The Office of the National Coordinator and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) encouraged regional health IT extension centers (REC) to work with CHIME member CIOs to help providers adopt certified electronic health records.
In a joint letter to REC project officers, national health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal, , and Richard Correll, the chief executive officer of CHIME, offered to connect RECs with CIOs in their state who have deployed EHRs in their organizations.
CHIME fosters the sharing of best practices and strategies for developing information exchange and state-level cooperation.
CHIME CIOs also have managed vendor relations, incorporated technology into practice workflows and established privacy and security policies to comply with regulatory requirements, according to the letter published Sept. 24.
ONC has funded the creation of health IT extension centers to supply local technical assistance to physicians and small practices to digitize their records and participate in health information exchange to meet meaningful use requirements.
Coordinators of CHIME's StateNet, a 50-state network of CIOs, are savvy CIOs who are coordinating health IT efforts in their state, including the adoption of EHRs by providers and regional and statewide health information exchange, Correll said.
The success of hospitals and physicians becoming meaningful users of health IT depends on strengthening partnerships and building collaborative relationships, according to Blumenthal and Correll.
"ONC and CHIME leadership believe hospitals have a key role in supporting the RECs to improve the quality and value of healthcare," they said in the letter.
