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GE Healthcare announced a new offering designed to support organizations that will soon be charged with facilitating the monumental change of transitioning the vast number of independent primary care providers to meaningful use of an EMR: Healthcare IT Regional Extension Centers (RECs).

GE will license its proprietary Change Acceleration Process (CAP) training, and offer its product knowledge certification program. In addition, GE will share its experience and best practices with RECs on how to market and promote the benefits and full potential of an electronic medical record so that RECs can develop their physician recruitment strategies.

Authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and funded by $598 million in grants, RECs will furnish assistance, education and outreach to primary care physicians and other providers to help them select, implement, and meaningfully use certified EHR technology to improve the quality and value of health care. The administration is selecting a total of 70 RECs, with the first wave of applications coming in now. In all, the Centers are expected to serve an anticipated 100,000 primary care providers.

“These RECs will be right in the midst of what is arguably the most dynamic change the medical profession has ever faced,” said Jim Corrigan, vice president and general manager of GE Healthcare IT. “Not only will they need thorough knowledge of the EMR products, they will need concrete tools to support the change process their clients are facing. While the EMR certification criteria is not yet finalized, we have developed our knowledge certification program with the goal of equipping these RECs with the knowledge, skills and practical tools needed to promote wider adoption of the EMR, which holds the potential to truly improve efficiency, quality and value of healthcare.”

REC applicants cite physician recruitment as one of the most critical barriers to EMR adoption. GE will share its years of experience and best practices of marketing and promoting electronic medical records to support the RECs’ efforts to develop their strategy to promote physician adoption of EMRs.

In addition to the licensed training tools and marketing expertise and best practices, GE Healthcare’s Stimulus SimplicityTM program, in partnership with GE Capital, offers zero percent financing and deferred payments*, supporting Regional Extension Centers and their clients’ ability to overcome a second critical barrier to EMR adoption, access to capital.

“We support the mission of the Regional Extension Centers and the promise they hold to walk many providers through this transformative process,” said Corrigan. “Our comprehensive offering of a world class EMR, accessible through our zero-interest Stimulus Simplicity program, certification training programs and the GE sales and marketing knowledge and best practices, underscore GE’s commitment to supporting the training and education of RECs and primary care physicians in the benefits of EMRs, and to the success of these vital liaisons between a medical community ready for change and a government willing to share the cost to make it happen.”

Source: GE Healthcare

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