100,000 Primary Care Providers Commit to Adopting Electronic Health Records

Throughout the country, RECs are working with providers in different practice settings to ensure widespread adoption of electronic health records. While RECs mainly assist primary care providers, they also work with small rural and critical access hospitals (CAHs). REACH is working with 85 hospitals. The regional extension centers leverage their broad HIT experience to provide assistance to clinicians working in practices of various sizes and in both urban and rural settings.

Regional Extension Centers Gain Commitment from Providers to Advance America’s Health care

At the ONC Annual Meeting on November 17, 2011, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced that the network of 62 Health Information Technology (HIT) Regional Extension Centers (RECs) achieved one of its first major milestones – gaining commitments from 100,000 primary care providers to adopt electronic health records in a meaningful way. As part of this network of RECs, the Regional Extension Center for HIT (REACH) has enrolled 3,414 primary care providers in Minnesota and North Dakota. Representing roughly one-third of all PCPs in the U.S., these 100,000 providers are building the foundation of a fully-electronic health care system.

“This is an enormous milestone for America’s health care providers,” said Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, national coordinator for health information technology at ONC. “EHR-enabled providers are taking the first steps in transforming health care in the U.S., enhancing the safety and quality of care for patients. We would not have been able to accomplish this without the hard work of regional extension centers across the country.”

Primary care providers are the foundation of America’s health care system as they are often the patient’s first point of contact for health care and can be the center of the patient’s care network. EHR-enabled primary care providers allow clinicians to share more accurate, complete information and better coordinate patient care across specialists, hospitals and other health care providers. As EHR technologies become more widely adopted by providers and reach their full potential, patients will be able to access their own health information and become empowered partners in their medical care.

REACH has been using its broad, HIT expertise to help primary care providers, who face unique and complex challenges with EHR adoption, make a smooth transition to their EHR goals. Because all practices are different, REACH gears its support to meet each practice’s specific needs – from identifying financial resources to negotiating with EHR vendors to redesigning office workflow.

Throughout the country, RECs are working with providers in different practice settings to ensure widespread adoption of electronic health records. While RECs mainly assist primary care providers, they also work with small rural and critical access hospitals (CAHs). REACH is working with 85 hospitals. The regional extension centers leverage their broad HIT experience to provide assistance to clinicians working in practices of various sizes and in both urban and rural settings.

As part of its EHR Incentives Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services defined meaningful use criteria to ensure providers use a certified EHR system to:

•Exchange health information as part of coordinated care
•Report clinical quality care measures and
•Utilize electronic medical services such as e-prescribing

About REACH

REACH is a nonprofit, federal health information technology (HIT) regional extension center, dedicated to helping providers in clinics and small hospitals in Minnesota and North Dakota improve the quality and value of care through adoption and meaningful use of HIT.

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 Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota, School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

   

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