TMF Health Quality Institute to Help North Texas Physicians Implement Health Information Technology
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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CONTACT:
Emilie Fennell
(512) 334-1649
emilie.fennell@tmf.org
1-800-725-9216, Ext. 1649
Austin, TX – September 1, 2010 – TMF Health Quality Institute, a leading nonprofit health care consulting company, has announced it will partner with the North Texas Regional Extension Center in Dallas to provide electronic health record consultation and technical assistance to physicians throughout North Texas.
“TMF is excited about this opportunity to help practices improve care,” said Bob Ligon, director of Health Information Technology services at TMF. “Leveraging technology is a critical step in engaging patients and families in their health care and improving the quality of health care delivery.”
Sponsored by the Dallas-Forth Worth Hospital Council Education and Research Foundation, the North Texas Regional Extension Center will help approximately 1,500 providers in a 41-county region adopt and implement EHR technology. The center is one of four in Texas and 60 in the nation created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Health Information Technology Extension program, which also provides for generous incentive payments to qualifying physician practices using EHR technology.
A chief purpose of the Regional Extension Centers is helping primary care providers become eligible for these Medicare or Medicaid EHR incentive payments over the next two years through outreach, education and technical assistance. To qualify for the payments, providers must meet a set of criteria collectively termed “meaningful use”, which includes obtaining certain patient demographics, maintaining medication and diagnosis lists, prescribing medications electronically and working toward electronic communication with other providers.
More importantly, the Regional Extension Centers will help providers find and implement the best EHR system for their practice to provide safer, more efficient care.
About TMF Health Quality Institute
TMF Health Quality Institute focuses on improving lives by improving the quality of health care through contracts with federal, state and local governments, as well as private organizations. For nearly 40 years, TMF has helped health care providers and practitioners in a variety of settings improve care for their patients. Our experience includes helping over 1,000 Texas physicians to adopt, implement and utilize EHR technology.