Although the Regional Extension Center program will officially sunset at the end of 2016, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT estimates that 90 percent of the 62 current RECs will continue to operate nationwide,e helping providers to adopt electronic health records and meaningfully use them.
The centers, which operate in all 50 states, have been particularly helpful in assisting providers in rural, underserved healthcare settings to navigate the complex EHR adoption process from vendor selection and practice workflow redesign to implementation and project management, as well as addressing privacy and security issues.
Under the HITECH Act, ONC starting in 2010 invested more than $700 million in the REC program, awarding 62 cooperative agreements to 60 local organizations to provide technical assistance to small primary care practices, community health centers, rural health clinics and critical access hospitals. In fact, the REC network includes 54 percent of all rural providers, 80 percent of all critical access hospitals and 83 percent of all community health centers—healthcare organizations that typically lack the financial and human resources of larger providers. For the full article click here
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