Regional Extension Centers Modernizing Health Care One Provider at a Time

America’s health care system is making progress in embracing health information technology (IT), according to a recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics, which found 55 percent of U.S. providers have transitioned to electronic health records (EHRs).

National Health IT Week is Sept. 10-14, and the West Texas Health Information Regional Extension Center (WTxHITREC) is joining the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Quality Improvement Organizations and the State Health Information Exchange Program to promote the continued adoption and meaningful use of health IT and improve health care delivery.

Clinicians are leveraging health IT to achieve the meaningful use of EHRs to improve patient health and reduce health care costs. More than 140,000 providers in all specialties are partnering with the country’s 62 health IT regional extension centers (RECs) in this modernization effort.

“Having a health care system with a fully enabled health IT system requires the work of multiple organizations and the West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center is an important part of that puzzle in West Texas,” said Travis Hanson, J.D., M.S., WTxHITREC executive director. “Our center has played a major role in helping transform health care through EHRs, leading to improved patient health care for West Texas. In addition, we have successfully assisted numerous eligible providers and hospitals receive their EHR incentive dollars through the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record Incentive Programs.”

Providers face many challenges when approaching EHR implementation, and the WTxHITREC supports health care professionals, including primary health care providers and specialists, in taking full advantage of EHRs.

“There was a period of adjustment when we went live on our EHR, but we were able to reach our previous patient volumes within six weeks of implementation,” said Carolyn Rhode, M.D., of Midland Family Physicians. “It is a tremendous relief to have this kind of backup. The West Texas Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center provided invaluable assistance helping us through the registration and verification process and has begun to provide workflow analysis to support more efficient use of our system.”

A survey by the National Partnership for Women & Families found that three out of four patients with paper records want their doctors to adopt EHRs. The same survey determined that between 80 and 97 percent of patients believe EHRs are useful in ensuring timely access to health information and improving accuracy and communication with providers.

The federal government committed unprecedented resources to supporting the adoption and meaningful use of EHRs. Specifically, incentive payments totaling up to $44,000 through Medicare or $63,750 through Medicaid per eligible provider are available to clinicians that demonstrate meaningful use.

Oct. 3 is the deadline for eligible providers to begin their 90-day reporting period when applying for Medicare incentives to receive full meaningful use incentive payments. Medical practices are encouraged to take advantage of the WTxHITREC’s expertise in providing scalable solutions for achieving meaningful use.

The WTxHITREC, a program of the F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, was designated the organization for 108 counties in West Texas by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, to support health care providers on EHR adoption and meaningful use. To learn more about EHR adoption, meaningful use and other areas of health IT, visit www.healthit.gov.

For more information on achieving meaningful use, eligibility for EHR incentive payments and services provided by the WTxHITREC, call (806) 743-7960, email info@wtxhitrec.org or visit www.wtxhitrec.org.

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