CWRU School of Medicine Chosen as a Ohio Health Information Partnership Regional Extension Center (REC) Partner – AMCNO to work as a Stakeholder on the Project

The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio (AMCNO) president and executive staff were on hand at a media event hosted by the Cleveland Clinic when Governor Ted Strickland announced that seven regional sites across Ohio will receive a total of $26.8 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) resources to assist in the implementation of the state’s health information technology initiative.

These resources are a portion of Ohio’s total $43 million ARRA award for the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP), the non-profit entity designated by Strickland to lead the implementation of health information technology in Ohio.

OHIP will work with the selected regional partners to help more than 6,000 primary care providers install electronic health record (EHR) systems and connect to a statewide, secure health information exchange. OHIP regional partners will then work with providers to get their systems connected to the secure statewide health information exchange. Through this exchange, physicians will be able to share information, if the patient has given permission to do so, with other providers such as hospitals, specialists, and laboratories. This will result in better coordination of care, reduced duplicative testing and safer prescribing.

The CWRU School of Medicine is one of seven RECs in Ohio established by OHIP and made possible by funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). An eighth REC was awarded directly by the federal government to HealthBridge, a not-for-profit health information exchange serving Greater Cincinnati and surrounding areas.

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine received $7,942,500 million in federal stimulus funds from OHIP. The funding will position CWRU School of Medicine as a regional extension center (REC) which allows it to help 1,765 health care providers in Lorain, Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties advance the use of health information technology (HIT) in their practices.

The REC endeavor, as directed by the federal government, is specifically targeted towards primary care providers, specifically, physicians—MDs or DOs who are family physicians, general internal, pediatric or OB/GYN (does not need to be board certified in these areas), and other primary care providers such as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, or physician assistants with prescriptive privileges.

The CWRU School of Medicine will provide administration and management to multiple contractors whose roles will vary by expertise but overall will help providers select products and provide training on how to use the technology to its fullest potential in order to improve patient care. This includes providing workforce support, implementation and project management, practice and workflow design, vendor selection, privacy and security best practices, progress towards meaningful use, functional interoperability and health information exchange.

“The School of Medicine is committed to improving the health of our communities. We believe that HIT is a key tool in enhancing health care for patients and we look forward to partnering with independent healthcare providers to encourage quick adoption of health IT,” said Pamela B. Davis, MD, PhD, dean of the School of Medicine and vice president for medical affairs at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. C. Martin Harris, of the Cleveland Clinic, represented the OHIP board at the event. He noted that improved technology is necessary to integrate electronic medical records among hospitals and physician offices. “The ultimate goal, though, is not better technology, but rather better patient care,” said Harris, chief information officer at the Cleveland Clinic. Harris further stated that “it’s time to change our thinking about how and where health care should be delivered, while empowering patients to proactively manage their health care and connecting physicians across Ohio to improve access to patient data and information.”

The CWRU REC has a number of stakeholders, including the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio (AMCNO) and the Academy of Medicine Education Foundation (AMEF). The AMCNO president, Dr. Anthony Bacevice has been appointed to the CWRU Regional Extension Center (REC) Governance Committee. The AMCNO will continue to be integrally involved in this project as it moves forward in our region.

In addition to CWRU the other regional partners include the Akron Regional Hospital Association which will receive $3,928,500 to assist 873 primary care physicians, the Central Ohio Health Information Exchange (COHIE) which will receive $6,084,000 to assist 1,352 primary care physicians, the Greater Dayton Area Health Information Network (GDAHA) which will receive $2,898,000 to assist 644 primary care physicians, the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio which will receive $2,875,500 to assist 639 primary care physicians, the Northeast Ohio (NEO) HealthForce which will receive $1,453,500 to assist 323 primary care physicians, and Ohio University which will receive $1,818,000 to assist 404 primary care physicians.