NEW YORK – The New York eHealth Collaborative regional extension center announced that it has reached its goal of enrolling 5,107 eligible healthcare providers into its program to help the transition to electronic medical records.
The nation's fourth largest REC in terms of its enrollment goal, officials note that NYeC reached its goal two weeks early and is only the second of the nation's largest RECs to do so. Limited extra spaces remain in the NYeC REC program for eligible providers, they add.
[See also: New York EMR network set to be the largest in the country.]
NYeC, which covers the entire Empire State, outside of NYC (another REC, NYC REACH, covers the five boroughs), is currently second in the nation in terms of the number of its REC members who have achieved meaningful use, at 7 percent of its enrollees.
The NYeC REC leveraged existing New York State health IT infrastructure – the result of years of significant investment by the NYS Department of Health and others – by partnering with regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and other health IT groups to tailor regional outreach and support. It also ran a series of provider-targeted educational summits around New York – in Albany, Rochester, Buffalo and other cities – to explain the benefits of EHRs to local providers and teach the best ways to transition.
"5,107 was an ambitious number and we realized that," said Carol Raphael, chair of the NYeC board of directors and president and CEO of Visiting Nurse Service of New York. "But we were committed to reaching a truly significant percentage of the primary care providers in the state."
"We are thrilled to have reached our goal for enrollees however it's really step one towards our ultimate goal," added Paul Wilder, director of the NYeC REC. "Now we're looking forward to using the strong relationships we have with our regional partners to move all of our REC providers to meaningful use."
[See also: ONC awards additonal $12M to 48 RECs for EHR adoption.]
Founded in 2006, NYeC receives funding from state and federal grants to serve as the focal point for health IT in the state of New York. It works to develop policies and standards, to assist healthcare providers in making the shift to electronic health records, and to coordinate the creation of a network to connect healthcare providers statewide.
"As a physician in a small practice I can say I greatly appreciate what the NYeC REC has done for us," said Eugene Heslin, MD, owner of Bridge Street Family Medicine in Saugerties, N.Y., and a member of the NYeC board of directors. "I'm excited to say that all five physicians in our practice have just attested to meaningful use."
