Rural Health Resource Center

Quick Links

TASC Home

About TASC

Calendar

Flex Program

Flex Research

Tools & Resources

State Program Contacts

Health Information Technology (HIT) Tools and Resources

Tools

AHRQ Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration Toolkit
This toolkit 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). The toolkit was developed as part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) joint-funded Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC) project.

AHRQ's HIT Costs and Benefits Database Project
This database contains literature articles about the costs and/or benefits of health information technology, and is searchable by the user in a variety of ways. It also contains information about how this database was created.

Broadband Opportunities for Rural America
As a joint initiative of the FCC and the USDA, this web site outlines a range of different technology platforms can be used, either independently or in conjunction with one another, to provide broadband services.

CalRHIO: Safety Net Health Information Exchange Toolkit
Supported by a grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, CalRHIO has developed a 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. These tools can be leveraged across the safety net community including providers, consortia staff, organizational IT staff, etc. The templates can easily be modified based on the specific needs of each organization or initiative. In addition, the toolkit is dynamic and will continue to grow as more tools are developed by CalRHIO, as well as other organizations.

DOQ-IT e-Learning Tool
DOQ-IT U is an interactive, Web-based tool designed to provide solo and small-to-medium sized physician practices with the education for successful HIT adoption, including lessons on culture change, vendor selection and operational redesign, along with clinical processes. The system is available at no charge.

DOQ-IT Toolkit from Stratis Health
This in-depth HIT toolkit 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
As part if its support of the DOQ-IT project, Stratis Health has produced a DOQ-IT Quality Resources Kit 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 Resouce Kit includes the following step-by-step process in EHR implementation: Assess, Plan, Select, Implement, Maintain, and Improve.

eHealth Initiative Connecting Communities Toolkit
The Toolkit is a distillation of the knowledge 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.

Helping Medicaid and SCHIP Agencies Develop and Implement Health IT
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is providing 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
The Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC) for the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex) presents this 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.

HRSA EHR Selection Guidelines
Electronic Health Records: Selection Guidelines help health centers evaluate electronic health records (EHR) products and develop requests for proposals (RFP) or requests for information (RFI). The down-loadable Word document, written in RFI format, enables health centers to gather detailed information from EHR vendors about their products.

HTA 101: Introduction to Health Technology Assessment
Health technology assessment (HTA) is the systematic evaluation of properties, effects or other impacts of health technology. This online e-book explains the 10 basic steps of HTA.

Kaiser Permanente's Experience of Implementing an Electronic Medical Record: A Qualitative Study
Researchers interviewed health plan staff members in the midst of an EHR implementation to identify 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.

Lands of Opportunity: Bringing Telecommunications Services to Rural Communities
This publication is intended to serve as 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 HIT Search Engine
The Rural Health Resource center built the Rural HIT Search Engine to bring together important, specifically rural HIT data and information.

Currently we have 506 links to many different sources of HIT information. RHRC controls and adds pertinent content as we become aware of it. We use Google technology as the backbone of the search engine, meaning that your search will bring relevant information and rank it the same way as a search done using Google itself. Due to an agreement with Google, we can use their coding and network without your search results including advertising or commercial influence.

State Level Health Information Exchange Initiative Development Workbook: A Guide to Key Issues, Options and Strategies
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
Author(s): American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
ATA has drafted a document that provides the basic structure for establishing future telemedicine standards and guidelines.

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.

Community Clinics Initiative
The Community Clinics Initiative (CCI), a unique collaboration between Tides and The California Endowment, began in 1999 to provide resources, evidence-based programming and evaluation, education and training to support community health centers and clinics. Through information sharing and major grants, CCI acts as a catalyst to strengthen California's community clinics and health centers to improve health outcomes in underserved communities. The state's community clinics offer high quality, low- and no-cost care, often in rural and inner city areas, providing a lifeline for millions of uninsured and underinsured Californians.

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. The Center collaborates with government, industry, and other professional organizations to apply health information technology (HIT) to improve patient care and safety, and to increase the efficiency of health care delivery.

Foundation for eHealth Initiative
The Foundation for eHealth Initiative, in cooperation with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) is implementing a $3.86 million grant program to provide seed funding and support to multi-stakeholder collaborative within communities (both geographic and non-geographic) who are using health information exchange and other IT tools to drive improvements in healthcare quality, safety and efficiency. The learning community network will enable 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
RTI International, working with the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, has subcontracted with 33 states and 1 territory to create the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (HISPC). These subcontractors have leveraged input from state leadership and a broad range of stakeholders in health information exchange to assess the variations that exist at the organization level with respect to privacy and security practices and policies - and the legal bases for such practices and polices, where applicable.

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. The new initiative is aimed at better characterizing and measuring the state of EHR adoption and determining the effectiveness of policies aimed at accelerating adoption of EHRs and interoperability.

Health Information Technology: Early Efforts Initiated but Comprehensive Privacy Approach Needed for National Strategy
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 at HRSA
Information on HIT issues that HRSA is currently working on and links to other government health information technology sites.

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

HIT Issues and Opportunities
A presentation given by Tami Lichtenberg, TASC Program Manager, on the issues and opportunities facing rural providers trying to implement health information technology into their facilities.

Medical Records Institute
Medical Records Institute's (MRI) mission is to promote and enhance the journey towards electronic medical records, e-health, mobile health, and related applications of information technologies (IT). MRI does this by serving as an international forum for sharing knowledge, experience, and solutions with the healthcare community at large, but especially with healthcare practitioners, as well as professionals in information technology (HIT) and health information management (HIM).

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.

Qual-IT
While public and private health care purchasers have focused on quality measurement and reporting, they do not typically provide specific incentives for the adoption of HIT as part of an overall value-based health care plan. As this issue of Qual-IT describes, however, several policy initiatives focused on employer-based health plans could provide the needed impetus to dramatically increase HIT adoption and use.

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

Richard G. Lugar Center for Rural Health: Telemedicine and Technology Information

Rural Telecommunications Congress
The Rural Telecommunications Congress (RTC) is 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)
TIE is an unbiased and all-inclusive platform for information on telemedicine and telehealth. The TIE is a comprehensive, international, quality-filtered resource for information about telemedicine, telehealth, and telemedicine/telehealth related activities.

Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange Resources
This site contains 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)
Health information technology (HIT) and electronic health information exchange (HIE) are critical tools in states' efforts to transform health care in this country. HIT has strong potential to drive health system improvements, and states have taken steps in recent years to promote widespread use of HIT and enable access to information through electronic exchange.

AHRQ's Ambulatory Safety and Quality Program: Health IT Portfolio
The opportunity to turn the potential of health information technology (health IT) 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
What is the value of health information to a community? Potentially, a great deal, in terms of both health care quality and costs. The trick, though, is not to share too much too fast, because information overload can undermine the best of intentions.

AHRQ IT Project Helps Bridge Distance for Native Americans Seeking Health Care
With the help of the 3-year grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Information Technology Systems for Rural Indian Clinic Healthcare aims to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations by improving health care quality and reducing medical errors. The board is partnering with three of its rural Tribal Health Programs that have implemented electronic practice management systems as a precursor to electronic health records (EHR). The AHRQ grant will also make it possible for Tribal Health Programs 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.

AHRQ: New profile of an integrated health system using e-prescribing to improve patient safety and ambulatory provider workflow
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.

AHRQ Researchers Develop "Smart Form" to Facilitate Clinical Decision Support
AHRQ researchers have developed a specialized health IT 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.

AHRQ State and Regional Demonstration Projects
Six States have been awarded 5-year contracts under the State and Regional Demonstrations in Health Information Technology (AHRQ-04-0015) funding opportunity from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Five States -- Colorado, Indiana, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Utah -- started their contracts in October 2004 with one State, Delaware, beginning in October 2005.

AHRQ Study Finds Surgical Errors Cost Nearly $1.5 Billion Annually
Potentially preventable medical errors that occur during or after surgery may cost employers nearly $1.5 billion a year, according to a new AHRQ-funded study published in the July 28 issue Health Services Research. The study, "The Impact of Medical Errors on Ninety-Day Costs and Outcomes: An Examination of Surgical Patients," also 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.

AHRQ-Supported Electronic Record System Focuses on Best Practices for Vision Rehabilitation
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
Between 2004 and 2005, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded over $166 million in funding for health IT. The AHRQ health IT portfolio 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 health IT.

ATA's Global Forum on Telemedicine: Connecting the World through Partnerships
The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) held the Global Forum on Telemedicine: Connecting the World through Partnerships in Las Vegas in September 2007. The goal of the forum was to bring together key stakeholders in global health care outreach. This report was generated as a result of this meeting and an International Roadmap for Action was developed that establishes a set of priorities and recommendations for action to improve healthcare using telemedicine and information technology (IT).

CBO Report Estimates Costs, Benefits of Health IT
The report summarizes current barriers facing greater adoption of IT in health care, and presents health IT as a possible public good that may require federal intervention. The report outlines options, such as federal mandates and incentives for adoption, for policymakers' consideration.

CCHIT Certification for Ambulatory Electronic Health Records
CCHIT has published the following CCHIT Certified ® 08 Ambulatory EHR documents for your review and preparation. The first round of applications for certification under the Ambulatory EHR 08 criteria will be accepted from July 1 to July 14, followed by additional application windows later in the year. The first CCHIT Certified 08 Ambulatory EHR products will be announced in October.

Creating Sustainable Local Health Information Exchanges: Can Barriers to Stakeholder Participation be Overcome?
Findings from a study of stakeholder perspectives on participation in four HIEs by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) and the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation suggest, however, that barriers to achieving data exchange remain high.

Critical Access Hospital Telehealth Network
This document 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. Developed by the State of Illinois.

Current Status of HIT use in CAHs
Report examining 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. See results and specifics in the report.

Defining Key Health Information Technology Terms
In this report, The National Alliance for Health Information Technology summarizes the deliberations and conclusions of the two work groups that were formed to gain consensus on the definition of HIT terms. These definitions and are not intended to solve all the challenges facing health IT adoption. However, they do represent an important foundation for addressing some important adoption issues.

Density of HIT Adoption in RWHC Member Hospitals
Study by Louis Wenzlow, Director of Health Information Technology at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative. This goal of this study was to determine the levels of HIT systems adoption in RWHC member hospitals. Thirty Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative member hospitals, including 25 CAHs, participated in the study.

Development of State Level Health Information Exchange Initiatives Final Report: Extension Tasks
This report explores the potential roles of and interactions between state level RHIOs and federal activities for health care and information technology. It also identifies the health information exchange projects that have achieved financial stability.

E-Health Activities Across the Nation
The Commonwealth Fund partnered with the National Governors Association (NGA) and Health Management Associates (HMA) to survey states about their 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. This article summarizes key findings from the survey report.

eHealth Initiative Releases Results From 2008 Survey on Health Information Exchange
The exchange of health information electronically between physicians, hospitals, health plans, and patients is decreasing the cost of care and improving outcomes, according to a new survey released by the non-profit eHealth Initiative.

Electronic Health Records Show Financial Benefits
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
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 from the HIT Field
With the support of AHRQ's National Resource Center for Health Information Technology, these HIT projects are overcoming key hurdles. 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
This report 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
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 delivery 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
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
The goals of this portion of the project was to review current literature and approaches 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
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine (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.

A Guide for Developers and Purchasers of Health IT
New AHRQ guide helps developers and purchasers of health information technology (IT) reach adults with limited literacy. Limited literacy can be a barrier to making the benefits of health IT widely available to consumers. The guide, which includes a checklist, presents design principles and strategies to increase consumer accessibility to health IT.

Health Information Exchange Links Records For Better Health
A patient walks into an emergency department for a seemingly simple procedure: a cut that requires stitches. But 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 for Improving Quality of Care in Primary Care Settings
The report 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
The 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 IT Bibliography
Author(s): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
The Health IT Bibliography is a 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
Increasing the adoption of health information technology (health IT) 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
Author: Tami Lichtenberg
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 rual 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 discuses the pitfalls, successes and the needs for assistance and resources regarding HIT adoption in rural hospitals.

HIT Implementation and Public Reporting
A presentation by Tami Lichtenberg from the Rural Health Resource Center on the issues that rural facilites are facing in regards to the implementation of HIT.

HIT Issues and Opportunities
A presentation from Tami Lichtenberg of the Rural Health Resource Center discussing issues facing rural hospitals in regards to HIT decisions.

iDelta: Information Technology in the Delta
Information technology offers a promising opportunity for the lower Mississippi Delta to come into economic parity with the rest of the nation. Established by Congress in 2000, the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) is charged with improving the standard of living in 240 counties and parishes across the lower Mississippi River delta.

The ONC-Coordinated Federal Health IT Strategic Plan: 2008-2012
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
Using a grant from AHRQ, the 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
This study, based on a literature review, interviews, and an informal survey, examines key privacy and security issues that some RHIOs encounter, the policies and practices they adopt to manage these issues and common emerging strategies.

Recommended Requirements for Enhancing Data Quality in Electronic Health Record Systems
The primary purpose of this project is to identify 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
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 delivery 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
The National Resource Center has released a new report in its Decision Maker Brief Series. The report summarizes key findings from grantees implementing Telehealth technologies as part of ARHQ's health IT 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 Now Available Online!
Presentations from the Rural Health Information Technology Conference held in Kansas City in September, 2007 are available.

Small and Rural IT Challenges
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
The report, which is based on surveys of state authorities, concluded that states 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
Based on a series of national surveys, Enders & Bridges (2006) estimate that more than a quarter of people with disabilities living in non-metropolitan areas use the Internet. As Internet access grows, a greater proportion of rural people with disabilities will have access. Developing effective Internet delivery of the Living Well program would 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.

Telemedicine Networks Map
ATA has been developing an inventory of existing medical center-based telemedicine networks. This is a map showing the location of the central administrative offices of those networks that have been identified to date. There are approximately 200 such networks operating in the United States, linking over 2,500 institutions nationwide. The type of services provided as well as network configuration varies considerably. These networks do not include many other categories of telemedicine such as medical call centers, home telehealth, remote monitoring or outsourced clinical services.

Using IT to Improve Patient Safety in Small, Rural Hospitals
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.

White papers on CCHIT Certified EHRs
As adoption of CCHIT Certified EHRs continues to grow, more details about the benefits of CCHIT Certified products come to light. We work to highlight these benefits in our white papers and case studies. For more information about the case studies, please follow the link above.

Dictionary

HIT Dictionary

HIT Acronyms

Funding

AT&T Excelerator Grants
The 2007 AT&T Excelerator grant program will provide $9 million in competitive technology grants to help local nonprofit organizations integrate technology into their operations and community outreach.

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs
Federal assistance programs and state and local broadband activities.

Commonwealth Fund
"High Performance Health Systems"
The Fund supports independent research on health and social issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy.

eHealth Initiative Foundation
A coalition of over 260 state, regional and community-based multi-stakeholder collaborations which support HIT adoption and health information exchange, supports the development, sharing, and implementation of principles, strategies and resources to address the financial, organizational, legal and technical challenges of mobilizing health information across organizations within regions and communities.

FCC Launches Initiative To Increase Access To Health Care In Rural America Through Broadband Telehealth Services
To significantly increase access to acute, primary and preventive health care in rural America, the Federal Communications Commission dedicated over $417 million for the construction of 69 statewide or regional broadband telehealth networks in 42 states and three U.S. territories under the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP).

The Health IT Grant Resource Directory 2008: Funding for Provider and RHIO Technology
The HIT GRD™ 2008 is the result of more than two years of data gathering and funding research. The publisher and researchers of the highly-regarded annual report on RHIO finance have created this invaluable resource as a means of accelerating the build-out of health IT implementations and the adoption of advanced technology among providers large and small, urban and rural. Searchable electronic format. 892 pages (136 to 197 pages per volume). Published by Healthcare IT Transition Group, 2007.

National Library of Medicine Applied Informatics Grants
The National Library of Medicine grants approximately $4 million a year to help organizations use information technology to optimize the utility of clinical and research information by using computer and telecommunications technologies to access, collect, manage, organize and disseminate health-related and scientific information.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Project HealthDesign
Project HealthDesign supports technology pioneers to design the next generation of personal health record systems in ways that empower patients to better manage their health and health care.

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 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.

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

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana

Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma

Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Events

Northwest Medical Informatics Symposium: Improving Health Outcomes through Health Information Technology
September 8-10, 2008
Davenport Hotel
Spokane, Washington

News

Rural Assistance Center's HIT News