Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 31, 2013
The Georgia Health Information Technology Extension Center (GA-HITEC), Georgia's only federally endorsed health information technology center announced this month that 92% of its current member providers have gone live on certified electronic health record (EHR) technology with 2,134 (53% of target) achieving Meaningful Use (MU). GA-HITEC, along with its partners, assisted eligible members in receiving $34M in incentive payments through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
As of October 1, 2013, GA-HITEC ranks 8th nationally among the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONC's) 62 Regional Extension Centers (RECs) in the number of providers achieving MU. According to GA-HITEC Executive Director, Kim Bell, "Surpassing the half-way point in our overall target of nearly 4,000 Georgia primary care member providers to EHR meaningful use is a direct result of the services provided through GA-HITEC and a testament to the resources and expertise available as Georgia's federally-endorsed HIT Regional Extension Center."
Within national rankings, GA-HITEC is among six RECs who have attained 53% of its provider members demonstrating Stage 1 meaningful use. Comparatively, the national median for M3 is 45%. In conjunction with its partners, GA-HITEC assisted its members in achieving this recognition utilizing a community-oriented team of clinicians, practice managers, and health information technology professionals. The GA-HITEC team specializes in working with provider members primarily comprised of small physician practices, and critical access and rural hospitals.
Of the 55 Critical Access and small rural hospitals, 90% are projected to reach meaningful use by end of 2013. HomeTown Health is the partner working with GA-HITEC on outreach and education to the rural hospitals. Monthly Health IT webinars and Attestation Support Sessions, the GA-HITEC Online Training Center with courses developed from the Office of National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) Workforce Curriculum program and HIT Webinars, and live training events are developed to assist the hospitals in their journey to meaningful use and navigating the health IT landscape.
For more information about GA-HITEC visit http://ga-hitec.org, email info(at)ga-hitec(dot)org or, phone 1-877-658-1990.