Regional Extension Centers List Updated 12/01/2011
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Archive for the ‘Regional Extension Centers’ category
Regional Extension Centers List Update
November 29th, 20111000 Healthcare Providers Sign up for EHR and Meaningful Use
November 28th, 20111,000 Healthcare Providers at Regional Extension Centers Sign up for EHR and Meaningful Use
Several Regional Extension Centers have closely approached, met or exceeded the goal of signing up 1000 healthcare providers. These include The HealthInsight Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology (REC) in Utah. They achieved this in May 2011. Also in May, the Mississippi Regional Extension (REC) met its initial goal of enrolling 1,000 primary health care providers for assistance as they move toward adopting an electronic health record.
In June, Maryland had subscribed all of its slots under the federal Health Information Technology Regional Centers Program, bringing federally-subsidized direct assistance support to 1,000 primary care physicians who have begun the process of implementing and using electronic medical records, or EHRs.
In August, the Delaware Regional Extension Center announced they met their 1,000 provider goal.
More than 1,000 Oklahoma health care providers are now enrolled with OFMQHIT as part of the national effort to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records, announced Gregg Koehn, CEO of the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ). OFMQHIT is the Oklahoma HIT Regional Extension Center, headquartered at OFMQ.
Just months after L.A. Care Health Plan announced the formation of HITEC-LA, an independent, nonprofit REC made possible by a grant under the federal HITECH Act of 2010, the REC has met its first milestone ahead of schedule and enrolled more than 1,000 provider members across Los Angeles County.
REACH is a nonprofit federal Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center. They have registered 1,000 providers in clinics, small hospitals, and other settings in Minnesota and North Dakota implement and effectively use electronic health records. REACH is a program of Key Health Alliance, a partnership of Stratis Health, National Rural Health Resource Center, and The College of St. Scholastica, which collaborates with North Dakota Health Care Review and the University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Sciences. REACH serves Minnesota and North Dakota.
The Tri-State Regional Extension Center (REC) announced recently that it has met its enrollment goal of 1,739 primary care providers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
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Kansas Regional Extension Center (REC) said the official sign-up count is currently 1,059, however a pending group contract would put that number at 1,199 once signed.
Kansas Regional Extension Center "Meaningful Use"
Regional Extension Centers Reach 100,000 Primary Care Providers
November 23rd, 2011Regional Extension Centers (RECs) Health Information Technology
The HHS Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology announced that more than 100,000 primary care providers are adopting certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to help improve their quality of care and ultimately lower health care costs. RECs serve the majority of primary care providers in small practices in rural areas. These figures include over half of the targeted 1,776 critical access and rural hospitals in 41 states and throughout Indian Country. A complete listing of REC grant recipients and additional information about Regional Extension Centers may be found at http://www.HealthIT.hhs.gov/REC/.
COREC is using SpectraMD’s Interactive Content Delivery and Analytics Platform to streamline the tracking for 1,000 priority primary care providers to achieve meaningful use of their EHRs, at the Telligen Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center, based in Iowa.
There has been a lot of activity in Florida recently. Here are the links to the RECs servicing Florida health centers – Florida providers, clinics, and hospitals.
- Florida – Rural and North Florida Regional Extension Center
- Florida – South Florida Regional Extension Center Collaborative
- Florida – University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Florida – University of South Florida, Tampa
The Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center (WIREC), a division of Qualis Health, announced that it has met its enrollment goal of 2,369 healthcare providers in Washington and Idaho as part of the national effort to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs). Practitioners across both states sought WIREC out for assistance with EHR implementation and utilization in order to attain “meaningful use” of their systems.
A valuable report and useful tool for regional extension centers is NEHC’s Secrets of HIE Success Revealed: Lessons from the Leaders, a report commissioned by NeHC in order to provide in-depth studies of successful and mature HIEs in diverse geographies and market types. The report captures the key dimensions of success for HIE leadership and sustainability, contributes to the development of a national roadmap for health information exchange, and provides insight and guidance for emerging HIEs. One of the organizations highlighted includes HealthBridge. They offer a wide variety of technology services, including a regional extension center (REC), quality improvement services such as a disease registry and workflow redesign, and health information exchange services. The HIE services include EHR integration, results delivery, order entry, e-prescribing, summary record exchange, public health reporting, syndromic surveillance and electronic claims check and eligibility verification. They recently announced that The Tri-State Regional Extension Center (REC) met its enrollment goal of 1,739 primary care providers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
See the PHIN Messaging Guide for Syndromic Surveillance: Emergency Department and Urgent Care Data 
has been approved and released. FAQs have been documented to assist you as well as the Comment Disposition worksheet .
Regional Extension Centers Update
November 9th, 2011Regional 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.”
Regional Extension Centers List
March 21st, 2011RECs List Updated 12/01/2011
Go to New Link ***
Alabama Regional Extension Center
- Alaska eHealth Network, Anchorage, Alaska
- Arizona Health-e Connection, Phoenix, Ariz.
- Arkansas – HITArkansas
- CalHIPSO (North)
- CalHIPSO (South)
- California – HITEC-LA – Local Initiative Health Authority for Los Angeles County
- CalOptima (COREC)
- Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC)
- Colorado Regional Extension Center (CORHIO)
- Connecticut- eHealth Connecticut Regional Extension Center
- Delaware – Quality Insights of Delaware, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware
- District of Columbia Primary Care Association (DCPCA)
- Florida – Rural and North Florida Regional Extension Center
- Florida – South Florida Regional Extension Center Collaborative
- Florida – University of Central Florida, Orlando
- Florida – University of South Florida, Tampa
- Georgia GA-HITREC
- Idaho -WIREC (Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center)
- Illinois – Chicago Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (CHITREC)
- Illinois Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (IL-HITREC)
- Indiana Health Information Technology Extension Center
- Iowa HITREC (FMC Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center)
- Kansas Foundation for Medical Care, Inc. (KFMC)
- Kentucky – Northeast Kentucky Regional Information Organization – NeKYRHIO
- Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum
- Lovelace Clinic Foundation
- Maine – HealthInfoNet
- Maryland – Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients, Baltimore
- Massachusetts e-Health Institute (MeHI)
- Michigan Center for Effective IT Adoption (M-CEITA)
- Minnesota – Regional Extension Assistance Center for Health Information Technology (REACH)
- Mississippi- Regional Extension Center for Health Information Technology in Mississippi
- Missouri HIT Assistance Center
- Montana – Health Technology Services (HTS) Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Foundation
- Morehouse School of Medicine
- National Indian Health Board, District of Columbia
- Nebraska – Wide River Technology Extension Center
- Nevada – Health Insight
- New Hampshire – Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, Inc.,
- New Jersey’s Regional Extension Center
- New Mexico Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center (NM HITREC)
- New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC)
- New York eHealth Collaborative Inc
- North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc. (NCHICA)
- North Dakota – REACH (Key Health Alliance – Stratis Health), Minnesota – North Dakota
- NYC REACH
- O-HITEC
- Ohio – HealthBridge Inc.
- Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP)
- Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ)
- Oregon O-Health Information Technology Extension Center
- PA REACH East – Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Eastern)
- PA REACH West – Quality Insights of Pennsylvania, Inc. (Western)
- Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico
- Purdue University
- RI Regional Extension Center (REC)
- South Carolina Research Foundation, Columbia
- South Dakota Regional Extension Center (SD-REC)
- Tennessee REC – Qsource
- Texas – CentrEast Regional Extension Center – Texas A&M System Health Science Center – Rural and Community Health Institute
- Texas – The North Texas Regional Extension Center (NTREC)
- Texas – University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – Gulf Coast Regional Extension Center (GCREC).
- Texas – West Texas (WT-HITREC) – Texas Tech University Health Science Center
- Tri-State Regional Extension Center – Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana
- University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington, Kentucky
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama
- Utah – HealthInsight
- Vermont Information Technology Leaders
- VHQC (Virginia Health Quality Center)
- Washington DC – eHealthDC
- West Virginia Regional Health Information Technology Extension Center
- WIREC (Washington & Idaho Regional Extension Center)
- Wisconsin Health Information Technology Extension Center
- Wyoming – Health Technology Services (HTS)
