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51% of RECs Spent Between $5 and $9M to Assist Providers Achieve MU Stage 1

by Fred Pennic 05/02/2014 Leave a Comment

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More than half of Regional Extension Centers (RECs) indicated that they had spent between $5 and $9 million assisting providers in their region achieve MU Stage 1, according to the 2014 HIMSS Regional Extension Center Survey. Another 22 percent have spent $10 to $19 million, while five percent have invested $20 million or more.
With funding for RECs from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) ending at the close of 2014, 84% of the respondents from the survey indicated they will continue to do business. Introduced by the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), these state-based and regional organizations designed to help eligible providers:
  • maximize their Electronic Health Record (EHR) investment to achieve meaningful use (MU)
  • Provide training and support services to assist in EHR adoption
  • Offer information and guidance with EHR implementation (but not to carry out such an implementation)
  • Giving other technical assistance as needed
To date, 147,000 providers are now enrolled with a REC with 124,000 now live with an EHR and 70,000 achieving meaningful use.

Other key results of this survey include:

  • 28 percent of the 36 executive respondents reported their funding ran out before the end of February 2014
  • Approximately half of study respondents indicated they were going to turn their attention to assisting qualifying organizations attest to MU Stage Two
  • About three-quarters (72 percent) had applied for a no-cost extension of their ONC funding
  • Nearly half are creating strategic partnerships with other organizations in their service area
  • Almost half reported that they have received state funding to maintain operations
  • One-third of respondents would like to see ONC and CMS provide an online resource center

“According to our results, the survey respondents understand the need for and value of collaborative efforts with other RECS and organizations to support and be part of the services they offer. The survey respondents also offer a positive outlook for their REC as they continue focus on future endeavors,” says Lisa Gallagher, vice president, technology solutions, HIMSS.

Survey Background

Conducted in December 2013 and January 2014, the survey included 39 respondents representing 37 REC organizations.  Almost half of the respondents (46 percent) said they were President/Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of the REC with another 13 percent of respondents noted they were the REC Director. Other respondent titles included Director of IT/IS, VP of IT/IS, Manager of IT/IS, Chief Information Officer or staff-level IT/IS.  In addition, respondents are from 35 states with at least one respondent from all nine US census regions.

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