More than 700 Florida medical providers have recently enrolled in The Center for the Advancement of Health IT (AHIT), a regional extension center program, to receive help implementing electronic health record systems and achieving meaningful use.
In the 41 counties that AHIT serves in northern and southwestern Florida, federal incentives are limited to about 2,000 eligible providers.
AHIT is temporarily waiving membership enrollment fees in the program for eligible healthcare providers who are interested in varied assistance. Nationwide, more than 60,000 providers have enrolled in similar programs over the past year.
[See also: Oklahoma pediatric practice reaps $85,000 in meaningful use bonuses.]
Once enrolled, healthcare providers can access fully or partially subsidized information technology services.
While AHIT is actively building a tailored suite of services to meet client needs, some services will include:
- access to vetted certified EHR products, group purchasing programs, and organized provider advocacy for vendor relations;
- discounted rates on best practice guidelines and toolkits related to practice/workflow redesign, contracting, implementation options, and health IT training;
- access to education for meaningful use guidelines or privacy and security best practices; health information exchange awareness and options.
[See also: HIMSS EHR Association airs Stage 2 concerns, launches new collaborative.]
"The AHIT team is very excited in building a program of valued offerings to meet our practices' needs," says Diane Gaddis, president and CEO of Community Health Centers Alliance, the no-profit organization operating AHIT. "We're listening to our market and working to ensure we will provide services that matter most to them while assisting them in their technology adoption education and efforts."
Certain providers who achieve "meaningful use" of certified EHRs may qualify for incentive payments of up to $44,000 per provider from Medicare, or up to $63,750 per provider from Medicaid to help overcome the financial barrier to EHR adoption. AHIT personnel can offer information and assistance necessary for enrollment.