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Emerging HIT

Regional Extensions Centers

What is PA REACH West?
PA REACH West is the Regional Extension and Assistance Center for HIT (REACH) in Western Pennsylvania.

PA REACH West is one of the non-profit organizations across the nation that has been awarded federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs). These centers are being set up to aid health centers and medical professionals as they work to implement and use certified health information technology and achieve health improvement outcomes through “meaningful use.

Regional health information technology extension centers (RECs) were created out of the ARRA HITECH Action – Section 3012, and are under the U.S. DHHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

PA REACH West is a unique collaboration of several state organizations focused on improving health care quality and access. The partners are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative.

At the present time, PA REACH West is being operationalized and staffed to fulfill the HITECH Act objective of making health information technology accessible and assisting providers in using technology in a meaningful way to improve health outcomes.

This new federal initiative will initially be funded for two years and is expected to be supported for a total of four years.

Overview of what PA Reach West can provide:

What will PA REACH West do?

As a designated federal Regional Extension Center, PA REACH West will offer education, technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care centers’ and providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified electronic health record (EHR) systems. These services will be provided on a subsidized basis to eligible entities, with priority to be given to primary care providers and certain critical access hospitals. Services also will be available on a fee basis to all health care providers in the state.

In particular, PA REACH West will use its HIT/EHR knowledge and experience to work one-on-one with small practices and offer technical expertise in managing relationships with vendors, share knowledge of software implementation, and provide an understanding of work-flow change and quality improvement methods.

The Regional Extension Centers will focus their most intensive technical assistance on clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) furnishing primary-care services, with a particular emphasis on individual and small group practices (fewer than 10 clinicians with prescriptive privileges). Clinicians in such practices deliver the majority of primary care services, but have the lowest rates of adoption of EHR systems, and the least access to resources to help them implement, use and maintain such systems.

The consistent, nationwide adoption and use of secure EHRs will ultimately enhance the quality and value of health care. By assisting health care providers, these outreach, education, and technical assistance services will help to accelerate these outcomes.

Among the services and benefits that will be provided by PA REACH West are:

  • Consultation and assistance with EHR implementation, effective use, upgrading, and ongoing maintenance
  • Guidance and training on achieving “meaningful use”
  • Information about Medicare/Medicaid incentive payments
  • Hosted EHR systems (certified)
  • Development of health data analysis, extraction and report applications
  • Integration of health information technology, including electronic health records, into the initial and ongoing training of health professionals
  • Training on privacy (HIPAA), security, data storage, etc.
  • Group purchasing opportunities
  • Support for participation in health information exchanges
  • Active dissemination of best practices

Access to expert advice and capabilities from federal agencies

One-on-one technical assistance will be a key service PA REACH West makes available to priority primary care providers, and will represent a significant portion of the center’s activities. As a Regional Extension Center, PA REACH West will be expected to work with both priority primary care providers and critical access hospitals who have not yet adopted EHR systems, and with priority primary care providers and critical access hospitals that have existing EHR systems, to assist them in achieving meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

Regional Extension Centers will also help providers achieve, through appropriate available infrastructures, exchange of health information in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and patient preferences. PA REACH West will work with the Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange (PHIX) on these activities.

Finally, this initiative will leverage the ongoing work to integrate the medical home model activities already underway in Pennsylvania. These aim to transform our state’s health care delivery system and improve the health of our rural population.
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What is PA REACH East?
PA REACH East is the Regional Extension and Assistance Center for HIT (REACH) in Eastern Pennsylvania.

PA REACH East is one of the non-profit organizations across the nation that has been awarded federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars to support the development of regional extension centers (RECs). These centers are being set up to aid health centers and medical professionals as they work to implement and use certified health information technology and achieve health improvement outcomes through “meaningful use.

Regional health information technology extension centers (RECs) were created out of the ARRA HITECH Action – Section 3012, and are under the U.S. DHHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).

PA REACH East is a unique collaboration of several state organizations focused on improving health care quality and access. The partners are Crozer-Keystone Health System, Public Health Management Corporation, Lancaster General Hospital, the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians and Thomas Jefferson University.

At the present time, PA REACH East is being operationalized and staffed to fulfill the HITECH Act objective of making health information technology accessible and assisting providers in using technology in a meaningful way to improve health outcomes.

This new federal initiative will initially be funded for two years and is expected to be supported for a total of four years.

What will PA REACH East do?

As a designated federal Regional Extension Center, PA REACH East will offer education, technical assistance, guidance, and information on best practices to support and accelerate health care centers’ and providers’ efforts to become meaningful users of certified electronic health record (EHR) systems. These services will be provided on a subsidized basis to eligible entities, with priority to be given to primary care providers and certain critical access hospitals. Services also will be available on a fee basis to all health care providers in the state.

In particular, PA REACH East will use its HIT/EHR knowledge and experience to work one-on-one with small practices and offer technical expertise in managing relationships with vendors, share knowledge of software implementation, and provide an understanding of work-flow change and quality improvement methods.

The Regional Extension Centers will focus their most intensive technical assistance on clinicians (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) furnishing primary-care services, with a particular emphasis on individual and small group practices (fewer than 10 clinicians with prescriptive privileges). Clinicians in such practices deliver the majority of primary care services, but have the lowest rates of adoption of EHR systems, and the least access to resources to help them implement, use and maintain such systems.

The consistent, nationwide adoption and use of secure EHRs will ultimately enhance the quality and value of health care. By assisting health care providers, these outreach, education, and technical assistance services will help to accelerate these outcomes.

Among the services and benefits that will be provided by PA REACH East are:

Consultation and assistance with EHR implementation, effective use, upgrading, and ongoing maintenance

  • Guidance and training on achieving “meaningful use”
  • Information about Medicare/Medicaid incentive payments
  • Hosted EHR systems (certified)
  • Development of health data analysis, extraction and report applications
  • Integration of health information technology, including electronic health records, into the initial and ongoing training of health professionals
  • Training on privacy (HIPAA), security, data storage, etc.
  • Group purchasing opportunities
  • Support for participation in health information exchanges
  • Active dissemination of best practices
  • Access to expert advice and capabilities from federal agencies

One-on-one technical assistance will be a key service PA REACH East makes available to priority primary care providers, and will represent a significant portion of the center’s activities. As a Regional Extension Center, PA REACH East will be expected to work with both priority primary care providers and critical access hospitals who have not yet adopted EHR systems, and with priority primary care providers and critical access hospitals that have existing EHR systems, to assist them in achieving meaningful use of certified EHR technology.

Regional Extension Centers will also help providers achieve, through appropriate available infrastructures, exchange of health information in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and patient preferences. PA REACH East will work with the Pennsylvania Health Information Exchange (PHIX) on these activities.

Finally, this initiative will leverage the ongoing work to integrate the medical home model activities already underway in Pennsylvania. These aim to transform our state’s health care delivery system and improve the health of our rural population.

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