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The Extension Program provides grants for the establishment of HIT Regional Extension Centers to support and accelerate health care providers' efforts to become meaningful users of EHRs

A study of 2,368 acute care institutions published by the Journal of Health Affairs in October and funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that facilities serving low-income patients have lower levels of EHR adoption than national averages, citing cost as the main obstacle of implementation.

The Regional Centers will focus their most intensive technical assistance on clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) furnishing primary-care services with a particular emphasis on individual and small group practices (fewer than 10 clinicians with prescriptive privileges). Regional Centers will also focus intensive technical assistance on clinicians providing primary care in public and critical access hospitals, community health centers and in other settings that predominantly serve uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved populations.

Regional Extension Center Grants will be awarded in three cycles: two in 2009 and one in 2010. REC applicants must provide details on how they will help providers with EHR vendor selection, system implementation, workflow design, interoperability issues, information exchange and provide on-site technical assistance to providers.

Greenway Medical Technologies has launched a series of informational Regional Extension Center webinars to supplement an overview of the HITECH program and its provisions at www.greenwaymedical.com. Information on upcoming webinars and general information can be obtained by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Greenway Medical Technologies, a leading provider of integrated healthcare IT solutions, recognizes the scope and critical challenges of the federal government's goal to use the cohort of Regional Centers, in the national aggregate, to support more than 100,000 priority primary-care providers to achieve successful adoption and meaningful use of certified EHRs within a two-year period beginning in 2010.

Pursuant to the Public Health Service Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 authorized the HHS Secretary to establish a Health Information Technology (HIT) Extension Program. With $598 million in funding, approximately 70 HIT Regional Extension Centers will furnish assistance, defined as education, outreach and technical assistance, to help providers in their geographic service areas select, successfully implement and meaningfully use certified EHR technology to improve the quality and value of health care. The Regional Centers will also help providers achieve, through appropriate available infrastructures, the exchange of health information in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and patient preferences.

“What Washington ultimately wants is certified EHR systems that can exchange information nationally, regardless of the EHR software provider. Paramount also is ensuring that an EHR has the inherent workflow for point-of-care meaningful use along with demonstrating electronic prescribing, information exchange interoperability and reporting on measures using the EHR. We are working closely with REC applicants on these important criteria so they maximize their sustainability efforts,” said Justin Barnes, vice president of marketing and government affairs at Greenway Medical.

Systems compatible to HHS meaningful use criteria are also in the forefront. “As the REC funding act itself states, ‘The ultimate measure of a regional center's effectiveness will be whether it has assisted providers in becoming meaningful users of certified EHR technology,' ”added Barnes, who also serves as chairman of the HIMSS EHR Association and testified before HHS on meaningful use criteria that is expected by December 18th.

Under the act, each REC is eligible for funding ranging from $1 million to $30 million with an expected average of $8,543,000, for EHR implementation to service a minimum of 1,000 providers per contiguous geographic center, granted during two, two-year budget cycles of the initial four-year program. Additionally, under separate ARRA HIT incentives, providers are also eligible for between $18,000 - $25,000 beginning in 2011 for certified EHR adoption, with maximum incentives reaching $44,000 per eligible professional under Medicare and $63,750 under Medicaid.

Another critical aspect of the REC application process is showing future sustainability of EHR systems through in-kind gifts, service fees and other funding sources pursued by the non-profit operators of the RECs. “We know the ONC is giving REC preference to medical societies, primary care associations, public health agencies and rural hospital and community health centers, but at the same time, any qualifying non-profit agency can apply. RECs can also work with and seek funding from established federal programs like the Indian Health Service (IHS), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), for example,” said Barnes. “The point of consultation is showing all of these entities the key metrics of meaningful EHR adoption and how they can merge resources to not only achieve meaningful EHR use in their communities but also sustain their organizations for the long-term.”

Source: Greenway Medical Technologies

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