to the CAHs and Rural Hospitals.

“Critical access and rural hospitals are a vital part of our healthcare system.  Health information technology can offer rural health care providers and their patients resources and expertise that may not be currently available in their communities.  We recognize that the transition to electronic health records (EHRs) is a challenge and that rural facilities face even greater challenges to make the transition from paper to electronic records,” Dr. Blumenthal said.  “This additional funding recognizes the need to address these challenges and represents another important milestone in our commitment to critical access and rural hospitals throughout the country as they transition to EHRs.”

The new funding is provided under the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The HITECH Act created the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, which will provide incentive payments to eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and CAHs that adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Incentives totaling as much as $27.4 billion over 10 years could be expended under the program, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In addition, the HITECH Act provided $2 billion through ONC to support technical assistance, training, and demonstration projects to assist in the nation’s transition to EHRs.

The additional CAHs and rural hospital funding will be administered through ONC’s Regional Extension Center (REC) program.  The RECs are specifically designed to offer a wide range of hands-on technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHRs under the Medicare and Medicaid incentives programs. A total of 62 RECs are located throughout the country.  This additional funding is being awarded 48 RECs serving CAH and rural hospitals provides in 41 states and the nationwide Indian Country.

Serving CAHs and rural hospitals is a priority for the REC program. The intent of this supplement is to provide additional technical support to critical access and rural hospitals with fewer than 50 beds in selecting and implementing EHR systems primarily within the outpatient setting.   The national distribution of RECs make them a particularly effective program  to provide community-based hands-on, field support needed  to overcome unique barriers that CAHs and rural hospitals may confront as they work to adopt and meaningfully use health IT.

Today’s $12 million round of awards will result in a total of approximately $32 million of  funding provided to the RECs to support CAH health IT adoption. The awards announced today available here.

A complete listing of REC grant recipients and additional information about the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers may be found at http://www.HealthIT.hhs.gov/programs/REC/.

For information about the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, see http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms

For information about the Recovery Act at HHS, see http://www.hhs.gov/recovery.

REC awards announced 2/8/2011

Regional Extension Center (REC)REC State CoverageAward Amount
Alabama Regional Extension CenterAlabama$216,000
Alaska eHealth NetworkAlaska$84,000
Arizona Health e-Connection (AzHeC)Arizona$120,000
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. dba HIT ArkansasArkansas$210,000
California Regional Extension Center (North) – CalHIPSO (North)California$168,000
California Regional Extension Center (South) – CalHIPSO (South)California$90,000
Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) dba Colorado Regional Extension CenterColorado$228,000
National Indian Health Board (NIHB)Serving the nationwide Indian Country, headquartered in the District of Columbia$156,000
Community Health Centers Alliance, Inc. dba Center for the Advancement of Health IT (Rural and North Florida Regional Extension Center)Florida$84,000
Health Choice Network of Florida, Inc. dba South Florida Regional Extension Center CollaborativeFlorida$18,000
Morehouse School of Medicine dba Georgia HITRECGeorgia$1,008,000
Health Information Exchange dba Hawaii-Pacific RECHawaii, and the Pacific territories of Guam, American Samoa, and CNMI$72,000
IFMC dba Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (Iowa HITREC)Iowa$522,000
Northern Illinois University dba Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (IL-HITREC)Illinois$360,000
Purdue UniversityIndiana$192,000
Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (KFMC)Kansas$570,000
University of Kentucky Research FoundationKentucky$180,000
Louisiana Health Care Quality ForumLouisiana$384,000
Massachusetts Technology Park CorporationMassachusetts$ 66,000
HealthInfoNetMaine$132,000
Altarum Institute dba Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption (M-CEITA)Michigan$ 216,000
Stratis Health dba Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health Information Technology (REACH) –MN and NDMinnesota

North Dakota

$744,000
The Curators of the University of Missouri dba Missouri HIT Assistance CenterMissouri$330,000
eQHealth Solutions, Inc. dba Mississippi Regional Extension CenterMississippi$270,000
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation (MPQHF)Montana

Wyoming

$408,000
CIMRO of Nebraska dba Wide River Technology Extension CenterNebraska$1,068,000
Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, Inc. dba New Hampshire RECNew Hampshire$234,000
Lovelace Clinic Foundation-LCF ResearchNew Mexico$102,000
New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC)New York$60,000
Greater Cincinnati Health Bridge  dba HealthBridge  Tri-State RECOhio

Kentucky

Indiana

$144,000
Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP)Ohio$258,000
Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, Inc. (OFMQ)Oklahoma$372,000
OCHIN, Inc. dba O-HITECOregon$192,000
Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Eastern)Pennsylvania$90,000
Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Western)Pennsylvania$72,000
South Carolina Research Foundation  dba Center for Information Technology Implementation Assistance in South Carolina (CITIA-SC)South Carolina$78,000
Dakota State University dba healthPOINTSouth Dakota$288,000
QsourceTennessee$240,000
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Education and Research Foundation dba North Texas RECTexas$54,000
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center  dba West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (WT-HITREC)Texas$456,000
The TAMUS Health Science Center Research Foundation  dba CentrEast Regional Extension CenterTexas$192,000
University of Texas Health Science Center at HoustonTexas$306,000
HealthInsightUtah

Nevada

$234,000
Vermont Information Technology Leaders, Inc.Vermont$54,000
VHQC (Virginia Health Quality Center)Virginia$42,000
Qualis Health dba Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center(WIREC)Washington

Idaho

$282,000
MetaStar, Inc. dba Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension CenterWisconsin$414,000
West Virginia Health Improvement Institute, Inc.WV$102,000
TOTAL ALL AWARDS$12,162,000
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Posted in Critical Access Hospitals, EHRs_EMRs, Grants, ONC, Regional Extension Centers, Rural Hospitals

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HIT Policy Committee (HITPC) Request for Comment

February 17th, 2011

Reminder: HIT Policy Committee (HITPC) Request for Comment Regarding Meaningful Use Stage 2

The request for comment period for the HITPC’s potential stage 2 meaningful use objectives will end on Friday, February 25. Please submit your comments. Your comments will inform the HITPC’s work in determining a longer-term vision for meaningful use of electronic health records.

Please see the HITPC’s Request for Comment posted on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s FACA blog for more details.

The Health Information Technology Policy Committee (HITPC) is a federal advisory committee that advises the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on federal HIT policy issues, including how to define the meaningful use (MU) of electronic health records (EHRs) for the purposes of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs. The HITECH portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 specifically mandated that incentives should be given to Medicare and Medicaid providers not for EHR adoption but for meaningful use of EHRs. In July of 2010, HHS released that program’s final rule, thus defining stage 1 MU and strongly signaling that the bar for what constitutes MU would be raised in subsequent stages in order to improve advanced care processes and health outcomes.
The HITPC held six public hearings in 2010 including testimony from several dozen stakeholders and received additional dozens of public comments via its blog. All of this input helped to inform its many hours of public deliberations regarding the future vision of MU (e.g., stage 3) as well as the interim stepping stone of stage 2 MU that will set expectations for 2013 and 2014.
The HITPC has developed a preliminary set of recommendations specifically designed to solicit additional public feedback. The goal of sending out this request for comment (RFC) early is threefold.
1. Provide some signal to the industry of potential new EHR functionalities that the HITPC may recommend to help the industry get a head start on developing new functionalities.
2. Extend the public discussion of future stage MU definitions through a more formal public comment process well in advance of its formal final stage 2 recommendations to be issued in the summer of 2011.
3. Request input on specific questions.
Following analysis of the comments received through the approximately 45-day public comment period, the HITPC intends to revisit these recommendations in its public meetings in the spring of 2011. At that time, the HITPC will be able to review public comments in the context of the early feedback from providers on experience with stage 1 MU. That input will come through many vehicles: the Medicare program, the Medicaid program (both federal and state constituencies), the HIT regional extension program, and other sources. Note, this RFC solely represents the preliminary thinking of the HITPC and its Meaningful Use.

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ONC Issues Final Rule for Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology

January 4th, 2011

ONC Issued Final Rule to Establish the Permanent Certification Program for Health Information Technology

Steps to create permanent health IT certification program underway

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) today issued a final rule to establish the permanent certification program for health information technology.  The permanent certification program provides new features that will enhance the certification of health information technology, including increasing the comprehensiveness, transparency, reliability, and efficiency of the current processes used for the certification of electronic health record (EHR) technology.  Meaningful use of “Certified EHR Technology” is a core requirement for eligible health care providers who seek to qualify to receive incentive payments under the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs as authorized by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

“This final rule completes the two-phased approach ONC began with the proposed rule issued in Spring 2010 and includes several important improvements to our certification processes,” said David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., national coordinator for health information technology.  “Our goal is to make the transition to the permanent certification program as seamless as possible.” 

The temporary certification program, established through a final rule published on June 24, 2010, will continue to be in effect until it sunsets on December 31, 2011, or at a later date when the processes necessary for the permanent certification program to operate are completed.  ONC expects to stand-up the programmatic activities necessary to implement the permanent certification program throughout 2011. 

Features of the permanent certification program include:
Organizations must first be accredited in order to test and/or certify health information technology;
Certification bodies authorized by the National Coordinator (ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies or ONC-ACBs) are required to conduct post-certification surveillance; and
ONC-ACBs are permitted to perform “gap certification.” 

As proposed, ONC will request that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through its National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) develop a laboratory accreditation program for organizations to be accredited to test health information technology for purposes of the permanent certification program.  Based on NIST’s technical expertise and the strong relationship formed between ONC and NIST during the successful implementation of the temporary certification program, the use of NVLAP is expected to enhance testing under the permanent certification program and its objectivity overall.     

This final rule is issued under the authority provided to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in section 3001(c)(5) of the Public Health Service Act, as added by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.
For more information about the permanent certification program and the final rule, please visit http://healthit.hhs.gov/certification.

For more information about the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technol, please visit http://healthit.hhs.gov.

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Posted in HITECH_ARRA, Meaningful Use, ONC

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ONC Workforce Development Program

October 13th, 2010

ONC Health IT Workforce Development Program

In April, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) awarded $84 million in cooperative agreements for the Health IT Workforce Development Program to help ensure that health professionals have the technical support they need to adopt electronic health records.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Health IT Summer Certificate Program graduated its first class of students, who are now certified Health Information Managers and Exchange Specialists.

Health IT classes are under way at 84 community colleges that are using the curriculum developed through the Curriculum Development Centers Program.

All in all, ONC’s Health IT Workforce Development Program is expected to reduce the shortfall of skilled health IT professionals by 85 percent.

Community Colleges Participating in the Program

School

Region

City

State

Atlanta Technical College Exit DisclaimerDAtlantaGA
Bellevue College Exit DisclaimerABellevueWA
Bristol Community College Exit DisclaimerEFall RiverMA
Bronx Community College Exit DisclaimerEBronxNY
Brookdale Community College Exit DisclaimerELincroftNJ
Broward College – FL Exit DisclaimerDCoconut CreekFL
Burlington County College Exit DisclaimerEPembertonNJ
Butte CollegeBOrovilleCA
Camden County College Exit DisclaimerEBlackwoodNJ
Capital Community College Exit DisclaimerEHartfordCT
Catawba Valley Community College – NC Exit DisclaimerDHickoryNC
Central Piedmont Community College – NC Exit DisclaimerDCharlotteNC
Chattanooga State Community College – TNDChattanoogaTN
Cincinnati State Technical & Community College Exit DisclaimerCCincinnatiOH
College of Southern NevadaBLas VegasNV
Columbus State Community College Exit DisclaimerCColumbusOH
Community College of Allegheny County Exit DisclaimerEPittsburghPA
Community College of Baltimore County Exit DisclaimerEBaltimore CityMD
Community College of DC Exit DisclaimerEWashingtonDC
Community College of Vermont Exit DisclaimerEWaterburyVT
Cosumnes River CollegeBSacramentoCA
Cuyahoga Community College Exit DisclaimerCClevelandOH
Cypress College Exit DisclaimerBCypressCA
Dakota State University Exit DisclaimerAMadisonSD
Dallas County Comm Coll District – TX Exit DisclaimerDDallasTX
Delgado Community College – LA Exit DisclaimerDNew OrleansLA
Delta College Exit DisclaimerCUniversity CenterMI
Des Moines Area Community College Exit DisclaimerCAnkenyIA
Dyersburg State Community College – TN Exit DisclaimerDDyersburgTN
East LA College Exit DisclaimerBMonterey ParkCA
Essex County College Exit DisclaimerENewarkNJ
Florence/Darlington – SC Exit DisclaimerDFlorenceSC
Fresno City College Exit DisclaimerBFresnoCA
Gloucester County College Exit DisclaimerESewallNJ
Hinds Community College – MS Exit DisclaimerDRaymondMS
Houston Community College – TX Exit DisclaimerDHoustonTX
Indian River State College – FL Exit DisclaimerDFt. PierceFL
Itawamba Community College – MS Exit DisclaimerDTupeloMS
Jefferson Community & Technical College Exit DisclaimerDLouisvilleKY
Johnson County Community College Exit DisclaimerCOverland ParkKS
Kennebec Valley Community College Exit DisclaimerEFairfieldME
Kirkwood Community College Exit DisclaimerCCedar RapidsIA
Lake Region State College Exit DisclaimerADevil’s LakeND
Lansing Community College Exit DisclaimerCLansingMI
Los Rios Community College DistrictBSacramentoCA
Macomb Community CollegeCWarrenMI
Madison Area Technical College Exit DisclaimerCMadisonWI
Maricopa CollegeBPhoenixAZ
Metropolitan Community College Exit DisclaimerCOmahaNE
Midland College – TX Exit DisclaimerDMidlandTX
Milwaukee Area Technical College Exit DisclaimerCMilwaukeeWI
Mission College Exit DisclaimerBSanta ClaraCA
Montana Tech Exit DisclaimerAButteMT
Moraine Valley Community College Exit DisclaimerCPalos HillsIL
National Park Community College – AR Exit DisclaimerDHot SpringsAR
Normandale Community College Exit DisclaimerCBloomingtonMN
North Idaho College Exit DisclaimerACoeur d’AleneID
Northern Virginia Community College Exit DisclaimerEAnnadaleVA
Ocean County College Exit DisclaimerEToms RiverNJ
Orange Coast CollegeBCosta MesaCA
Passaic County Community College Exit DisclaimerEPatersonNJ
Pima CollegeBTucsonAZ
Pitt Community College – NC Exit DisclaimerDWintervilleNC
Portland Community College Exit DisclaimerAPortlandWA
Pueblo Community College Exit DisclaimerAPuebloCO
Raritan Valley Community College Exit DisclaimerEBranchburgNJ
Salt Lake Community College Exit DisclaimerASalt Lake CityUT
San Diego Mesa College Exit DisclaimerBSan DiegoCA
Santa Barbara City College Exit DisclaimerBSanta BarbaraCA
Santa Fe College – FL Exit DisclaimerDGainesvilleFL
Santa Monica College Exit DisclaimerBSanta MonicaCA
Sinclair Community College Exit DisclaimerCDaytonOH
Southern Maine Community College Exit DisclaimerESouth PortlandME
St. Louis Community College Exit DisclaimerCSt. LouisMO
Suffolk County Community College Exit DisclaimerEBrentwoodNY
Tidewater Community College Exit DisclaimerEVirginia BeachVA
Tulsa Community College – OK Exit DisclaimerDTulsaOK
U of Hawaii Community College – KapiolaniBHonoluluHI
Walters State Community College – TN Exit DisclaimerDMorristownTN
Wayne County Community College Exit DisclaimerCDetroitMI
West Virginia Northern Community College Exit DisclaimerEWheelingWV
Westchester Community College Exit DisclaimerEValhallaNY
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Final Two Regional Extension Centers Selected

September 28th, 2010

(ONC) Announced Two Final Awardees for the Regional Extension Center (REC) Program

  • Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, covering the state of New Hampshire ($5,105,495)
  • CalOptima Foundation, covering Orange County, California ($4,662,426)

ONC also announced expanded coverage areas for two existing RECs in Florida:  

  • Community Health Centers Alliances will cover additional areas in Glades and Hendry counties. These additional awards complete a nationwide system of RECs that will help providers move from paper-based medical records to electronic health records (EHRs).
  • Health Choice Network of Florida will cover additional areas in Indian River, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties

Two new awardees were named to cover Orange County, Calif., and the state of New Hampshire.  In addition, service areas were expanded for two already-named Florida RECs, completing RECs coverage of all areas of the country.  

RECs were created last year under the Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. HITECH provided approximately $2 billion in new programs to provide training and technical assistance and to demonstrate the effectiveness of health information technology in supporting improvement in care. Under the HITECH Act, $677 million is allocated for the next two years to support a nationwide system of RECs.  

Additionally, the HITECH Act also created the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs, which will provide incentive payments to eligible professionals and hospitals that adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHR technology. Incentives totaling as much as $27.4 billion over 10 years could be expended under the program, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  

RECs will target their assistance to eligible primary care providers in smaller practices as well as small and rural hospitals and public health clinics. However, the RECs will also serve as a resource for all providers in an area, giving assistance, as feasible, to any doctor, hospital or clinic making the request. Each REC organization has identified a target number of primary care physicians, based on population needs to be assisted in the first two years of the program. For awardees announced today, the targets are: Orange County, 1,000 primary care physicians (PCPs); New Hampshire,1,000 PCPs; Glades and Hendry, Fla., 21 PCPs; and Indian River, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee, Fla., 1,000 PCPs.  

“Conversion from paper to electronic health records is a challenging task for any provider, and we believe that help from the RECs will make an important difference, especially in assisting doctors in smaller practices and the smaller and rural hospitals,” said Dr. Blumenthal. “The RECs can also be important in helping providers make full use of the potential of EHRs for improving care and making medical practices work more effectively and efficiently.”  

A complete listing of REC grant recipients and additional information about the Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers may be found at http://www.HealthIT.hhs.gov/programs/REC/.

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