NASHVILLE, TN – Emdeon, together with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health will donate electronic health record software and services to small physician practices in underserved communities in New Jersey.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health J. Nadine Gracia, MD, said she hoped the initiative "will stimulate more efforts to extend the use of EHRs, especially in smaller practices within underserved communities that face special challenges in acquiring or implementing this technology."
[See also: Studies: Health IT has big impact on rural and minority communities][See also: Studies: Health IT has big impact on rural and minority communities.]
Data from the 2005-2006 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medicare Care Survey show that EHR adoption is lower among providers serving Hispanic patients who are uninsured or rely on Medicaid, and is lower among providers serving uninsured, non-Hispanic black patients than among providers serving privately insured, non-Hispanic white patients.
Emdeon will donate Emdeon Clinician licenses to 100 healthcare providers who practice within medically underserved areas and/or healthcare provider shortage areas, as designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). For one year from the date that the qualified healthcare provider contracts with Emdeon, the license fee will be waived.
[See also: Emdeon goes private in $3B deal]"Emdeon is committed to making the benefits of this technology available to physician practices in underserved communities," said Miriam Paramore, senior vice president of clinical services for Emdeon. "Connecting providers enables clinical information exchange and will help drive better quality and outcomes for patients."
[See also: Emdeon goes private in $3B deal.]
Other partners in the New Jersey program include the New Jersey Health Information Technology Extension Center (NJ-HITEC), the Garden State's regional extension center, and the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Latino Community.
"We are required by ARRA and HITECH to give priority to providers that serve the uninsured and underinsured populations," said NJ-HITEC Executive Director, Bill O'Byrne. "The demographics in New Jersey are such that we believe that we are perfectly suited to partner with the Office of Minority Health to aggressively and productively deploy the EHR systems in these targeted areas."
The HIMSS Latino Community focuses on the health IT needs of a rapidly growing Hispanic/ Latino market with the goal of helping Latino professionals, providers and vendors gain the necessary resources to deliver state-of-the art healthcare technology solutions to the entire Latino community.
"HIMSS is pleased to be part of this collaboration," said Luis Belen, co-chair of HIMSS Latino. "As we work to advance and improve healthcare delivery within the Latino community and to all underserved areas across the nation, this kind of public-private partnership can bring change at the community level where it is needed most."
A healthcare provider who wishes to participate in this initiative must:
- Practice in a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or Health Provider Shortage Area (HPSA) designated by HHS;
- Have an Internet connection and use an electronic billing system;
- Be a small practice group of one to five providers or a Federally Qualified Health Center within the MUA and/or HPSA;
- Be eligible to receive meaningful use incentives, as defined by the HITECH Act; and
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Complete an initial application and submit monthly reports.
