Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center
KANSAS FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL CARE, INC.
HAS BEEN AWARDED THE HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY REGIONAL CENTER GRANT
February 15, 2010
The Kansas Foundation for Medical Care Inc. (KFMC) will work on a four-year project from 2/8/10 to 2/7/14, providing direct clinical and technical assistance to primary-care providers in Kansas as they implement Health Information Technology. KFMC will work in collaboration with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, its eHealth Advisory Council, and the Council membership, comprised of representatives of major healthcare stakeholders in Kansas, Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, and additional healthcare partners to maximize the services and reach of the Kansas Regional Center (RC) program to meet the Office of the National Coordinator’s goals.
KFMC anticipates providing direct technical assistance to over 1,000 primary care providers across the state, focusing on those that are in small group practices that provide care to the medically underserved, underinsured, and uninsured. Services provided through the KFMC RC Program include direct on-site assistance to complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) practice readiness assessments, practice work-flow assessments and re-design, certified EHR vendor evaluation and selection with a group purchasing discount, EHR implementation, assistance with meeting the criteria for meaningful use, reporting of clinical quality measures, and connectivity to a Health Information Exchange (HIE).
KFMC is experienced at providing EHR implementation support in Kansas with 86% of the 105 counties either frontier, rural, or densely populated rural in both rural, urban and bi-state areas. Effective approaches to provide efficient and responsive services will include use of regionally assigned technical and clinical experts, availability of a variety of distance learning tools, and interventions tailored to the unique needs of the special populations served in the rural communities
Short term program goals include:
- Assisting priority primary-care providers across Kansas to implement a certified EHR, become meaningful users, and participate in a HIE.
- Development of a coordinated state-wide effort that includes a governance structure that is collaborative and doesn’t duplicate services or funded activities.
- Maximizing provider reach with available funding to minimize financial burden on priority providers.
- Assisting in the development and use of standards and best practices to ensure information privacy and security.
- Providing efficient, effective, useful resources to accelerate the providers’ capacity to implement a certified EHR and move to meaningful use.
Long term program goals include:
- Development of a sustainable future infrastructure for a Regional Center in KS beyond HHS funding.
- Assisting in the establishment of statewide standards for HIT for Kansas providers.
- Establishment of meaningful use among Kansas providers to improve healthcare collaboration among providers and increase positive patient outcomes.
- Establishment of a method to allow Kansas consumers reasonable access to electronic personal health record information.
- Improved quality outcomes for consumers.
This project will receive Federal Funding from the Office of National Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services via grant number: 90RC00031/01.
Watch for additional information on our website. If you have questions, please contact Michael Aldridge, Regional Center Director.
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