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to inquire about enrollment, visit the Texas Medical Association REC Resource Center, www.texmed.org/rec. The federal government subsidiz- es the RECs’ consulting services. The Health Information Technology for Eco- nomic and Clinical Health Act appropri- ated $640 million in grant funds to cre- ate 62 RECs across the nation, including the four in Texas:


• North Texas REC, anchored by the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, www.ntrec.org;


• Gulf Coast REC, led by The Univer- sity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, www.uthouston.edu/gcrec;


• CentrEast REC, directed by the Texas A&M Health Science Center-Rural and Community Health Institute, www .centreastrec.org; and


• West Texas REC, headed by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Cen- ter, http://wtxhitrec.org.


For $300, the RECs provide these con- sulting services:


• EHR implementation and project management;


• HIT education and training; • Guidance with electronic prescribing; • Vendor selection and financial consul- tation;


• Practice and workflow redesign; • Privacy and security compliance edu- cation;


• Meaningful use analysis, tracking, and monitoring;


• Assistance in meeting meaningful use requirements for CMS incentives;


• Collaboration with state and national health information exchanges; and


• Ongoing technical assistance. Larry Robins is executive director of


PediPlace, a Lewisville nonprofit that fo- cuses strictly on primary care pediatrics for the uninsured and those who qualify for Medicaid or Children’s Health Insur- ance Program benefits. Following an eight-month search and evaluation process, PediPlace purchased an EHR system in February. The clinic signed up for North Texas REC services. Mr. Robins says the REC representative


helped PediPlace leaders ask the right questions when meeting with potential EHR vendors. The representative also completed a workflow diagram to use during implementation. PediPlace re- ceived help from the REC to register for Medicaid’s EHR incentive program. At press time, PediPlace had received


$106,000 in incentive payments. Mr. Robins says the clinic expects to receive an additional $44,000. “Once we adopted an EHR system, the next step was extraordinarily easy. It simply required logging into the Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership provider administration website, click- ing on the Texas Medicaid EHR Incen-


tive Program link, and answering a few simple questions about Medicaid patient volumes, entering the certified EHR soft- ware solution meaningful use identifier, and uploading proof of EHR adoption,” he said.


The biggest challenge PediPlace faces,


Mr. Robins says, is implementing the sys- tem and facilitating staff training while simultaneously maintaining the nonprof- it’s commitment to serve the community. Moving forward, he says the North Tex- as REC’s meaningful use online courses will help educate health professionals in meeting Phase I requirements. Two other physicians, Christopher Wilson, MD, and April Harris, MD, ob-


TMA HIT resources


TMA has several health information technology (HIT) resources to help you successfully navigate the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs. For individualized on-site services, technical assistance, guid-


ance, and ongoing support to select, implement, or upgrade EHRs, contact one of Texas’ four regional extension centers (RECs). For more information, access the TMA REC Resource Center online, www.texmed.org/rec. TMA’s EHR Implementation Guide, EHR Product Comparison Tool (TMA member login required), Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incen- tive Comparison, EHR incentive eligibility tool, and Medicare and Medicaid incentive program instructions are available on the HIT site, www.texmed.org/hit. If you have questions about the EHR incentive programs, contact the TMA HIT helpline at (800) 880-5720, or email HIT@texmed.org. In addition, TMA offers a meaningful use webinar that covers EHR benefits in quality of care, patient safety, and efficiency. The webi- nar summarizes eligibility for the Medicare and Medicaid incentives and what physicians need to do to meet meaningful use measures. This on-demand resource is $25 and includes answers to some of the most commonly asked questions and access to additional tools. Physicians may earn 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM


for complet-


ing the webinar and paying the $25 continuing medical education processing fee. For more information, contact the TMA Knowledge Center at (800) 880-7955 or visit the Distance Learning Center on the TMA website, www.texmed.org/distance.aspx.


August 2011 TEXAS MEDICINE 67


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