OFMQHIT ENROLLS 1,000 HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
IN EFFORT TO ADVANCE ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
Services now available to all health care providers

        (Oklahoma City, Oct. 6, 2011) -- More than 1,000 Oklahoma health care providers are now enrolled with OFMQHIT as part of the national effort to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records, announced Gregg Koehn, CEO of the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality (OFMQ). OFMQHIT is the Oklahoma HIT Regional Extension Center, headquartered at OFMQ.
        “Oklahoma has made great strides toward an electronically enabled health care system and OFMQHIT has played an important role in this, meeting its initial enrollment goal of 1,000,” Koehn said. “We are now ready to extend our services to all health care providers in the state. This is a testament to the dedication of our Oklahoma clinicians to improve health care through electronic health records.”
        Electronic health records (EHRs) enable health care providers to have ready access to vital information about a patient’s medical history in order to diagnose health problems earlier, provide proactive treatments, lower health care costs and improve patient outcomes.
        “EHRs are revolutionizing the way health care is delivered in the U.S. by arming health care providers with more information about their patients, which will in turn help them make better treatment decisions,” said Jonathan Kolarik, RN, MBA, OFMQHIT Director. “By accelerating the adoption of EHRs and other health information technologies, OFMQHIT is helping clinicians provide safer, higher-quality care for patients in Oklahoma.”
        Having met its initial program enrollment goal, OFMQHIT’s services are now available to all health care providers in the state who need help choosing and/or implementing their EHR system. OFMQHIT is vendor-neutral and can help practices with any certified EHR product.
        “I never realized how much was involved in the preparation, selection, and implementation of an EMR system,” said Dr. Bryan Dye, a family practice physician in Purcell who worked with OFMQHIT to choose and implement his system. “Our OFMQHIT practice advisor was incredible. Not only did she guide us during the entire selection process, but she continued to assist us during implementation. With her help, after one month we were meeting almost all of our meaningful use criteria. More importantly, office workflow has become so much more efficient. It is amazing how within the first month of implementation, the multiple piles of charts are gone and our workflow has dramatically improved.”
        OFMQHIT also works with providers to attest for the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, which started issuing payments in May 2011, as well as the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, which issued its first payment in Oklahoma in January 2011, the first in the country to do so. Through these programs, eligible health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs can receive as much as $44,000 over a five-year period through Medicare or $63,750 over six years through Medicaid.
        “EHRs are the future of patient care,” Kolarik said. “Whether providers are eligible for the incentive programs or not, OFMQHIT stands ready to help them adopt this new technology and use it to its fullest potential.”
        Providers seeking more information about implementation of EHRs are encouraged to contact OFMQHIT at (405) 302-3286 or ofmqhit@ofmq.com, or visit www.ofmqhit.com.

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OFMQHIT Contact: Tracy Senat, (405) 302-3286, tsenat@ofmq.com