State Healthcare IT Coalition To Get To Work Thursday In DC

The Michigan Coalition for Health Information Technology is to be announced Thursday in Washington, D.C. during National Health Information Technology Week.

Included among those making the announcement are to be Michigan State University president Lou Anna K. Simon, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society executive vice president Carla Smith, Denise Holmes of the Michigan Coalition for Health Information Technology, Helen Hill and Michael M. Talley of the  Southeast Michigan Health Information Exchange, Richard Mark Soley, chairman and CEO of Object Management Group Inc. and executive director of the SOA Consortium and more.

MCHIT will spearhead the state’s HIT efforts. The event begins at 11 a.m., Thursday, Sept.24 at the Reserve Officers Assciation, Top of the Hill Banquet Center, One stitution Ave., Washington, D.C., 20001

The Michigan Coalition for Health Information Technology is a broad-based, statewide group of organizations and individuals working to enhance and promote the meaningful use of health information technology to improve the quality, efficiency and accessibility of health care in Michigan.

MCHIT is working on four broad initiatives with the state of Michigan and the University Research Corridor (the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University). The coalition will expand its initiatives as needed to ensure Michigan optimizes the opportunities afforded by HIT.

The four initiatives are:

Establishing a regional HIT extension center: Michigan is pursuing federal funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the Michigan Center for
Effective Information Technology Adoption (M-CEITA). Such regional extension centers will provide technical assistance to primary care providers, helping them become “meaningful users” of electronic health records, as defined by the federal government for receiving economic stimulus funds. The Altarum Institute is the prime applicant, but many groups will be involved
in the final grant application and ultimate operation of M-CEITA. Charter members in the grant
process include University Research Corridor members, Michigan Primary Care Association,
Michigan Public Health Institute, Central Michigan University Research Corporation and
MPRO: Michigan’s Quality Improvement Organization.

Developing an HIT workforce: Increasing numbers of workers will be needed as health information technology expands, and an MCHIT workforce team is planning a coordinated response to the challenge. Under consideration is a resource center that would coordinate the needs of employers, employees and education/training institutions. The workforce team is
pursuing grant opportunities and expects to have an action plan later this year. It also is supporting other groups pursuing funding opportunities.

Conducting HIT research and development: Michigan is seeking to conduct cutting-edge research in the development and use of health invormation technology and the challenges it presents to health care delivery. Economic stimulus funds will be available for the development of innovation centers housing this work, and MCHIT will position the state to receive those
funds.

Promoting health information exchange: The Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN) is under construction and designed to serve as the state’s technological “backbone” for the exchange of electronic health records. The goal is to have all health care providers in the state
connected to the MiHIN.

See www.mchit.org for more information.

The federal government has included $35 billion for electronic health records in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The ARRA has made some $33 billion available in Medicare and Medicaid incentives for physicians and hospitals that purchase and use electronic health records. Another $2 billion is available for states to build statewide infrastructure, establish regional extension centers for health information technology and create loan programs for providers looking to purchase electronic systems.

These ARRA funds are the proverbial “golden opportunity” for the advancement of HIE in Michigan.

Physicians who bill Medicare can get up to $44,000 over five years for electronic health records systems. Those incentives likely will start in 2011 and end in 2015 -- a short window. Penalties are slated to go into effect in 2015, when Medicare reimbursements to physicians identified as not being meaningful users of electronic health records will start being cut.

Hospitals can also receive incentive payments, which start at $2 million over four years. And, like physicians, nonparticipating hospitals face similar Medicare penalties.