The South Florida Regional Extension Center (SFREC), which helps local physicians adopt and use electronic health records in their healthcare practices, has opened for business in Miami. The SFREC is one of 60 centers nationwide that received federal stimulus funds to help local physician offices and other healthcare providers select, successfully implement and meaningfully use certified electronic health records (EHR) to improve the efficiency, quality and value of healthcare.
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“The SFREC will be a trusted business resource for the professional physician community in navigating the fluid environment of regulatory change as it relates to IT,” said Lisa Rawlins, executive director of the SFREC. “We bring 15 years of expertise in the EHR environment to small practitioners’ doorsteps. Through the federal stimulus program, physicians have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as a charter member to take advantage of these services at no fee.”The widespread use of EHR systems connected to a regional network promises to improve medical care for patients, provide greater efficiency for health care providers and reduce healthcare costs.
Membership in the SFREC, which received $8.5 million in federal funding, is available to primary care physicians, internists, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists in individual or small group practices in Dade, Broward and Monroe Counties. Practices in Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie and Indian River are also eligible.
The first 1,500 healthcare practices that become charter members will receive consultant services at no charge, and will also be positioned for Medicare/Medicaid financial incentives (up to $44,000 for Medicare or $63,750 for Medicaid) over a five-year period. They will achieve the federally required “meaningful use” of electronic healthcare records, including data standardization, E-prescribing, participation in a Health Information Exchange, clinical reporting and quality improvement.
“We have just begun our kickoff of membership outreach to get the physician community introduced to SFREC services,” said Rawlins. “Primary outreach efforts have been through letters and presentations to industry groups such as the South Florida Healthcare and Hospital Association annual meeting. We are also working with the Dade and Broward County Medical Associations, the Florida Academy of Family Physicians (FAFP), Florida Medical Association (FMA) and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association (FOMA) to provide information to their members.”
So far, nearly 200 South Florida healthcare practices have signed up for SFREC services. Membership is expected to grow exponentially by the end of the year.
Once a practice joins the SFREC, experienced clinical consultants visit and prepare a readiness assessment to determine the resources a physician’s office needs to transition from a paper to EHR environment. Consultants then assist with selecting a vendor system, implementing it, arranging training, mapping work flows and optimizing the system to help comply with the federal meaningful use guidelines.
“We make sure that the EHR vendors selected meet government standards and help practices navigate all the changing rules of certification,” said Rawlins.
Surveys show that internal breaches of security and compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are among the top concerns of healthcare providers about the security of EHR. Rawlins notes that the stimulus program actually enhances the HIPPA privacy and security laws, requiring additional security for EHRs.
The SFREC is partnering with South Florida colleges and universities to enhance workforce training programs in health information technology. This collaboration includes helping place students with IT expertise as interns in members’ medical offices, and developing e-learning tools to allow online training for staff who are unable to attend classes.
The SFREC is a division of Health Choice Network (HCN), a collaboration of community health centers which has successfully implemented electronic health records in federally qualified health centers for the past 15 years in nine states. The SFREC was formed through a collaboration of key partners which include the Health Foundation of South Florida, Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, Broward Health System, Jackson Health System, Memorial Health Care System, Florida Department of Health, South Florida Health Information Exchange, Florida Academy of Family Physicians and Miami Dade Health Action Network.
“Overall, I think the SFREC will be viewed as a partner who can help smaller practices better manage communication involved in the patient care process,” said Rawlins. “In the long term, better communication helps patients receive the right care at the right time for the right illness.”
