Award Announced: April 6, 2010 Second Funding Cycle – Total of 60 RECs around the country
Our Mission is: Serve primary care providers, critical access and rural hospitals: Provide comprehensive support and assistance for any providers seeking to advance readiness, adopt, and become meaningful users of health information technology, with a focus on priority primary care practices and other settings serving uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved populations; Disseminate best practices and educational materials to accelerate efforts to adopt and utilize health information technology to improve the quality and value of health care; and Establish relationships with partners to leverage and disseminate a broad array of technical assistance services and tools to help priority providers in the selection, implementation, and meaningful use of certified EHRs.
There are several unique challenges facing primary care providers, particularly in small practices or clinics, including: administrative and financial burden of implementing new system; operational, technical and infrastructure limitations; and provider and support staff ability to use a new system. Threat of information overload—both at the transitions of care and between disciplines Need to provide for data-sharing between clinical and public health agencies How to use HIT to improve the delivery of healthcare Addressing different views of ‘meaningful’ for different uses and users of HIT HIT system cost Uncertain ROI Lack of trained staff to support IT implementation. Overwhelming number of products / options Technology is not ready; lack of standards Finding an EHR to meet their needs (usability of EHR) Managing patient privacy and security concerns Disbelief in financial incentives
Missouri Assistance Center is one of a select group of organizations throughout the U.S. designated as having the experience and capacity necessary to assist health care providers with the task of modernizing their practices with certified EHRs. We have been selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology to serve providers, with a focus on primary care providers, in our community. (optional to specify federal designation) An independent, non-profit organization, providing technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified EHR technology Offers health care providers a combination of national insight and local expertise on the impact of EHRs in medical practice Part of a national network of 60 regional extension centers with direct, rapid and reliable access to a pipeline of key information on health IT and meaningful EHR use
During the initial planning phase, the MO HIT Assistance Center will work side by side with you and your team to conduct an EHR readiness assessment and develop the EHR project management plan. We assist with: EHR review of your practice EHR vendor selection, identification, evaluation and negotiation We will lead you in transitioning from a paper-based health record environment to an interconnected, patient-centric care system. We assist with: Practice workflow redesign Needs prioritization Functional requirements Provider-patient communications Best practices for privacy-security of personal health information Our goal is for you to achieve effective implementation of your certified EHR product. We assist with: System implementation support Hosting Troubleshooting Requirements refinement HIE partnerships and preparations We will continue to support your practice and keep you informed about national developments that may impact you as you work toward achieving meaningful use of your certified EHR system
For those providers currently using an EHR we will assist with: Identifying barriers and their solutions so providers can successfully demonstrate meaningful use Maximizing Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive payments while minimizing hassle Preparing for pay-for-performance Continuing to support practice transformation and EHR usability through all stages of meaningful use
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