Sign Posts on the Journey to HIEs
Only he that has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep - Chinese proverb
$267 Million for Regional Extension Centers
More than $267 million has been awarded to 28 additional non-profit organizations to establish Health Information Technology Regional Extension Centers (RECs). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funded the investment, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The RECs will offer technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care providers' efforts to become meaningful users of EHRs. The centers will support at least 100,000 primary care providers, through participating non-profit organizations, in achieving meaningful use of EHRs and enabling nationwide health information exchange.
This recent round of awards, bringing the total number of RECs to 60, will provide nationwide outreach and technical support services to at least 100,000 primary care providers and hospitals within two years. The primary care provider is usually the first medical practitioner contacted by a patient. More than $375 million had been awarded earlier to RECs under this program, according to HHS.
Additionally, all REC awardees, those announced recently by HHS and the 32 announced on Feb. 12, 2010, now have an opportunity to apply for a two-year expansion supplemental award. The supplemental awards would ensure that health IT support services are available to over 2,000 of the nation's critical access hospitals and rural hospitals, both defined as having 50 beds or less. Approximately $25 million is available through this supplemental expansion program, according HHS.
The awards are part of the $2 billion effort by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and provide use of an electronic health record by every person by the year 2014.
New Jersey to Receive $11.4 Million for HIE Development
New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, along with 16 other states and qualified state designated entities (SDEs), will receive awards from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to facilitate non-proprietary health information exchanges. New Jersey is slated to receive $11,408,594 of the approximately $162 million to help states facilitate health information exchange and advance Health Information Technology (Health IT).
Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the awards are part of the $2 billion effort to achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and provide use of an electronic health record by every citizen by the year 2014. Every state and eligible territory has now been awarded funds under this program.
These cooperative agreements were awarded under the authority of Title XIII of ARRA, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) On February 12, 2010; HHS awarded $385 million to 40 states and SDEs.
Physicians Eligible for Incentive Payments
The Continuing Extension Act of 2010 — H.R. 4851— which President Obama signed into law, recently allows physicians who treat patients in hospital-based outpatient clinics to be eligible for incentive payments under the HITECH Act.
By modifying the definition of hospital-based physician, the legislations will enable many more physicians to become meaningful users of electronic health records.
The law signed April 15 removes the word "outpatient" from the description of the hospital-based "setting (whether inpatient or outpatient)" and replaces it with "inpatient or emergency room setting." The change becomes effective as if included in the enactment of the HITECH Act.
Previously, physicians working in hospital environments were not eligible for the incentives because the HITECH Act said they depend "substantially" on a hospital's "facilities and equipment, including qualified electronic health records."
Interim Replacement to Head CCHIT
Alisa Ray, executive director of Certification Commission for Health Information Technology, (CCHIT) and retiring chair Mark Leavitt, M.D., will until November represent the CCHIT when dealing with the government.
Karen Bell, M.D., who was to begin her tenure on April 26 as CCHIT's chair cannot represent the organization before federal officials until November 2010 because of her past experience in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology where she served as director of the office of health information technology adoption and as acting deputy in ONC. Bell left in November 2008 to take a position with Masspro, a performance improvement organization in Massachusetts. She entered a two-year "cooling period" upon leaving ONC, which restricts her contacts with federal officials.
Improving Patient Care Drives EHR Adoption
In a recent Beacon Partners Survey, 64 percent of health care organization executives surveyed said improved patient care is the biggest driver of electronic health record implementation at their hospital.
Twenty-one percent of survey respondents said receiving stimulus funding was the biggest driver of EHR adoption, while 11 percent said avoiding penalties was the biggest driving factor in EHR adoption.
The survey also found that 46 percent of hospitals surveyed are in the implementation stage of EHR adoption.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they have an EHR system in use, while 10 percent said they are in the early stage of planning and 8% said they are in the vendor selection phase. One percent of respondents reported that they have not yet begun the EHR implementation process, according to the survey.