The 62 regional extension centers (RECs) provided feedback that enabled the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT to announce the rollout of five new initiatives aimed at driving greater EHR adoption. They're great ideas, but shouldn't they have been in place when the RECs were first announced? In other words, shouldn't ONC have anticipated these needs?
The first initiative is to provide an interactive online community that offers tools and resources for RECs to get support and share ideas. The second is an outreach, education and marketing guide RECs can use for their local efforts.
Third is a Meaningful Use Vanguard cohort to highlight and record providers who are EHR champions. Fourth is creating outreach campaigns that RECs can use to recruit healthcare providers, and fifth is partnering with EHR vendors to identify best practices for meeting provider needs.
ONC did a great job of creating a blueprint of the major programs for health IT adoption - from the formation of the RECs and the Beacon communities to the focus on workforce training to meet the demand. These are high-level programs that are the bones of the whole vision to drive EHR adoption and critical mass.
But the details may have been brushed aside in ONC's rush to get everything moving. The program had to get going, as you can stall over trying to dot every "i" and cross every "t", but the cost of glossing over the details may have resulted in confusion and distrust over what looks like disorganization and lack of planning on the part of ONC.
While the RECs are able entities, many are still entering uncharted waters and need a lot of guidance in working with the community and local healthcare providers.
What's done is done, and reaching out to the RECs and understanding their needs is the what's required. Putting these five initiatives together should be fairly easy to implement because of the REC feedback. Making sure the different resources and tools are helpful will be the next step for ONC.
Photo by MC4 Army courtesy of Creative Commons license.
