HITEC-LA Enrolls 1,000+ Providers before December; Meets Organization’s First Milestone Ahead of Schedule

L.A. County’s new Regional Extension Center (REC) to help health care providers implement electronic health records (EHRs) for improved patient outcomes and public health

Just months after L.A. Care Health Plan announced the formation of HITEC-LA, an independent, nonprofit REC made possible by a grant under the federal HITECH Act of 2010, the REC has met its first milestone ahead of schedule and enrolled more than 1,000 provider members across Los Angeles County.

“This positive response, and especially so early, is very encouraging,” says Mary Franz, Executive Director for HITEC-LA. “Our providers are facing an enormous time of change with new health care reforms. By welcoming valuable support and resources available through HITEC-LA, our county’s providers will be able to achieve meaningful use with their EHRs, which ultimately benefits patients and improves overall public health.”

HITEC-LA is a not-for-profit organization created to support providers in selecting, implementing, and meaningfully using EHRs. The organization’s goal is to help 3,000 providers become meaningful users by April 2012.

“Our goal is to simplify and streamline the entire process for providers, from our initial enrollment application through the providers’ achievement of meaningful use,” says Jennifer McCullough, HITEC-LA’s Director of Education and Outreach. “In meeting our first milestone ahead of schedule, we’re off to a great start!”

HITEC-LA’s initial efforts have included outreach to local networks to further educate providers on EHRs and meaningful use, as well as organization benefits such as: impartial project readiness assessments, infrastructure counseling, gap analysis, vendor selection support, project management, training, and other guidance.

One of the first providers to actively benefit from HITEC-LA’s expertise and services is T.H.E. Clinic (To Help Everyone Clinic of Los Angeles), as they were assisted with clinical visit templates that allowed their EHR to go live this month.

“The help we received from HITEC-LA was invaluable to us,” says Dr. Teresa Robinson, the clinic’s CMO. “HITEC-LA found us a great service provider team who worked side by side with us and brought the knowledge and skill we needed to get the job done!”
As an independent and impartial organization, one of HITEC-LA’s goals is to complement providers’ planned EHR implementation by educating providers on their options, as well as provide value-added benefits such as group discounts and a peer-to-peer network.

“As providers achieve meaningful use of EHRs, their clinical capabilities increase,” says Franz. “This evolution in health care will lead to improving the quality of care and lowering costs for us all, and further enable patients to take a more active role in achieving better health.”