TAMPA, FL – The people behind Paperfree Tampa Bay foresee the $18 million initiative as President Barack Obama's vision made good. They have set their sights for the 10-county, 8,000-physician e-prescribing pilot launched Monday on no less than 100 percent adoption.  They'll achieve it, they say, by going to physicians door-to-door and providing the help they need to get on board.

The backers of the project  - USF Health and Allscripts - are angling for $16 million of the $2 billion in federal economic stimulus money the Office of the National Coordinator will distribute to help speed up the adoption of healthcare information technology.

They figure they have a good chance of landing the money they need. The project has the right stuff, says Stephen Klasko, MD, and CEO of USF Health and dean of the USF College of Medicine.

Paperfree Tampa takes bold, yet achievable steps toward the adoption of healthcare IT, he says. It creates jobs - more than 200 to help physicians and their staffs with implementation. It has the backing of the area's Congressional delegation, it's ready to go, and it holds the promise of a replicable model for other parts of the country.

Discussions are already under way in Hartford, Conn, Pittsburgh and Iowa.

"The revolution is going to start in Tampa Bay," Klasko said.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Tampa) says it's fitting that the revolution would start in Tampa Bay.

"We are a healthcare innovation center," she said, noting that Tampa is home to the University of South Florida's colleges of medicine, nursing and public health, as well as BayCare Health System and the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital.

"It makes it a natural location to kick off a project like this," she said. Castor said the initiative combines the important elements of healthcare reform and the reduction of medical errors.

An Institute of Medicine report estimates 1.5 million Americans are injured each year and 7,000 die from preventable medication errors. Yet, today, less than 10 percent of U.S. physicians write prescriptions electronically.

In addition, Castor noted, Paperfree Tampa Bay creates a new occupation and new jobs.
"I think these jobs will multiply," she said.

U.S. Rep. C. W. Bill Young (R-Indian Shores) also champions the project.
"This is an innovative private-public partnership that will help physicians across our region take a first step toward embracing electronic health records," Young said.

"This is the first community taking the vision and making it reality," said Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman. "This is the first stage of what we believe will be an explosion of innovation," Tullman said. "It's incredibly exciting."

Tullman said the project represents exactly the right mix of public-private involvement. "This is exactly what the government should do," he said. Government is dealing with many overwhelming problems right now, he noted.  "In healthcare we have a clear line of sight of what we need to do," he said.

Allscripts will provide free Web-based e-prescribing technology. Tullman and Klasko, both call e-prescribing the "the on-ramp to the electronic record highway." Together, USF and Allscripts will invest $2 million in the project. And, they will work through NEPSI, the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative formed in 2007 to help physicians adopt e-prescribing. Both are founding members.

The $2 million will fund the initial phase of the two-year Tampa Bay pilot. Phase 1 will target 3,200 physicians in Hillsborough County. Once the stimulus money becomes available it will expand to the 10-country Tampa Bay region.

Paperfree Tampa Bay will create new jobs called e-healthcare ambassadors.   USF will train the ambassadors in implementation. Then, "enabled, armed and aware," Klasko said, they will go office by office."