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Save this date to celebrate ! | |
Meaningful Use Ceremony
Thursday, September 15, 2011
6 to 8 pm
Rhode Island Quality Institute
235 Promenade St, Suite 600, Providence
Please join us in honoring the first healthcare providers in RI to achieve Meaningful Use of their Electronic Health Record system, demonstrating their commitment to significantly improve the quality of patient care through health information technology.
Our event will celebrate the accomplishments of Warwick family medicine physician Douglas S. Foreman, DO, the providers at Aquidneck Medical Associates, and their staff and welcome them into the Meaningful Use Vanguard group of leaders in health IT. These are the first RI healthcare providers to receive incentive payments through the federal EHR Incentive Program.
The evening is also an opportunity to share experiences with other providers, to talk with EHR Adoption Program Relationship Managers and other staff of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, and to learn more about our services and programs.
Details will be available soon. Already know you want to attend or have questions? Please contact Elise Hamann. |
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EHR Adoption Program helping more than 600 Rhode Island PCPs | |
 RI REC's EHR Adoption Program is now helping 635 primary care providers who represent 140 practices at 241 practice sites. A year ago, just 8 providers were enrolled!
Six providers at two practices have achieved Stage 1 Meaningful Use and received $18,000 each as an incentive payment in their first year of participation in Medicare's EHR Incentive Program--their electronic payments arrived just 4 weeks after attesting. Providers at one practice have attested to Meaningful Use in RI's recently launched Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.
As a result of achieving Stage 1 Meaningful Use, these providers have also received a $2,500 subsidy from RI REC.
On their way to Meaningful Use are 380 PCPs currently using an EHR to e-prescribe and to do quality reporting.
The majority of enrolled providers are internists (248), and there is an equal number (146) of pediatricians and family medicine physicians. A total of 77 providers are gynecologists or obstetrician/gynecologists; 17 PCPs identify themselves as general practitioners; and 1 PCP practices adolescent medicine. To date, the only eligible specialty not represented is geriatrics.
Among these specialties are 492 physicians, 87 nurse practitioners, 29 physician assistants, and 27 certified nurse midwives.
 There is a limited amount of time for eligible PCPs to enroll in our program to receive free individualized assistance to meet the standards of Meaningful Use and our subsidy. We're currently enrolling eligible providers at hospital ambulatory clinics and outptient settings under our "public hospital" policy and reaching out to small practices in areas where few providers are enrolled, such as Westerly.
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RI REC Program Director wins award for work with EHRs |
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Laura Adams, RIQI President & CEO, and RIQI Directors (l-r) Ken Berry, Jennie Gordon, Josie Santilli & Charlie Hewitt at the July 28 awards event |
If you're enrolled in the REC's EHR Adoption Program or work in healthcare in RI, you probably know Jennie Chiller Gordon, or have heard about her.
One of the two directors of the RI Regional Extension Center, Jennie recently received one of the Providence Business News "40 Under Forty" annual awards. Winners are chosen based on career success and community involvement and are young professionals who have made a commitment to making a difference on a local, national or international scale.
Jennie was selected for her contributions to the Rhode Island Quality Institute's ongoing education and outreach efforts intended to help RI primary care providers adopt health information technology in their practices. During her three years at RIQI, Jennie has written the Take Your Practice Digital: EHR Adoption Guidebook and created the educational Web site www.DocEHRtalk.org. Her work was instrumental in RIQI's winning a $6.5 million federal grant to become one of the 62 Regional Extension Centers for Health IT in the United States.
Learn more about the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
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BVCHC patient portal featured in national publication | |
Blackstone Valley Community Health Care's (BVCHC) patient portal is featured in Electronic Health Records in Action's Stories of Meaningful Use. RI REC coordinated this opportunity to include the federally qualified health center as a case study in this Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) publication.
Patients of the Pawtucket and Central Falls health center can use BVCHC's HealthKey health IT system's patient portal to email questions, schedule appointments, and request prescription refills. Providers respond using the system's secure messaging function and can send patients post-visit clinical summaries and lab test results as attachments. The patient portal was created to enhance continuity of care and patient-provider communications.
In addition to more convenient, effective, and efficient communication between patients and providers, the portal addresses Stage 1 Meaningful Use objectives by providing patient-specific educational resources, printed or electronic clinical summaries of visits on request, and electronic access to health information, including routine lab test results. Patients can download any clinical report shared via the secure messaging feature.
Read more about BVCHC's patient portal, including its positive results and its challenges.
Learn more about RI REC's relationships with the RI healthcare community and our Vendor Marketplace of pre-qualified EHR software companies and technical service consultants offering discounts.
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Learn more about EHRs; test your meaningful use knowledge; follow us on twitter! | |
Labor Day is around the corner, and you know what that means: Back to school!
- If you're not yet using an EHR, skip the textbook and start by reading our version of Cliffs Notes: RI REC's new EHR Fact Sheets that cover Assessing the Benefits, Selecting the Best EHR for Your Practice, Surviving the First Six Months, and Tips from Experienced Users, available with our other Educational Material. And remember to add "Join the REC" to your fall to-do list.
- It's also a great time to add to your knowledge of health information technology by participating in RI REC's Health IT Certification Program. If you're a RI healthcare provider or a Rhode Islander on the staff of a medical practice, you are eligible for free EHR training and to become a certified professional in EHRs.
 - Think you already know all about EHRs and Meaningful Use? Challenge yourself to a game of Meaningful Use Jeopardy, created by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (the ONC). Just make sure each answer is in the form of a question!
- If you really want to be part of the cool back-to-school crowd, you have to know about the Meaningful "Yoose" rap video.
- Finally, head back to school and improve your social life at the same time! Follow us on Twitter and become a Facebook friend of the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
We tweet information about RIQI's services and programs, including meetings and educational events, press releases and news coverage, and about opportunities to come work with us.
If you're not already a member of RI REC, click the red button now!
Membership is free for providers and staff in the Rhode Island healthcare community. Any questions? Call RI REC Member Services at 888-858-4815, option 4, or write to RIREC@riqi.org. |
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The RI Regional Extension Center (REC) is a service of the Rhode Island Quality Institute, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the healthcare system in Rhode Island. To learn more, visit www.DocEHRtalk.org.
The REC and its services and materials are made possible through a grant from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology with US Department of Health and Human Services support. |
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