ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over 700 Florida medical providers have recently enrolled in The Center for the Advancement of Health IT (AHIT), a regional extension center program, to receive education and technical assistance for implementing Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and attaining "Meaningful Use" of those systems.
In the 41 counties that AHIT serves in northern and southwestern Florida, funding is limited to approximately 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, over 60,000 providers have enrolled in similar programs over the last year. For more information, or to enroll, practices can visit www.AdvanceHealthIT.org.
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; and more. "The AHIT team is very excited in building a program of valued offerings to meet our practices' needs," says Diane Gaddis, President/CEO of Community Health Centers Alliance, the non-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.
About AHIT: The Center for the Advancement of Health IT (AHIT) is a program of Community Health Centers Alliance, Inc. (CHCA), a member-supported 501(c)(3) serving not-for-profit healthcare providers. CHCA has over a decade of experience in implementing and managing health information technology solutions, including EHRs.
CHCA wishes to acknowledge support from the Office of the National Coordinator, Department of Health and Human Services, Award #90RC0051/01.