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Health Information Technology (HIT) Tools and Resources

Tools
Organizations
Documents
Dictionary
Funding
Legislation
State Profiles
News

Tools

AHRQ Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration Toolkit
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Provides guidance for conducting organization-level assessments of business practices, policies, and State laws that govern the privacy and security of health information exchange (HIE).

AHRQ's HIT Costs and Benefits Database Project
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Literature articles about the costs and/or benefits of Health Information Technology, and is searchable by the user in a variety of ways.

AHRQ Releases New Resources for Health IT Clinical Decision Support
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Series of white papers to better understand how clinical decision support (CDS) systems can be incorporated into ambulatory settings. The papers explore challenges involved with CDS and provide guidance to those developing, implementing, and studying CDS. Two papers are now available on AHRQ's National Resource Center for Health Information Technology:

Broadband Opportunities for Rural America
Outlines a range of different technology platforms can be used, either independently or in conjunction with one another, to provide broadband services.

CMS Website on Recovery Act and Health Information Technology
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Information regarding Health Information Technology as provided for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. On this website, you can find information pertaining to the Medicare and Medicaid incentives for electronic health records adoption and important links to related websites at the Department of Health and Human Services.

CalRHIO: Safety Net Health Information Exchange Toolkit
CalRHIO
Health Information Exchange Toolkit (HIE) for safety net providers. The purpose of the toolkit is provide templates, processes and documents that can be used in a variety of ways to support HIE initiatives.

DOQ-IT Toolkit
Stratis Health
Contains a magnitude of tools and resources on topics ranging from EHR Security, an EHR Roadmap, Functional Requirements, Hardware and Software, IT Staffing, Medication Bar-coding, Issues Management and Change Control, Interoperability Overcoming HIT Barriers, Process Mapping, Readiness, Tales from the Field and much more.

DOQ-IT Quality Resources Kit
Stratis Health
For primary care clinics in the process of adopting electronic health records. The toolkit contains a number of presentations available as PowerPoint documents and as recorded WebEx presentations. The Resource Kit includes the following step-by-step process in EHR implementation: Assess, Plan, Select, Implement, Maintain, and Improve.

Connecting Communities Toolkit
eHealth Initiative
Information that the eHealth Initiative has accumulated through its work with multiple stakeholders and different communities. Stakeholders and leading experts have provided significant input into a set of common principles and guides in seven Toolkit modules, each including easily accessible online documents and tools.

EHR Selection Guidelines
Health Resources and Services Administration
Selection Guidelines help health centers evaluate electronic health records (EHR) products and develop requests for proposals (RFP) or requests for information (RFI). The downloadable Word document, written in RFI format, enables health centers to gather detailed information from EHR vendors about their products.

HIT 101: An Introduction to Health Information Technology (Requires Flash Player)
Technical Assistance and Services Center
The purpose of this webinar is to provide a basic overview of HIT for Flex Coordinators, State Office Directors, or anyone that is maybe not new to rural health, but new to HIT. Information included in the webinar includes the definition of HIT terms, benefits and challenges of implementing an electronic health record, legislation that affects HIT – with specific attention on new programs that have been funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – including ‘meaningful use’, the HIT regional extension centers, broadband, and the state health information exchange cooperative agreement program, how to use your Flex funds for HIT support, as well as resources and tools.

Health IT Adoption Toolbox
Health Resources and Services Administration’s Office of Health Information Technology
Use is to serve health centers as well as other safety net and ambulatory care providers seeking to implement health IT to improve the overall effectiveness of their institutions.

Helping Medicaid and SCHIP Agencies Develop and Implement Health IT
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Technical assistance to Medicaid and SCHIP agencies to help them develop, implement, and participate in Health Information Technology (health IT) and health information exchange (HIE). Through a contract with RTI International, AHRQ's technical assistance program will develop and provide a wide range of resources and tools to assist Medicaid and SCHIP agencies in improving the delivery and coordination of care.

HIT Toolkit Developed by the Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex):

  • HIT Toolkit Contents
  • HIT Toolkit Introduction
    Tool kit for use by Critical Access Hospital (CAH) administrators and staff as they begin to plan and implement Health Information Technology (HIT) systems.
    Components of the tool kit include an introduction, brief background and history, a readiness assessment survey, a survey administration and results worksheet that includes considerations for training and integration, and a glossary and resource list.
  • HIT Background
    A brief history and national framework of Health Information Technology.
  • HIT Glossary
    This document is a glossary of Health Information Technology terms and acronyms.
  • HIT Resources
    A brief list of useful Health Information Technology resources.
  • HIT Readiness Assessment
    The first step to implementing any component of clinical Health Information Technology (HIT) is to assess readiness throughout the organization. The multidisciplinary leadership team selected for the clinical HIT initiative may conduct a thorough assessment and profile of the hospital's current status. The following templates may be used to establish this information baseline. Use this document as a template for the assessment process.
  • HIT Survey
    This document is a sample HIT survey template.

HTA 101: Introduction to Health Technology Assessment
National Library of Medicine
A systematic evaluation of properties, effects or other impacts of health technology. This online e-book explains the 10 basic steps of HTA.

Lands of Opportunity: Bringing Telecommunications Services to Rural Communities
Federal Communications Commission
A resource tool for local, state, and tribal government leaders, community planners, educators and health care professionals on: programs and incentives available to assist in the development of telecommunications services; how to develop infrastructure or basic and advanced telecommunications services; and the potential of advanced telecommunications to serve as a springboard for economic growth in rural communities.

Rural Health IT Adoption Toolbox
Office of Rural Health Policy
Serves rural health providers seeking to implement health IT to improve the overall effectiveness of their institutions. Organized in a question-and-answer format with a range of resources relevant to all stages of considering, planning, executing, and evaluating the implementation of health IT.

State Level Health Information Exchange Initiative Development Workbook: A Guide to Key Issues, Options and Strategies
American Health Information Management Association
The role and development of state level HIE initiative are the focus of this workbook, designed as a practical tool to help those involved in developing and managing a state-level HIT initiative. It provides guidance on some of the issues, options and strategies to consider when developing a state-level HIE initiative.

Telemedicine Standards Framework
American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
Provides the basic structure for establishing future telemedicine standards and guidelines.

Transitioning ICD-10-CM/PCS Data Management Processes
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA)
On January 16, 2009, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a final rule mandating that healthcare organizations implement ICD-10-CM/PCS codes by October 1, 2013. The implementation requires that organizations undertake enterprise-wide transition initiatives, ensuring that new technical aspects are in place and educating staff on the differences between ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM/PCS. This practice brief outlines the technical differences of the two classification systems and the mapping tools that facilities can use with their ICD-10-CM/PCS implementations.

Organizations

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Resource Center for Health Information Technology
Helps the health care community make the leap into the Information Age and provides technical assistance and shares new knowledge and findings that have the potential to transform everyday clinical practice.

American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
AMIA has an informatics training initiative in partnership with leading educators in the field to train 10,000 HIT workers by 2010. They also have a national initiative to promote the use of electronic health records for patient safety.

California Healthcare Foundation: iHealth & Technology
Internet technology is still fairly new and untested in health care, making experimentation, analysis and evaluation critically important. CHCF regularly conducts research and commissions surveys and reports on emerging technology trends and related policy and regulatory issues. Below are the recent publications under this topic.

Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT)
CCHIT is a recognized certification body (RCB) for electronic health records and their networks, and an independent, voluntary, private-sector initiative. Their mission is to accelerate the adoption of Health Information Technology by creating an efficient, credible and sustainable product certification program.

Directory of Federal HIT Programs
The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has been given the responsibility for coordinating HIT efforts throughout the federal government. As part of the outreach effort, the programs, projects, and policies that involve HIT are being compiled.

Doctors' Office Quality Information Technology (DOQ-IT)
Promotes the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems and information technology (IT) in small-to-medium sized physician offices with a vision of enhancing access to patient information, decision support, and reference data, as well as improving patient-clinician communications.

ehrCentral: Your Electronic Health Records Dynamic Resource
This site has information on recent and comprehensive information for a successful Electronic Health Records (EHR) journey including EHR Overview, FAQs, Articles, Bibliography, Links, Transformation, News and Events.

Electronic Health Record Resource
The Center for Health Information Technology is the focal point of the AAFP's technical expertise, advocacy, research, and member services associated with medical office automation and computerization. The Center is dedicated to increasing the availability and use of low-cost, standards-based information technology among family physicians, nationally, and internationally, through consultative, educational, and outreach activities.

Foundation for eHealth Initiative
The learning community network enables practicing clinicians, payers, provider organizations, public health agencies, healthcare IT suppliers, consumer and patient groups, and federal and state agencies to learn - both from national experts and from each other - about barriers to implementation of interconnected IT, and about solutions that can be employed to overcome those barriers.

Health Information Privacy and Security Collaboration
The Privacy and Security project will play a key role in laying a policy groundwork to support widespread interoperable electronic health information exchange.

The Health Information Technology Adoption Initiative
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has partnered with the George Washington University, Partners/Massachusetts General Hospital Institute for Health Policy and Brigham and Women's Hospital through a contract on the HIT Adoption Initiative.

HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)
The health care industry's membership organization focused on providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology and management systems for the betterment of human health.

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT)
Provides leadership for the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable Health Information Technology infrastructure to improve the quality and efficiency of health care and the ability of consumers to manage their care and safety.

Office of the Advancement for Telehealth
Leads, coordinates and promotes the use of telehealth technologies by fostering partnerships within HRSA, and with other Federal agencies, states and private sector groups to create telehealth projects, administering telehealth grant programs and providing technical assistance.

Regional Health Information Organizations in the United States
A comprehensive list of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) throughout the United States.

Rural Telecommunications Congress
A national membership organization dedicated to assuring that rural areas in the United States have access to the information and support they need to obtain and use advanced telecommunications services and technology for social and economic development.

Telemedicine Information Exchange (TIE)
Comprehensive, international, quality-filtered resource for information about telemedicine, telehealth, and telemedicine/telehealth related activities.

Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange Resources
Informational resources on HIT Workforce Training, Regional Health Records Exchange, Clinical, Financial, and Governance of HIT.

Documents

Accelerating Progress: Using Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Information Exchange to Improve Care (State Alliance for e-Health)
National Governors Association
First annual report of the State Alliance for e-Health. It represents an aggregation of testimony, deliberations, research, and other activities undertaken by the State Alliance members to better understand the barriers to and options for facilitating electronic HIE and HIT adoption.

AHRQ's Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program: Health IT Portfolio
Discusses opportunities to turn the potential of Health Information Technology (HIT) toward improving safety and quality in the ambulatory care setting, especially within care transitions, forms the cornerstone of the ASQ Program.

AHRQ-Funded Study Explores the Value of Health Information to Communities
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Explores the value of health information to a community.

AHRQ IT Project Helps Bridge Distance for Native Americans Seeking Health Care
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Discusses how Tribal Health Programs was able to implement an EHR that they can adapt to their own operating needs, patient care needs and government reporting needs without waiting for a hospital-based system from the Indian Health Service.

Health Information Technology Policy and Rural Hospitals
Source: Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
This brief summarizes the implementation status of key HIT applications in Critical Access Hospitals and other rural hospitals, and discusses policies for encouraging HIT adoption in rural hospitals.

New profile of an integrated health system using e-prescribing to improve patient safety and ambulatory provider workflow
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
The Everett Clinic is a community-based, physician-owned integrated health system in the north Puget Sound area. With 16 locations, 250 physicians in 40 diverse specialties, and 1,300 staff members, the Everett Clinic serves about 225,000 patients, who make approximately 700,000 visits per year.

"Smart Form" to Facilitate Clinical Decision Support
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AHRQ researchers have developed a specialized HIT tool, called the "Smart Form," to facilitate documentation-based clinical decision support (CDS). The form, which is tied to electronic medical records, organizes clinical data in a disease-focused manner to help in decision making. It also highlights and requests coded information, such as height, weight, and smoking status.

A Summary of the National Rural HIT Coalition Summit Meeting held June 23rd, 2009
This document is a summary of the National Rural HIT Coalition Summit Meeting. The constituents at the meeting discussed 'meaningful use' and its impact on rural, possible tools and frameworks to help rural achieve HIT implementation, rural HIT workforce issues, HIT technical assistance centers, and HIT capital issues.

The Impact of Medical Errors on Ninety-Day Costs and Outcomes: An Examination of Surgical Patients
Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality
Dicusses potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year and study found that 1 of every 10 patients who died within 90 days of surgery did so because of a preventable error and that one-third of the deaths occurred after the initial hospital discharge.

Supported Electronic Record System Focuses on Best Practices for Vision Rehabilitation
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
A Web-enabled electronic record system that is focused on best practices of care for people who are visually impaired.

Ambulatory Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE): Findings from the AHRQ Health IT Portfolio
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Consists of grants and contracts that have planned, implemented, and evaluated the impact of various information technologies on the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care delivery. This portfolio also includes a National Resource Center for Health IT (NRC), created to support the many projects funded by AHRQ and the Nation in adopting and evaluating HIT.

Barriers and Drivers of Health Information Technology Use for the Elderly, Chronically Ill, and Underserved
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Explores distinct factors that influence the use and usability of interactive consumer Health Information Technology by the elderly, chronically ill, and underserved populations.

Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology
Summarizes current barriers facing greater adoption of IT in health care, and presents HIT as a possible public good that may require federal intervention. Outlines options, such as federal mandates and incentives for adoption, for policymakers' consideration.

Creating Sustainable Local Health Information Exchanges: Can Barriers to Stakeholder Participation be Overcome?
Center for Studying Health System Change
Findings from a study of stakeholder perspectives on participation in four HIEs suggest that barriers to achieving data exchange remain high.

Critical Access Hospital Telehealth Network
State of Illinois
Lists the necessary equipment and infrastructure support functions for a telehealth network to serve remote parts of a state. The Network will enable rural hospitals to electronically access information and services, allow staff to participate in educational programs, and improve access to information available through the Internet.

Current Status of HIT use in CAHs
Examines the outcomes of a CAH Health Information Technology survey. Findings suggest that the adoption of HIT for CAHs is a priority and currently CAH use rates for several technologies is lower than overall rates of hospitals reported by the AHA.

Density of HIT Adoption in RWHC Member Hospitals
Louis Wenzlow, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative
Stidy explores the levels of HIT systems adoption in RWHC member hospitals. Thirty Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative member hospitals, including 25 CAHs, participated in the study.

E-Health Activities Across the Nation
Commonwealth Fund partnered with the National Governors Association (NGA) and Health Management Associates (HMA)
Addresses current e-health activities, the challenges they have faced, and opportunities for further development. Forty-one state governors' offices and the mayor's office in the District of Columbia responded, providing a rich set of data and an important baseline of state progress.

Results From 2008 Survey on Health Information Exchange
eHelath Initiative
Survey finds that the exchange of health information electronically between physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients is decreasing the cost of care and improving outcomes.

Electronic Health Records Adoption: Rural Providers' Decision-Making Process (Policy Brief)
RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
Findings of a study that examined the decision-making process that small rural physician clinics and hospitals use as they investigate and select an electronic health record (EHR) system.

Electronic Health Records Show Financial Benefits
Commonwealth Fund
Researchers conducted 14 case studies of solo or small primary care practices that had used EHRs for one to three years. They interviewed EHR champions, observed providers' use of EHRs, and reviewed vendor contracts and practice reports from July 2004 through May 2005.

E-prescribing Tools to Improve Safety and Quality
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
E-prescribing - a prescriber's ability to electronically send an accurate, error-free and understandable prescription directly to a pharmacy from the point-of-care - is an important element in improving the quality of patient care.

Emerging Lessons-Computerized Provider Order Entry-Inpatient
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Discusses lessons learned from seven AHRQ HIT projects that studied the adoption and use of CPOE in small, medium, and large acute care hospitals. Findings have been divided into the following three categories: 1) preimplementation findings; 2) implementation considerations; and 3) post-implementation issues.

Emerging Lessons from the HIT Field
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
AHRQ grantees' collective experience offers an important learning opportunity for other health IT implementations across the country.

Establishing a Foundation for Medicaid's Role in the Adoption of Health Information Technology
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Summarizes AHRQ's findings of their project to clarify key issues and challenges of Medicaid's participation in HIT and HIE efforts. This report also focuses on opportunities for State Medicaid agencies and researchers to leverage the potential of HIT and HIE to control costs and improve the quality of care for Medicaid recipients.

Evaluation of AHRQ- and CMS-Funded E-Prescribing Pilot Projects
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
In 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded grants to five pilot sites to test electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) standards. The testing focused on the interoperability of these standards with one another, their ability to deliver messages accurately and unambiguously, and their downstream effect on healthcare outcomes such as medical errors and clinical efficiency.

Evaluation of Electronic Health Records in Indian Health Service
Urban Indian Health Institute
A three year project funded by the Indian Health Services of the United States Department of Health and Human Services with the goal to evaluate a range of IHS care facilities in varying levels of implementation of the EHR to determine factors that will facilitate EHR implementation at future sites.

Evaluation of Electronic Health Records in Indian Health Services: An Annotated Bibliography of Published Literature
Urban Indian Health Institute
Discusses current literature and approaches to evaluating the impact of health information systems as they relate to EHR.

GAO Report: HHS Should Specify Steps and Time Frame for Using Information Technology to Collect and Submit Data
Government Accountability Office
Examines (1) hospital processes to collect and submit quality data, (2) the extent to which IT facilitates hospitals' collection and submission of quality data, and (3) whether CMS has taken steps to promote the use of IT systems to facilitate the collection and submission of hospital quality data.

Accessible Health Information Technology (IT) for Populations with Limited Literacy: A Guide for Developers and Purchasers of Health IT
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Guide designed to help developers and purchasers of Health Information Technology (HIT) reach adults with limited literacy. Limited literacy can be a barrier to making the benefits of HIT widely available to consumers. The guide presents design principles and strategies to increase consumer accessibility to HIT.

Health Information Exchange Links Records For Better Health
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
With the help of a network that allows Memphis-area hospitals to share patient data electronically, physicians can see that the patient had visited another emergency department with tuberculosis that was untreated.

Health Information Technology: Early Efforts Initiated but Comprehensive Privacy Approach Needed for National Strategy
Government Accountability Office
GAO recommends that HHS define and implement an overall privacy approach that identifies milestones for integrating the outcomes of its initiatives, assures that key privacy principles are fully addressed, and addresses challenges that are associated with the nationwide exchange of health information.

Health Information Technology for Improving Quality of Care in Primary Care Settings
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Examines opportunities and challenges for utilizing Health Information Technology for quality improvement in primary care and includes specific 'change ideas' for practices exploring this arena.

Health Information Technology: HHS is Continuing Efforts to Define a National Strategy
Government Accountability Office
Assessment of progress being made by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 2005 to develop a national HIT strategy and an overview of selected federal agencies HIT initiatives related to the national HIT strategy.

Health Information Technology Policy and Rural Hospitals
Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
Summarizes the implementation status of key HIT applications in Critical Access Hospitals and other rural hospitals, and discusses policies for encouraging HIT adoption in rural hospitals.

Health IT Bibliography
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Collection of carefully selected, high quality resources for health care and information technology (IT) stakeholders searching for information on how health IT can transform care delivery processes and improve quality, safety, and efficiency.

Health IT in Small and Rural Communities
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Increasing the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) in hospitals and physician practices is a major focus for the current Administration and Congress. Despite progress in the last few years, adoption rates remain low, particularly in small and rural communities.

HIT: Issues and Opportunities for Rural Hospitals
Tami Lichtenberg, Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)
What are the obstacles and opportunities regarding successful implementation of electronic health records (EHR) in rural settings? This was on of the key questions asked at a meeting of key informants regarding rural hospital HIT on May 4-5, 2006, in St. Paul, Minnesota. The key informants - researchers, hospital administrators, network directors and rural HIT technology experts from around the country - gathers for two days to discuss the pitfalls, successes and the needs for assistance and resources regarding HIT adoption in rural hospitals.

HIT Implementation and Public Reporting
Tami Lichtenberg, Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)
Issues that rural facilites are facing in regards to the implementation of HIT.

HIT Issues and Opportunities
Tami Lichtenberg, Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)
Discusses issues facing rural hospitals in regards to HIT decisions.

Implementation of Telepharmacy in Rural Hospitals: Potential for Improving Medication Safety (Full Report)
Upper Midwest Rural Health Policy Center
Describes successful telepharmacy activities being implemented in rural hospitals and analyze policy issues related to the implementation of telepharmacy projects in rural hospitals. Also available is a 4-minute video from Michelle Casey, Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center, discussing the telepharmacy study.

iDelta: Information Technology in the Delta
Delta Regional Authority
Information technology offers a promising opportunity for the lower Mississippi Delta to come into economic parity with the rest of the nation.

Innovations in Using Health IT for Chronic Disease Management
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Demonstrates that a variety of health IT applications have the potential to transform the quality and safety of care for some of the Nation's most severely ill patients. Despite several challenges associated with developing and implementing health IT for chronic disease management, information technology can be used to improve clinical processes.

Inpatient Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Discusses core project design elements, key challenges, lessons learned, and future directions for inpatient CPOE use from AHRQ researchers. Major themes from the report include staffing, resource allocation, project scope, workflow, order set design, vendor relations, interoperability, customization and system integration, training, technical support, and alert fatigue.

Kaiser Permanente's Experience of Implementing an Electronic Medical Record: A Qualitative Study
Kaiser Permanente
Identifies critical junctures in the adoption process, assess the impact of organizational culture and leadership, and learn about the effects on clinical practice and patient care.

Liability Coverage for Regional Health Information Organizations:
Lessons from the AHRQ-Funded State and Regional Demonstration Projects in Health Information Technology and Other Community Efforts
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Summarizes key findings from AHRQ-funded State and Regional Demonstration projects and other Regional Health Information Organizations. The report focuses on lessons learned from the field on the key considerations, issues, and challenges associated with liability insurance for Regional Health Information Organizations. Also included are recommendations from key representatives, lawyers, insurance agents, and others on the future handling of select liability problems.

Medicare's E-Prescribing Incentive Program
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Section 132 of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) authorizes a new and separate incentive program for eligible professionals who are successful electronic prescribers (e-Prescribers) as defined by MIPPA. This new incentive is separate from and is in addition to the quality reporting incentive program authorized by Division B of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 - Medicare Improvements and Extension Act of 2006 (MIEA-TRHCA) and known as the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).

Medicare and Medicaid HIT Fact Sheet: Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Focuses on the provisions of Title IV of the Recovery Act and includes information on; Funding, Criteria for Qualifying for an Incentive, Medicare Payment Incentives for Eligible Professionals, Medicare Incentives for Hospitals, Medicaid Payment Incentives, and FAQs.

A National Web Conference on E-Prescribing and Medication Management
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Recorded WebEx, transcript and accompanying slides are the first in a three-part series on the role of Health Information Technology in medication management, from prescribing to adherence. This free 90-minute teleconference explores the potential impact of HIT on prescribing.

The ONC-Coordinated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2008-2012
Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator
The goals, objectives, and strategies of the Plan portray the totality of what must be done, in a coordinated manner distributed across the federal government, to achieve an interoperable health IT architecture for the nation in support of patient-focused health care and population health.

Pediatric Rules and Reminders: Improving Pediatric Safety and Quality with Health Information Technology
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Partners HealthCare System Quality Improvement Group developed pediatric rules and reminders for the ambulatory environment. These rules and reminders are available for download by others as an example and guide with the hope that other ambulatory practices will adopt CDS rules and reminders to improve quality and safety.

Privacy, Security, and the Regional Health Information Organization
California Healthcare Foundation
Examines key privacy and security issues that some RHIOs encounter, the policies and practices they adopt to manage these issues and common emerging strategies.

A Summary of the National Rural HIT Coalition Summit Meeting held June 23rd, 2009
Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)
Summarizes the National Rural HIT Coalition Summit Meeting. The constituents at the meeting discussed 'meaningful use' and its impact on rural, possible tools and frameworks to help rural achieve HIT implementation, rural HIT workforce issues, HIT technical assistance centers, and HIT capital issues.

Recommended Requirements for Enhancing Data Quality in Electronic Health Record Systems
Identifies requirements for EHRs that can help enhance data protections, such as increased data validity, accuracy, and integrity including appropriate fraud management.

Results of AHRQ and CMS-funded electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) pilot projects now available
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
In 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded grants to five pilot sites to test electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) standards. The testing focused on the interoperability of these standards with one another, their ability to deliver messages accurately and unambiguously, and their downstream effect on healthcare outcomes such as medical errors and clinical efficiency.

Report on Lessons from AHRQ Telehealth Grants
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Summarizes key findings from grantees implementing Telehealth technologies as part of ARHQ's HIT portfolio. The report focuses on lessons learned, emphasizing implementation challenges associated with telehealth as well as the value that telehealth can bring to a community.

Rural Health Information Technology Conference 2007 Presentations
Presentations from the Rural Health Information Technology Conference held in Kansas City in September, 2007 are available.

Small and Rural IT Challenges
Hospitals and Health Networks
With low patient censuses, sluggish economic conditions and heavy reliance on government payers, small and rural hospitals must stretch scarce resources to meet a multitude of competing needs, and investments in information technology for staffing, equipment and upkeep-- often takes a backseat.

State Medicaid Agencies' Initiatives on HIT and HIE: HHS Office of Inspector General
Office of Inspector General
Dicusses states that are making progress in implementing Health Information Technology. It urged the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services -- the HHS agency that works with states to provide Medicaid for individuals and families who earn low incomes -- to keep working with the states in pursuit of the Bush administration's goal of e-health records for Americans by 2014.

Tele-Health Promotion for Rural People with Disabilities: Toward a Technology Assisted Peer Support Model: Rural Disability and Rehabilitation Research Progress Report #37
Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities
Discusses how to develop effective Internet delivery of the Living Well program to increase access to health promotion materials for individuals who currently use the technology and for the large proportion of non-metropolitan people with disabilities who do not yet use the Internet, but will in the future.

Telehealth Services Fact Sheet
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Information on what types of telehealth services Medicare will reimburse for.

Telemedicine Networks Map
American Telemedicine Association
Map showing the location of the central administrative offices of those networks that have been identified to date.

Using Barcode Medication Administration to Improve Quality and Safety
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
The barcode medication administration (BCMA) and electronic medication administration record (eMAR) projects described in this report have illuminated a number of important lessons about the challenges and opportunities associated with introducing these applications into real-world clinical settings.

Using IT to Improve Patient Safety in Small, Rural Hospitals
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
In rural West Virginia, a patient safety project supported by AHRQ is proving that, with the right kind of assistance, all hospitals - regardless of their size or resources, can use state of the art IT to vastly improve attention to patient care.

Using Telehealth to Improve Quality and Safety
Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality
The telehealth projects described in this report have brought to light a number of important lessons about the challenges and opportunities associated with introducing telehealth applications into real-world clinical settings.

Dictionary

HIT Dictionary
Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)

HIT Acronyms
Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC)

Funding

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) HIT Programs
Health Information Technology is a priority area for AHRQ. Since 2004, AHRQ has awarded $260 million dollars in grants and contracts to support planning, implementation, and evaluation of health IT, and to foster health information exchange. AHRQ-specific funding opportunities can be found at the AHRQ Web site.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Health Information Technology Extension Program: Regional Centers
The HITECH Act authorizes a Health Information Technology Extension Program (Extension Program). The Extension Program consists of Regional Extension Centers (Regional Centers) and a national Health Information Technology Research Center (HITRC). This funding opportunity announcement seeks applications from qualified entities to serve as Regional Centers within the Extension Program.

Medicare and Medicaid HIT Fact Sheet: Title IV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Focuses on the provisions of Title IV of the Recovery Act and includes information on; Funding, Criteria for Qualifying for an Incentive, Medicare Payment Incentives for Eligible Professionals, Medicare Incentives for Hospitals, Medicaid Payment Incentives, and FAQs.

Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees Program
The Broadband Loan program provides loans for funding the costs of construction, improvement, and acquisition of facilities to provide broadband service to eligible rural communities.

Small Research Grant to Improve Health Care Quality through Health Information Technology (IT) (R03)
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support a wide variety of research designs in order to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of health care through the implementation and use of HIT.

USAC Rural Health Care Services Discounts
Health care providers are permitted to apply to receive reduced rates for a variety of telecommunications services under the Rural Health Care Program.

Legislation

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1)
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1) was signed into law on February 17, 2009. The legislation contains Title XIII, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). The HITECH Act creates the HIT Policy Committee, HIT Standards Committee, and process for adoption of recommendations for standards and policies from these committees, all of which is overseen by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT). It also establishes provisions for workforce investments, an HIT Extension Program, HIT Research Center, and HIT Regional Extension Centers to provide technical assistance on best practices, and to assist health care providers to adopt, implement, and effectively use certified electronic health records (EHRs). This legislation establishes grants to promote HIT and assist health care providers in HIT adoption and implementation. Title IV of the legislation details Medicare and Medicaid incentives for HIT adoption for health care professionals, prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals, and critical access hospitals (CAHs).

American Telemedicine Association (ATA): Telemedicine Policy Issues
This site includes policy updates, public policy white papers, public policy resources, telemedicine policy links and policy archives from the ATA.

Better Health Care Through Information Technology Act (S. 1355)
To enhance the adoption of Health Information Technology and to improve the quality and reduce the costs of healthcare in the United States.

Critical Access to Health Information Technology Act of 2005 (S. 1952)
A bill to provide grants for rural Health Information Technology development activities.

Electronic Health Information Technology Act of 2006 (H.R. 4832)
To amend the Social Security Act to establish an Office of Health Information Technology for the purpose of creating a national interoperable health information infrastructure, to provide loans to health care entities seeking to implement such infrastructure, and to provide exceptions to certain health anti-kickback laws to encourage the dissemination of health information technology.

Federal Family Health Information Act of 2006 (H.R. 4859)
To amend chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for the implementation of a system of electronic health records under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Health Care Access and Rural Equity Act (H-CARE) of 2006 (H.R. 6030)
The implementation of this bill would help rural health care providers address the unique challenges associated with delivering quality health care close to home. The bill would include authorizing Health Information Technology grants for rural practitioners.

Health Information Technology Promotion Act (H.R. 4157)
This legislation contains provisions that codify the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT I statute and delineates its roles and responsibilities;

  • Offer statutory safe harbors in physician self-referral ("Stark" laws) and anti-kickback laws that allow hospitals, group practices, and other entities to provide physicians with hardware, software, or information technology training and support services that are used primarily for the electronic exchange of clinical health information;
  • Call for the development of a strategic plan for the coordination of HIT and the implementation of electronic health records (EHR).
  • This bill has been passed in the House.

HIMSS HIT Legislation Tracker
An up-to-date HIT legislation tracker from the Health Information Management and Systems Society.

HIT Incentives and State Grant Opportunities: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
This summary, developed by the Rural Health Resource Center, describes the Health Information Technology (HIT) Incentives and State Grant Opportunities from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 HITECH Act. Please note that standards and policies relating to the HITECH Act are currently being developed. The Rural Health Resource Center will distribute additional information as it becomes available.

Independent Health Record Bank Act of 2006 (H.R. 5559)
To improve the exchange of health information by encouraging the creation, use, and maintenance of lifetime electronic health records in independent health record banks, by using such records to build a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, and by promoting participation in health information exchanges by consumers through tax incentives.

Independent Health Record Bank Act of 2006 (S. 3454)
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve the exchange of healthcare information through the use of technology, to encourage the creation, use and maintenance of lifetime electronic health records that may contain health plan and debit card functionality in independent health record banks, to use such records to build a nationwide Health Information Technology infrastructure, and to promote participation in health information exchange by consumers through tax incentives and for other purposes.

Medicare Telehealth Enhancement Act of 2005 (S. 1909)
A bill to improve the provision of telehealth services under the Medicare Program, to provide grants for the development of telehealth networks, and for other purposes.

NLM Knowledge Management & Applied Informatics Grants (G08)
NLM Knowledge Management & Applied Informatics grants are offered to help organizations use information technology to optimize the utility of clinical and research information. NLM anticipates making 8-10 new awards each year, spending approximately $4 million per year to support new awards in this program.

Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S. 1418)
To enhance the adoption of a nationwide inter operable health information technology system and to improve the quality and reduce the costs of health care in the United States.

State Profiles
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Texas
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News

Rural Assistance Center's HIT News
Latest updates on HIT news and events.